The Expendables (2010)

The Expendables is one of those movies that starts off great and then gets pretty bad really fast.  This movie begins with an exciting battle against Somali pirates by a band of American mercenaries.  It appeared as if this was going to be a top notch thriller.

Unfortunately, The Expendables turned out to be just another Hollywood flick in which America is evil.  Here, the always rotten and up to no good Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has placed in power a diabolical dictator of a fictitious Latin American country called Vilena.  This CIA puppet thug is a mass murderer and is also engaged in smuggling illegal drugs into America.  The movie's plot has it that the CIA is involved in this racket.

The plot is most depressing in light of the fact that the creator of The Expendables is none other than Sylvester Stallone.  During the 1980's, Stallone was one of America's most outspoken patriots.  His Rambo movies were about the struggle of American freedom fighters against godless tyrannical Communism.  And now Stallone has made a movie that trashes America.  Given the fact that the American people have made Stallone fantastically wealthy, why does he hate America so much?

The plot is also unrealistic.  In this movie, Stallone and his fellow mercenaries are paid millions to go around and indiscriminately shoot up all sorts of things and people.  In real life, mercenary operations are carefully planned and executed to cost as little as possible in terms of both lives lost and property damaged.

Much of this movie is annoying.  Have you ever wanted to see a veteran he-man actor such as Mickey Rourke cry?  In The Expendables, you get to see this happen.  You also get to see the aging Sylvester Stallone hang on to an airplane zipping through both air and bullets alike.  Now that is the kind of scene that threatens your suspension of disbelief.  Essentialy, the Expendables is nothing but a glorified reunion of aging action movie stars angling for an easy payday for nothing but a lot of phoned in performances.

However, not all of the performances are worthless.  Jason Statham is great as Lee Christmas while Terry Crews is decent as Hale Caesar.  The fetching beauty Charisma Carpenter has a bit part in which she shows some real acting talent.  The cinematography and special effects are above average.

In the end, The Expendables is a mess.  The plot is stupid and makes very little sense.  America is evil and the CIA is even worse.  The United States of America is apparently behind all evil in the world.  Movies like The Expendables help further the hatred of America and American values all around the world.  Movies like The Expendables need to be avoided like the plague.