Lots of action movie stars.

A movie that pretends the last two decades didn’t happen.

Does The Expendables, then, actually deliver the goods?

And do you know what?

For once, it really hasnt.

I say that knowing and accepting the inherent and obvious flaws that the film has, too.

Its lacking in solid story.

Its characters are thin.

Its often just an excuse to parade action star after action star, with increasingly impressive guns.

And its very much a vehicle to show that Sylvester Stallone could still kick your ass in a fight.

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It manages this by eschewing what pretty much everyone else has been concerning themselves with.

Nope, not much of that.

Long, ponderous passages of dialogue, attempting to fuse the film with a host of serious messages?

Its the comedy highlight of the film.

For fear of spoiling the admittedly quite thin plot, thats as much as well spill on the story.

Because, after all, its simply the foundation for the mayhem thats going to follow.

And theres plenty of that.

Or a combination of all three.

Half the time, its like theyre marauding through an old-style videogame with an invincibility cheat mode activated.

Yet, its having such a blast that for once its easy to forgive it that.

The ensemble cast the films biggest selling point come out of it to differing degrees.

The weak link in this case, sadly, is the mighty Dolph Lundgren.

There are other downsides too.

But heck,The Expendablessucceeds because of something very simple: its so much fun.

Its clearly targeting action movie fans of a certain vintage, but hits its target audience with real precision.

Firstly, I cant remember having had so much fun watching a film in ages.

And secondly, the film simply shot by.

Theres a good action film here, and one Im already keen to see again.

It does it by applying a simple rule: knowing what kind of film it wants to be.

And thats, in this case, a proper, hard-edged, old-school action movie.

So, you want car chases?

Lots of bullets that never seem to hit anyone?

A thumping action score in the style you thought they didnt make any more?

Action sequences edited so you could actually see them?

And the biggest firefight of the summer?

Then this really is your film.

For me, at least, you cant make the sequel quickly enough.

And see if Christopher Lambert and Cynthia Rothrock are available next time, too…

Rating:

4 out of 5