A group of mercenaries is hired to infiltrate a South American country and overthrow its ruthless dictator. Once the mission begins, the men realize things aren't quite as they appear, finding themselves caught in a dangerous web of deceit and betrayal. With their mission thwarted and an innocent life in danger, the men struggle with an even tougher challenge -- one that threatens to destroy this band of brothers. Barney Ross is a man with nothing to lose. Fearless and void of emotion, he is the leader, the sage and the strategist of this tight-knit band of men who live on the fringe. His only attachment is to his pickup truck, his seaplane and his team of loyal modern-day warriors. His is a true cynic who describes what he does as removing those hard to get at stains. The team behind him is made up of Lee Christmas, former SAS and a savant with anything that has a blade; Yin Yang, a master at close-quarter combat; Hale Caesar, who has known Barney for ten years and is a long-barrel weapons specialist; Toll Road, a skilled demolitions expert and considered the intellect of the group; and Gunnar Jensen, a combat veteran and an expert in precision sniping who struggles with his own demons.

When the mysterious Church offers Barney a job no one else would take, Barney and his team embark on what appears to be a routine mission: overthrow General Gaza, the murderous dictator of the small island country of Vilena and end the years of death and destruction inflicted on its people. On a reconnaissance mission to Vilena, Barney and Christmas meet their contact Sandra, a local freedom-fighter with a dark secret. They also come to learn who their true enemy is: rogue ex-CIA operative James Monroe and his henchman Paine. When things go terribly wrong, Barney and Christmas are forced to leave Sandra behind, essentially giving her a death sentence. Haunted by this failure, Barney convinces the team to return to Vilena to rescue the hostage and finish the job he started. And to perhaps save a soul: his own.

I think somewhere in Hollywood a group of execs sat down and said let’s see if we can get every action hero movie star from the 1980’s to now in one film and just blow things up for two hours after that. And that is pretty much what they did everyone from Arnold and Sly to Bruce Willis to Jason Stratham has a part in this movie and they just pretty much follow the storyline to every action film you have ever seen with plenty of shootouts and explosions to fill the time. Not to say that this is a bad thing it actually is a pretty good thing and makes for a fun and entertaining movie that you can just immerse yourself in and wile away an afternoon.

But that is also not to say that it was always a good thing either as sometimes the cameos and their efforts to get every action hero ever put in the same film didn’t feel forced. The entire scene with the Arnold and Bruce Willis cameos was utterly terrible and completely unnecessary and actually slowed down the movie. And the action at times also could get a little over the top in that very 1980’s fashion of everything in an action movie being so over the top that it becomes almost ridiculous. But in the end the Expendables is actually a pretty fun movie that will keep any action film fan satisfied and wanting more.

The film is your simple action movie plot and I know that I am sometimes too kind with the action genre simply because it’s a genre I really like and the fact that the film is a very clichéd action film really didn’t bother me. It was to see Sylvester Stallone back to his old self as he really does do a fantastic job in the movie and the film was similar to a number of movies from earlier in his career most notably the last two Rambo films. The thing is that the film though does resemble a little too much two other movie from this summer in the Losers and the A-team which is kind of a letdown. Group of misfits thrown together pulling off jobs as mercenaries so yes the film might just seem like a number of films you had already seen this year.

Of all the action stars they got for this film outside of Sly who is the lead my favorite two were Jason Statham and the long vanished from Hollywood spotlights Dolph Lundgren. Dolph plays more of the loose cannon somewhat bad guy character and was actually a pretty fun character. While Statham plays more of your sidekick a-typical action hero. Both characters actually ended up being pretty fun in a film full of clichéd characters. The Expendables is a fun clichéd action film that is highly entertaining.

Grade: B