Sylvester Stallone’s Expendables franchise is genius in how simple it is, and it’s actually more of a surprise that nobody else thought to do it first. The action icon gathered a merry band of his musclebound cohorts from the past, present and future of the genre, tooled them up and sent them on a mission to wipe out as many faceless goons as possible.
Anyone expecting any sort of depth or complexity from the saga is left sorely wanting, but for fans, the only reason they watch Barney Ross and the gang take their creaking joints on another adventure is to indulge in their love of blood, guts, bullets and explosions.
That’s part of the reason why the third installment was such a wet fart of a film, because the desire to draw in a younger crowd with a PG-13 rating completely missed the point of what The Expendables is about. In an interview with Looper, stalwart Dolph Lundgren offered his thoughts on why the series has remained so popular.
“You know, it was being directed by Sly and he’s a very, very smart man. He created Rocky, and The Expendables and I think the timing was good because he had old school fights, shootouts, and more of our visual effects. Kind of older guys who’re washed up, that nobody wants, and they do these missions for the government, and if they get killed, nobody cares. I thought it was a good idea. So it’s still being done. And in this one, new guys, new people, new people involved like Megan Fox. So there’s kind of new blood, but the same basic concept, which I think we’re hopeful is going to work.”
You take Stallone, Lundgren, Jason Statham, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Jet Li, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Chuck Norris, Harrison Ford, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Mel Gibson, Wesley Snipes, Antonio Banderas, Chuck goddamn Norris and about two dozen more, throw them into a nonsensical fantasy shoot-em-up, and a huge number of people are going to be on board. The Expendables is many things, but rocket science it ain’t.