Until last year, I’d never heard of the name Linda Lovelace, but the casting for the upcoming biopic surrounding her life, entitled Lovelace, seems to have been getting better and better over the past few months.

Amanda Seyfried will be starring as the eponymous Linda Lovelace, described in real life as the world’s first porn star, who was the female lead in the 1972 porn film, Deep Throat. Variety report, via Collider, that Adam Brody (The O.C.), Eric Roberts (Heroes), and Demi Moore (A Few Good Men) are now all set to join the cast, with Moore taking a cameo role as political activist Gloria Steinem, and Brody starring as Lovelace’s Deep Throat co-star, Harry Reems.

The supporting cast also includes Peter Sarsgaard as her husband, JunoTemple, Sharon Stone, Wes Bentley, and Hank Azaria, and if he can fit it into his schedule, James Franco may be set to play Hugh Hefner. The film is to be directed by the co-directing team of Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, who worked with Franco on their last feature, Howl.

In real life (Wikipedia tells me), Lovelace later divorced her husband Chuck Traynor, and claimed that she had been forced into her pornography career by him at gunpoint. She then denounced her previous career, and came to be a spokeswoman for the anti-pornography movement.

In the past few years, Seyfried has been making a bigger and bigger name for herself as a leading actress, and I thought she and Justin Timberlake were brilliant opposite each other on In Time last year. Lovelace’s biography sounds pretty harrowing, and so the movie certainly has the potential to be an intense drama of her life. No news yet on a release date, but production is already underway inLos Angeles, and the film is expected to be released sometime this year. I’m a big fan of all I’ve seen Brody in to date, and can’t wait to see Moore in Margin Call this month, and the rest of the cast are all fantastic, so I think there’s every reason to expect Lovelace to be a solid film when it finishes production and makes its way to the big screen.

Dolph Lundren is currently on his press tour to promote his latest movie to hit DVD and Blu-ray this week, The Expendables. The movie was written and directed by Sylvester Stallone and had a cast which also saw Sylvester Stallone as the lead alongside, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Charisma Carpenter.

Our friends from Upbeat caught up with the legendary action hero, Dolph Lundren to chat about the movie.

The Expendables is currently available to buy on DVD and Blu-ray.

80s action legend Chuck Norris is on a “wish list” for the sequel to The Expendables according to one of the film’s stars.

The 2010 summer blockbuster starred Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke and Dolph Lundgren and took over $103 million at the box office worldwide. Inevitably, a sequel is already in the works.

Dolph told Upbeat Productions:

Chuck Norris is on my wish list. He’d be great as a General or something like that.

I’m not privy to who didn’t sign for the first one and for what reason and all of that because Stallone was the one who hired people but Jean Claude (Van Damme), who I have worked with before and is a nice guy, was asked and (Steven) Seagal didn’t want to do it but maybe he’ll be in the sequel.

The action star’s also told Upbeat that The Expendables is one of the few films he’s made that he feels naturally deserves a sequel. Dolph explained,

The Expendables lends itself to a sequel or sequels very nicely. Back in the 80s when I did action movies like The Punisher and all that they didn’t lend themselves to sequels very well.

He added jokingly,

The Expendables is now a trademark, a franchise and so the best thing about doing a sequel is that now I can ask for more money!

The Expendables is out on rent and buy on Blu Ray and DVD. We’ve got a video interview with Dolph Lundgren coming soon on the site so check back to hear more about the epic action movie.

Reported by Simon Thompson.

Sylvester Stallone and his misfit band of mercs, having rescued a group of hostages from some Somalian pirates in ruthlessly efficient fashion, take on a new job set up by Bruce Willis’ shady CIA broker. Their mission? To take down a puppet military dictator on a fictitious Latin American island, who is being controlled/manipulated by Eric Roberts in order to make a killing from the island’s cocaine harvest.

*****

The Expendables arrived off the back of some serious anticipation. Sly, Arnie, Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Steve Austin, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Terry Crews , Gary Daniels – the list just seemed to go on and the idea of seeing all of these past and present action heavyweights slugging it out and blowing stuff up sounded like a dream come true. What we have though, is neither a disaster nor a masterpiece, simply a good old-fashioned action flick that provides plenty of entertainment while seeming to fall short of Sly’s aspirations and our collective hopes.

