The biggest die-hard fan of The Expendables franchise would tell you that these movies aren’t the greatest movies ever made. Sure, there’s tons of narrative problems and awkward line deliveries but part of the charm of these movies is seeing older action star blow stuff up, kick some ass and spout cheesy 80s one liners that harken back to those old school action flicks. There’s probably better action movies out there like John Wick or the Mission Impossible movies but The Expendables usually get the job done and despite the problems with The Expendables 3, it still was partially consistent with the other two films. Some might said that by the time you got to the third movie the novelty had run its course and despite the bloated runtime and the unnecessary amount of new characters, Expendables 3 still had tons of fun to be had.
It’s been nine years since the last one and a fourth Expendables movie had in development for a long time and maybe too much time and regardless of how much fun the third one was people already lost interest with the franchise with a disastrous domestic box-office run. But thanks to the international markets, we ended up getting a fourth one and the fact that we got this one this late in the game is befuddling. The first three Expendables movies are the archetype of cheesy action movies that still carried a dose of charm, but Expendables 4 completely lost any novelty and fun that this franchise once had. The main core of the group feel like after thoughts, Stallone takes a back seat (with a franchise that he shepherded from the ground up), it looses any kind of consistent value with the franchise and the music (originally scored by Brian Tyler) is generic action music. While Jason Statham is ultimately the only saving grace and some of the action is passable it never felt like a true Expendables movie.
One aspect that really worked with this franchise is seeing older action stars interact with one another and surprisingly enough, they all had great chemistry with one another. Seeing Stallone, Lundgren, Schwarzenegger and Willis have their back and forth was a dream come true with the generation that grew up on their action movies from the 70s and 80s. While The Expendables 3 was skewing younger by bringing in Ronda Rousey, Kellan Lutz and Glen Powell, you had at least a nice counter balance with Mel Gibson, Wesley Snipes, Harrison Ford and Kelsey Grammer as new mix. The problem with The Expendables 4 is that it pushes that charming aspect to the side and has Megan Fox and people like 50 Cent carry things along. At least it tires to pass the baton down to Jason Statham, who really carries this film and hinges on that persistent aspect that we would expect from this franchise.
What’s even more painful is the writing and the overall performances in this movie are so excruciatingly dreadful that I makes the previous Expendables movie look like Apocalypse Now in comparison. At the same time, one should never expect these movies to deliver Oscar level writing writing or in depth character studies but we should at least be engaged with this group of characters. Other than Jason Statham, we never really care for anyone else especially for Lundgren and Couture. Nothing against the appeal the 50 Cent and Megan Fox can carry but they really have no business being in an Expendables movie. The action, while serviceable, doesn’t pick up any kind of momentum until the very end but even that feels tattered. The definition of expendable is of little significance when compared to an overall purpose, and therefore able to be abandoned. In other words, 50 Cent and Megan Fox are no where near being expendable.
The Expendables 4 doesn’t even have Brian Tyler returning to score the movie properly and its not to say that it’s Tyler’s best music but the first three film in the series had a consistent threshold that played out so well. It’s a great sound of a military/mercenary organization that captures a military and rogue element. The music in The Expendables 4 never even remotely captures that tune when the Expendables are kicking ass and performing a mission. Music can really enhance a moment, an action scene and gearing up with tension and the lack of Brian Tyler’s music really hurt this movie in a very serious way.
The freshness of The Expendables franchise has critically lost any kind of attractiveness because there was something quite alluring with these movies. If The Expendables 3 lost it for you then there’s not much recovery with The Expendables 4. Please don’t make another one of these.
Zane's take at the Cinema's 