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The Expendables series is probably one of the stranger attempts at franchise building I’ve seen in a while. You have a first installment that many folks didn’t find as fun as the setup of “80s action legends sharing the screen for an old school romp,” the sequel took a swing in the complete opposite direction, bordering on spoof, to the point where Chuck Norris shows up to repeat a bunch of old Chuck Norris jokes you’ve probably already heard many times online by the time you saw the darn thing. Then the third film went the PG-13 route in addition to bringing on a younger cast, which goes against the appeal of this series in the first place.
And then we have this new one, the amusingly titled Expend4bles, nearly a decade after the last film, and also bringing back the R-rating – more on that later. With a script from Kurt Wimmer, Tad Daggerhart, and Max Adams (this is the only one to not have Stallone involved as a writer), and Scott Waugh at the director’s chair, the film sees the return of the crew, with Barney (Sylvester Stallone) leading the Expendables to a mission in Libya, where they must keep mercenary Rahmat (Iko Uwais) from stealing nuclear warheads. The mission takes a rather catastrophic turn. Rahmat ends up with the warheads, but the crew gets intel from CIA operative Marsh (Andy García) that could lead them to stop Rahmat in his plans, as well as reveal the secret identity of his superior, the mysterious Ocelot, who Barney had failed to capture many years ago.
Per usual with these movies, the setup isn’t bad, it’s pretty standard stuff, but as a 80s/90s throwback, it totally works. And one thing the movie does fairly well, continuing from the third one, is maintaining a more consistent tonal identity. It is ludicrous, but it keeps a straight face, keeping most of the humor based entirely on character banter instead of cheeky references and winks to the camera. It does feel more closer to the kind of movies it’s harkening back to. Although, unlike the previous movies where there was a bit of emphasis placed on the ensemble, this one is more closer to being the Jason Statham as Christmas show, which…OK, I guess. A lot of these characters aren’t especially memorable to begin with, so it isn’t a bad idea to focus on one of the actors who is charismatic and has actual camera presence.
I’m not entirely sure what Curtis Jackson is doing here. He mumbles a lot of his lines, and doesn’t get a lot to do. There’s a somewhat amusing bit with Dolph Lundgren and his poor eyesight, but it doesn’t really have a solid payoff. Randy Couture is there doing his usual thing, but all I can think about every time I see him is “wow, he really rocks that scarf.” Jacob Scipio makes a bit of an impression as Gala, the out-of-nowhere son of Antonio Banderas’ character from Expendables 3, and I gotta say, does a solid job at capturing his dad’s manic energy. Megan Fox is a welcome addition as Gina, and Levy Tran sports a good look when she shows up later in the film, but again, there isn’t much for them to really do here. Though, there is a fun flirt-fight between Gina and Christmas around halfway through the film.
When it comes to the action, it’s largely mediocre. The camera work can be a bit too jittery for its own good, but it’s also never incomprehensible. I could always tell what was going on, there’s some genuinely good fight choreography whenever it gets into the hand-to-hand stuff. The work from the second unit and stunt team is commendable. Where it faults in the craft is mostly in the general cheap look the film has. It’s littered with shoddy green screen, even in moments that you wouldn’t think would require one, and some of the bigger VFX shots don’t seem like they had the time needed to look passable. The thing apparently cost $100 million, and that this is what they have to show for it is not putting their best foot forward.
It is a bit odd considering Scott Waugh has done some solid action filmmaking in the past, especially in terms of placing an emphasis on capturing as much on-camera as possible with films like Act Of Valor and the Need For Speed movie. Having someone like Uwais and Tony Jaa (who pops in late in the film) does add a fun dynamic. However, I just always get the feeling that for a series that is meant to be a love letter to the genre, it has always felt so late in tapping into the pulse of what action fans are excited by. Both Uwais and Jaa appeared in Triple Threat (a sort of Expendables made up with various names big in the DTV action scene), and that was back in 2019. If anything, the John Wick films have done a better job at capturing both old and new talent in the action world, and they’ve been reaping the rewards for it.
I can’t say I had a terrible time watching Expend4bles, it is a comfort genre for me, even the trashiest ones have some appeal for me, but I cannot call it a good movie. I would feel pretty comfortable saying it is the worst in the Expendables franchise so far, and I’m not sure what inspired them to make this, especially so long after the last one. It just continues the trend of missed opportunities and frustrations with the craftsmanship that has followed all these movies, and this one suffers the worst in both respects. There are individual moments, bits of filmmaking, or action beats that I think are quite good, but they don’t come together or add up to a satisfying whole. It also ends on one of the strangest reveals/gags I think I’ve seen in a movie this year. If the rest of the movie was as weird and mean and gnarly as that, maybe we could’ve had something here. But alas, that is sadly not the case.
Expend4bles is now out in theaters.