The Expendables

2010

The Expendables

Critics Consensus

It makes good on the old-school action it promises, but given all the talent on display, The Expendables should hit harder.

42%

TOMATOMETER

Total Count: 203

64%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 297,218

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Movie Info

An all-star cast of action-movie icons headline Sylvester Stallone's explosive action thriller about a group of hard-nosed mercenaries who are double-crossed during a treacherous mission. Approached by the shadowy Church (Bruce Willis) to overthrow tyrannical South American dictator General Gaza (David Zayas) and restore order to the troubled island country of Vilena, stoic soldier of fortune Barney Ross (Stallone) rounds up an unstoppable team that includes former SAS soldier and blade specialist Lee Christmas (Jason Statham); martial arts expert Yin (Jet Li); trigger-happy Hale Caesar (Terry Crews); and cerebral demolitions expert Toll Road (Randy Couture). Traveling to Vilena on a reconnaissance mission with his old pal Christmas, Barney meets their local contact, a cagey guerrilla fighter named Sandra (Giselle Itie), and together the trio scopes out the landscape.. It isn't long before Barney and Christmas have discovered that their actual target is not General Gaza but James Monroe (Eric Roberts), a former CIA operative who has recently gone rogue. Monroe won't be easy to get to either, because his hulking bodyguard Paine (Steve Austin) is a force to be reckoned with. When their mission is compromised, Barney and Christmas are forced to flee, leaving Sandra behind to face almost certain death. But Barney isn't the kind of soldier to abandon a mission, or a hostage, and now in order to get the job done he'll need the help of his old crew. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Cast

Sylvester Stallone
as Barney Ross
Jason Statham
as Lee Christmas
Jet Li
as Yin Yang
Dolph Lundgren
as Gunner Jensen
Eric Roberts
as James Monroe
Randy Couture
as Toll Road
Steve Austin
as Paine
David Zayas
as General Garza
Giselle Itié
as Sandra
Charisma Carpenter
as Lacy
Gary Daniels
as The Brit
Terry Crews
as Hale Caesar
Mickey Rourke
as Tool
Hank Amos
as Paul
Arnold Schwarzenegger
as Trench
Bruce Willis
as Mr. Church
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Critic Reviews for The Expendables

All Critics (203) | Top Critics (42)

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Audience Reviews for The Expendables

  • Jun 11, 2014
    Plenty of cliche narratives and dialogue to go along with a bland plot. The Expendables may be an action-goers delight and filled with explosions, machismo, testosterone and heavy star-power from the operative-experienced ensemble, but it's ultimately a neutral Stallone-picture that really doesn't scale with any other of the actor/director's previous hit films or any others in general for that matter. 3/5
    Eugene B Super Reviewer
  • Jul 31, 2013
    Pointless violence with poor political plausibility and the vague suggestion that in fact, the mission's entirely about a woman. Adding that to the half-hearted attempts at humour, my uncertainty as to why I started watching it moved to a "Why am I _still_ watching this?" feeling that intensified steadily throughout. It's a movie that might have worked were it intended to be an action-comedy, but as if Stallone could ever parody himself; as a true action movie, it fails to be even a bad 80s action movie. Horribly out-of-date, bloated, self-indulgent mess. Good to know Dolph Lundgren's not dead, though.
    Daniel P Super Reviewer
  • Oct 07, 2012
    There are certainly worse ways to spend a couple of hours, though you'd probably have to be a ten year old boy recovering from a brain injury to get the undemanding most out of this throwback to the 80s Action Movie, where, lest you've forgotten, niceties like plot and character development never got in the way of a good explosion.
    Stephen M Super Reviewer
  • Oct 03, 2012
    Easy dumbed down action with some great set pieces but it never really impacts the audience.
    Sophie B Super Reviewer
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