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Business News/ Mint-lounge / Features/  Film Review | The Expendables 3
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Film Review | The Expendables 3

Yet another outing for the pensioners with pecs

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Silver Stallone in a still from ‘Expendables 3’, releasing on 22 August.Premium
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Silver Stallone in a still from ‘Expendables 3’, releasing on 22 August.

The Sylvester Stallone-initiated action franchise The Expendables enters its third chapter with a promise of more to come—as many movies as there are underemployed or ageing muscle men (and the odd woman) who need to be retained on a payroll. The sweetness and generosity at the heart of the Pensioners with Pecs series carries it through its latest rendition, although the mind wanders ever so often during the 126-minute running time. How has Stallone managed to forge such a successful career despite being unintelligible all along? When did Harrison Ford age so suddenly, and so badly? How does Antonio Banderas manage to look so sprightly all these years later? On which ageing action hero will Stallone next bestow his benediction—and for how long can he drag on his version of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme?

The Expendables 3 stays true to form and doesn’t allow too much lingering on these questions. It starts on a typically high-octane note, a kind of Avengers Assemble but with real skills rather than computer-assisted ones. The trusty team of moralistic mercenaries, including Dolph Lundgren and the endlessly entertaining Jason Statham, spring Wesley Snipes’ “Doctor Death" from a prison, but rather than letting him go home to enjoy the rest of his life, they repair straight to Somalia, where they clash with Mel Gibson’s evil Stonebanks, an ex-Expendables crew member. Stonebanks was thought to have been dead, but here he is, crackling with wisecracks and evil intent, and, as played by Gibson, who has been blackballed by Hollywood of late for his unsavoury remarks, incredibly happy to be back in business.

So are the others in this movie, in which the quip-laden dialogue is loaded to produce knowing grins among fans with a good memory of 1980s Hollywood cinema as well as give a second chance to actors being eclipsed by younger, and fitter, blood. The Expendables 3 is the kind of movie in which such lines as “I’m getting out of this business and so should you", “We’re part of the past" and “I just wanted to say thanks for caring" are meant to remind viewers that the oldies remain the goldies. The camera dwells on Stallone’s ravaged face ever so often, but every other character is also allowed his and her YouTube-worthy extractable moment, a decision that inevitably bloats the running time.

Stallone takes care to balance the old with the new through the screenplay, which he co-wrote, as he has with the previous Expendables productions. Apart from old codgers like Gibson, Ford, Kelsey Grammer and Jet Li (this franchise is very sensitive to action fans of all nationalities), there is also younger talent in the form of such actors as Kellan Lutz and Ronda Rousey. A plot contrivance ensures that both generations of the Expendables eventually meet in a bombed-out hotel in a country called Azmanistan but that could be Romania, Albania or Kazakhstan, take your pick. This is action as it used to be in the 1980s—mercenaries who care, a coal-black villain, a bit of anti-government rhetoric, and the climactic destruction of a part of the world that isn’t the US and therefore doesn’t actually matter.

Director Patrick Hughes directs the old-fashioned action scenes with respect, making sure to rely on gimmickry only when needed and giving a full measure of the athleticism of the numerous leads and their stunt doubles rather than resorting to short-cut edits or camera angles. The action achieves bang-for-the-buck impact, while the in-between philosophising about “the way we were" slows down the momentum. The expansion of the Expendables family means that there are too many mouths to feed, and if there is a fourth edition, it might have to be in two parts if it has to accommodate the veterans alongside as the Young Turks.

Stallone, who is 68 years old and occasionally looks it, has amply proven his point that 1980s action heroes still have what it takes. His concern for ensuring employment for forgotten talent is touching, and his cheeky riposte to the slew of comic book-inspired superhero films is sorely needed. The Expendables 3 provides a How to Use Ageing Heroes template to film industries the world over, and a Bollywood remake uniting talent across generations is in order. Does it need to continue? A fourth instalment is reportedly being planned, with ex-Bond Pierce Brosnan among the rumoured additions to the cast, but the fatigue factor has already set in, and it has nothing to do with the wrinkles visible through the musculature. Stallone has proved that age is just a number, and there’s a line to this effect in the movie, but there’s only so much you can flog an idea. Stonebanks makes a joke about the Expendables as the “Deletables", and he might just be on to something.

The Expendables 3 released in theatres on Friday.

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Published: 22 Aug 2014, 01:48 PM IST
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