Joyce Glasser reviews Expend4bles (September 22, 2024) Cert 15, 103 mins.
The franchise The Expendables was warmly welcomed as a more nostalgic version of The Fast & Furious for marginalised oldies who, despite years of experience, could not pass muster in their (and our) ageist society. The title was perfect to express the defiant triumph of the ousted, and the casting, led by Sylvester Stallone (who directed and co-wrote the first film) was a producer’s, if not a director’s, dream. By the time The Expendables 3 came around, although Bruce Willis and Mickey Rourke were out, the cast included Stallone, Jason Statham, Randy Couture, Antonio Banderas, Jet Li, Wesley Snipes, Dolph Lundgren, Kelsey Grammar, Mel Gibson, Arnold Schwarzenegger and even Harrison Ford. This second sequel doubled its budget at the box office, but did not triple it, as had the previous two films. The fourth try is unlikely to improve matters.
Expend4bles, (with no “the” and the 4 inexplicably inserted in the title) directed by former stuntman turned action film director Scott Waugh, has a reduced cast of oldies and a mixed bag of younger recruits; a restrained budget; and a reduction in big name veteran actors. None of that would matter, except that the film only comes alive in the second half, and there’s not enough life in the hackneyed plot or dialogue to matter.
The team who comprise the Expendables, a bit like The Impossible Mission Force, are mercenaries deployed clandestinely by the government. With the government having no duty of care, the team is used for dirty and dangerous missions and prone to be duped and double-crossed. Duplicitous conduct is rampant. In addition to their dangerous assignments, the motley crew have to watch their backs.
As in so many action films from the latest Mission Impossible to 2019’s Charlie’s Angels, the Expendables believe there is a mole in their midst and the leader of the team, in this case Barney Ross (Stallone) and his successor, Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), have to identify the mole. This is one of those spoilers we cannot divulge but you might well guess who the mole is.
Leader Barney Ross and his team are sent to Libya by CIA Operative Marsh (Andy Garcia) with an assignment that no official military team could undertake. The job is to prevent a mercenary named Rahmat (Iko Uwais) from stealing nuclear warheads for the mysterious Ocelot, whom Barney Ross failed to apprehend 25 years prior. However, despite their valiant fighting, they are outnumbered and incapacitated, as though the thieves were aware of their arrival. Barney alone has remained behind in the plane that transported the team to Libya and is killed when the plane is shot down.
At Ross’s memorial service, Marsh announces that the team will go after Ocelot and Rahmat, but without Lee Christmas, who disobeyed orders, allegedly putting the team in increased danger by trying to help Ross.
Improbably, Gina (Megan Fox) Christmas’s former lover, replaces him, recruiting another female operative Lash (Levy Tran) – the name providing a hint at her weapon of choice – into the team. Gina is not one to inspire confidence with her claw-like nails which are so long and perfectly manicured, that if they are not a hidden biometric weapon, are unlikely to survive real combat. Indeed, she has a stunt double waiting in the end credits, leaving her to wear increasingly skimpy and transparent t-shirts, while the male operatives Easy Day (Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson), Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), Toll Road (Randy Couture), young Galan (Jacob Scipio) not to mention Christmas, wear protective jackets.
Arguably the most entertaining scene in the film is when Christmas answers a wanted add and is hired to be a security guard at the raucous pool party for an obnoxious social media influencer. The job does not end well, and Christmas is once again out of work. In a clever follow-up, Christmas gets sweet revenge when it turns out the influencer is a favourite of a group of Russian mercenaries aboard a freighter with Rahmat. The film needs more of this humour, and while co-writer Kurt Wimmer is certainly a good enough writer to supply it, the requisite sight gags and banter – particularly in the first half – is absent or flat.
The team travels to Asia with Christmas, but with Marsh, who has decided to accompany the Expendables on this mission given the failure of the previous one.
Being unemployed, determined to revenge Ross and eager to reunite with Gina, Christmas, who had slipped her a tracking device in a previous “wrestling” scene, follows his friends unofficially. He makes a detour in Thailand to seek out former Expendable, Decha (Tony Jaa) – now a pacifist local fisherman. When he hears of Barney’s fate, however, Decha agrees to help Christmas.
Jaa is a welcome addition to the team as he does his own stunts, and they look great. He is also an essential addition to the team. He and Christmas take Decha’s boat to trail the freighter and it’s a good thing, too.
It is now known that Barney’s death opened a sealed file which states that there is an eyewitness that could identify Ocelot. Here again the bad guys appear to have been tipped off to this, and to the team’s new mission. Gina’s team is captured and locked in a room with a remarkably simple, if unconventional, way out, while Marsh is beaten and taken away to negotiate a prisoner exchange for the mysterious eyewitness.
Lots of stunt motorcycle riding, explosions, and a big weapon-of-choice battle animate the second half. It’s not exactly John Wick, but a variety of weapons are used and the body count is sizeable. This is mildly entertaining B-movie action fare, but the action and the comradery is also nothing we haven’t seen before. And the characters are no longer so endearing that we really care very much.
