Not Quite The A-Team..."Soldiers Of Fortune"

Soldiers of Fortune (2012)

Rated R

Starring Christian Slater, Sean Bean, Ving Rhames, Dominic Monaghan, Colm Meaney, James Cromwell,

Directed by Maxim Korostyshevsky

The Story:

Craig McCenzie (Slater), fresh from his stint in the military is asked to train a bunch of wealthy men on how to be soldiers. At the end of their training, they will be inserted in an area near a war zone, but will totally be safe. The thrill of the hunt and all that...

What could possibly go wrong.

Spoiler Alert: Sean Bean finally lives through a movie.  :)

In all seriousness, this is a pure B movie that takes a bunch of familiar faces and lets them go out and play war.

Slater leads the cast as the military mind who whips these rich dudes into an actually effective military team.

Naturally, even before they arrive at their location, things hit the fan pretty quickly and not only do they have to save themselves, they end up needing to save a local village from being decimated further by the evil-doers that have taken control of the island.

It's the Expendables meets Hard Target with a touch of The Magnificent Seven thrown in for good measure.

At least they had lofty goals, and seemed to enjoy themselves while making it.

Nothing to rush out and see, but not a complete waste of time either.

Final Grade: C

Third Time's The...Yawn... "The Expendables 3"

The Expendables 3 (2014)

Rated PG-13

Starring Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Wesley Snipes, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mel Gibson, Jet Li, Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren, Harrison Ford, Antonio Banderas

Directed by Patrick Hughes

The Story:

Barney (Stallone) is on a mission with the team when he runs across his old partner-in-crime, Stonebanks (Gibson). They founded the Expendables together, and Barney thought he was dead. Instead, it's Stonebanks who is going to try and kill Barney and his all new team that he has assembled. So naturally it's up to the old gang to help save the day and stop the bad guy.

Piece of cake!

I'm not sure how I feel about this entry in the franchise.

One, everything changes.

Gone is Bruce Willis, replaced by Harrison Ford. Meh... I guess that works.

Mel Gibson is given prime crazy time to chew scenery and play the bad guy, and he does that well. You know there will be a straight up fight at the end that will leave someone dead.

Only this time, Gibson plays the Gary Busey role!

:)

Then there is Wesley Snipes who gets out of prison, and winds up right back on the big screen. He seems to get quite a bit of screen time which throws off the chemistry of the main characters a bit, in my opinion.

In fact, that's the biggest problem with the film, look at that poster. There isn't enough time to have much character interaction because there are just too many characters.

Don't even get me started on how shortchanged Banderas' part is. : /

So naturally, of the 3, this is my least favorite of the franchise.

If it was the end, so be it. It was a fun ride. The first one was good, the second one was a hoot.

This one was a suitable bookmark.

Audiences seemed to have finally had enough, but really, it was more of the same.

I guess in reality though, we've gone through just about every action start out there.

Except Steven Seagal.

Or Michael Dudikoff.

There's hope for 4 yet!

Final Grade: C+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Maybe...no hurry though.

Black Friday Review: 2 for the Price of One: The Expendables Franchise

Fans of 80s action flicks rejoiced when the Expendables came out in 2010.

In that film, Stallone leads a team on a top secret mission on behalf of the government.  Mayhem and bloodshed ensued.

In 2012, Stallone leads a team on a top secret mission on behalf of the government.  More mayhem and bloodshed ensued.


I mean, who's kidding who.  You're either a fan of action movies like this, or you're not.  There are very few fence-sitters who wonder:  "hmm...do I want to watch a kick-butt action flick tonight... I'm not sure I'm in the mood for it..."

Yeah, it's always time for an action flick. 

Stallone and company pull no punches either.  The blood spatters everywhere, and bullets, fists, knives, and anything but the kitchen sink gets used in nearly every conceivable way.

The Expendables is streaming currently on Netflix, and is definitely worth a viewing if you've never taken in the carnage.

As for the Expendables 2...

It's even better than the first one.  The romantic subplot is shelved for a tale of straight up revenge when one of their own is killed by...

Van Damme!

Turning the franchise over to Simon West (Con/Air ~ one of the 100 Greatest Movies Ever Made!) was a good decision by Stallone.  While he did just fine helming the first one, it seems like turning the show over to another set of eyes let Stallone concentrate on just having a good time in front of the camera.

It's funnier, bloodier, and just plain better than the predecessor.

Also back for a return, The Governator and Bruce Willis.  Both have extended parts in the film, and provide some fun during the final battle.

Looking forward to seeing what they've got in store with the franchise from here.

If you haven't seen the first, there is no fine points that you'll miss from jumping in on the second part of the franchise.

If you liked the first, you should love the second.