Review of The Expendables (2010) by Ted W — 10 Jun 2017

WHAT I LIKED: There's just something about 'The Expendables' that keeps your? eyes on the screen and your bum in the seat, and I think the glue largely sits with its overall boldness of delivery. Yes Stallone effectively directs in a way that slaps you round the face with sheer stupidity as he relentlessly shoves the humour, action and supposed character development right down the back of your throat, and that's undoubtedly rather startling and commanding.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: There's no question however that what he's shoving down there is absolutely ridiculous, as this movie is honestly terrible. Yes forget fun summer action flick; the writing here is so atrocious that you'll be hard-pressed to avoid laughing as Statham and Stallone deliver the majority of their awful lines with a straight face. But then that's kind of the attitude of the whole movie, as it hammers everything home with a seriousness that - yes commands attention - but is also laughable when everything here is so rubbish. Seriously the action, character development (if you can call it that), plot and humour are so far off the mark that they'll likely produce laughs for all the wrong reasons.

VERDICT: 'The Expendables' certainly commands attention, but what it pushes home is so terrible that you'll probably be laughing your socks off. It might even take itself too seriously for the phrase "so bad it's good" to come in handy...