The Expendables are many things, but not sexy. They are not mysterious like John Wick, smart like the Mission: Impossible squad or casual like Vin Diesel’s circle in the Fast & Furious saga. Your capital is the meta level. Your capital is the winking awareness, how long ago the 80s were, The series has been celebrating its revival for 13 years now. The Expendables 4 was released this week.
Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham have no problem laughing about artificial hips. And then decimating entire armies. The fact that they don’t take themselves seriously is simply charming. But does the charm still hold in The Expendables 4? No. The series has run out of steam.
Sylvester Stallone is barely seen in The Expendables 4
The story of the fourth part is thin, even by Expendables standards. Terrorist Rahmat (Iko Uwais) steals nuclear detonators from Libya, The team around Barney Ross (Stallone) is supposed to stop him. That’s what CIA agent Marsh (Andy Garcia) orders, and that’s the start of the breadcrumb trail of carnage. But the fundamental characteristics of its successful predecessors are missing.
Lionsgate
Sylvester Stallone as Barney Ross
The charm of the action saga is largely the charm of Stallone, who helped shape the series as a producer and brought together many of his old colleagues and rivals for filming. Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger embody the action decade to which the films refer like no one else. At the same time, he portrays the Expendables archetype of the action hero in front of the camera: stubborn, old-fashioned, flippant, powerful. The first problem with Expendables 4 is: not enough Stallone.
As a video from the Expendables 4 shoot suggested months ago, the action star can only be seen in front of the camera for a few minutes. The film is, at its core, a Jason Statham vehicle. There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with that, but Statham is simply too young to carry a self-deprecating 80s revival as the main character. Without Stallone, all that’s left is a lazy action plot like we see in 1,000 other films. Because there are no other stars from earlier days in The Expendables 4.
The Expendables 4 lacks the action heroes of the 80s
Dolph Lundgren is of course there as an 80s veteran, but has even less screen time than the barely existing Stallone. Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais and even Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson are potentially exciting new additions, but so are they careers that are far too young to reinforce a feeling of revival. The martial arts potential of Jaa and Uwais is completely lost in the staccato editing of the blockbuster – just as a side note.
Lionsgate
Starring alongside Stallone in The Expendables 2: Arnold Schwarzenegger
The Expendables 2, still the best film in the series, bombarded fans with names like Chuck Norris, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Part 4 can only dream of that. Perhaps the really big names are now exhausted, but stars with ’80s careers like Kurt Russell, Eddie Murphy or Linda Hamilton could still fit the franchise well.
The Expendables 4 lazily betrays its own characters
But even with a more spectacular cast, it’s up to the writers and directors to present the stars appropriately. The Expendables 4 disappoints in two ways. The fact that the story is flat will come as no surprise to fans of the series. But the Holes in the film’s logic seem downright loveless – as if those responsible didn’t care whether the result was an enjoyable action film.
Beware, spoilers!
Why are there nuclear warheads in a Libyan chemical factory? After years of companionship, why do the Expendables turn away from Christmas in a matter of seconds? Why does Gina (Megan Fox) devise a complicated plan to have Christmas rescue her when she could have just as easily avoided capture?
Lionsgate
Megan Fox in The Expendables 4
I don’t expect script excellence from any Expendables film, but I have to be able to believe in the story and the characters. If a script doesn’t respect the nature of its own characters, the film breaks apart as a narrative unit.
Apart from this Expendables 4 simply lacks humor. The smug punchlines after an action scene are not just an accessory, but an integral part of the revival charm. Not that the film is too serious. But the flat sayings, which were an important entertainment factor in the predecessors, are simply hair-raisingly uncreative here.
The action film’s widely announced FSK 18 change is a scam to the fans
Many fans of the series will also feel pain how well-behaved the film’s depiction of violence is. Bloody FSK 18 scenes were a selling point of the series from the start. The 16+ twist in The Expendables 3 theatrical version was not well received by the community, and The Expendables 4 was promoted all the more eagerly as a return to adult action.
This is what our colleague Yves from The Expendables 4 thinks:
A disappointment The Expendables 4 Review
Although it actually received the 18+ rating, the level of violence in the new film could be underestimated see it as a betrayal of the fans. Except for one scene at the end of the film, The Expendables 4 doesn’t show its high age rating. Why? Was there no longer enough money for special effects once Stallone and Statham were paid? With a $100 million budget, that’s hard to imagine.
Many fans of the series will wish it would never end. But The Expendables 4 appears not only weak, but downright homeless, as if it had lost its niche of raison d’être. I would like to advise: Bury the row. It’s better than watching her die a long, undignified death.
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