Stallone seems to be a very capable director of action, with fight scenes, chases, gun battles and explosions all being very effectively rendered, but he struggles much more on the script front, failing for the most part to present fully fleshed-out characters, or dialogue with the depth and punch needed for those difficult talky bits between all of the violence. A noteworthy exception is the conversation between Sly and Rourke, where Rourke remembers an occasion on a mission in Bosnia where he turned his back on a woman throwing herself off a bridge. The script captures for an all too brief few minutes the elegiac tone and sense of looking back with regret that, had it been sustained for the film’s full 90 minutes could have resulted in a film that achieved for the action genre what The Wild Bunch did for westerns. Rourke is outstanding in the scene and it is a shame that his duties on Iron Man 2 prevented him from featuring more heavily in the film, as his pain-etched face is what the film often needs as a counterpoint for all of the wisecracking and quick quips.

There is a good, easy rapport between Sly and Statham, but that does not extend to the rest of the Sly’s crew, who remain as stock, two-dimensional characters throughout. When the punching, kicking, shooting and exploding start, they all really come into their own and the last half hour is accordingly great fun, but you are left with a sense that Sly was aiming for something more but could not quite get there. Some of the dialogue is very difficult to catch first time around, making DVD perhaps a more suitable medium for watching the film, but in fact much of the dialogue is unimportant in terms of understanding the plot. There are no great twists or surprises, simply a workable action-film plot that is elevated from average to enjoyable by the collective star power of the cast.

*****

Extras: There is a grand total of one deleted scene on Disc 1, which gives Dolph Lundgren a bit more to say in the opening scene, but is pretty much unnecessary. A gag reel mostly consists of Jason Statham screwing up his lines and Bruce Willis struggling to say “Vilena” (the island on which the film is mostly set) and there is a trailer, a TV spot and a selection of posters. On Disc 2 is a 90 minute long “making of” which follows Sly through scripting, shooting, medical attention, fighting and explosions. Much is made of the punishment his body took during the shoot and the sight of him receiving injections in his ankle and urgent on-set treatment after hobbling away from yet another stunt, induce genuine admiration and sympathy. He doesn’t sit around feeling sorry for himself, preferring instead to press on. The making of doc gives a real insight to how hardworking and energetic Sly is, though it would have been nice to have heard a little more from the other actors involved.

There is a further “making of” on Disc 1, though it is simply 20 minutes of repeated content from the Disc 2 doc. Of greater interest is Sly’s commentary, which helps to resolve at least a couple of niggling concerns from the film. He explains that a second unit shot the fight between Jet Li and Lundgren and that it resulted in a different, over-edited style than he would have gone for, adding that if there’s a sequel he will shoot the fight the way it should have been done. It is a particular frustration in watching the film that two such proficient fighters cannot just be shot going at it properly and in fact that tendancy to over edit extends to a number of the hand to hand scenes. Another admirably candid comment from Sly is that he had a limited budget and limited time and so was not always able to do things the way he wanted, having instead to “make do” on occasion. It is refreshing to hear someone admitting to shortcomings rather than simply spending the whole film gushing about how amazing everyone was.

I had felt during a couple of sequences that Sly was kind of hobbling a bit when he should have been sprinting and it was kind of reassuring to see that he had a good excuse – his ankle was knackered and it was hard to walk, much less run. In the end, shots of Sly looking exhausted, wondering when the rain would lift, shuffling away after a bodyslam from Steve Austin wrecked his back and trying to keep going despite the limitations imposed by his body say far more about the mortality of 80′s action stars than the film itself does, so Sly manages to get his point across after all.

The Expendables is available on DVD and Blu Ray today.

Steve Austin, pro wrestling legend and star of such films as The Expendables and The Stranger returns in another heart-stopping action from Anchor Bay Films: Hunt to Kill out to own on DVD and Blu-ray 11th October 2010 and today is the day you get the chance to win this film on Blu-ray.

The film also stars Eric Roberts (The Dark Knight), Michael Hogan (Battlestar Galactica)  and Gil Bellows (The Expendables) and here’s a synopsis to tickle your fancy before punching it in the face.

Jim Rhodes (Austin) is one bad ass Border Patrol Agent; his skill as a survivalist allows him to quickly negotiate terrain that would destroy the average man. When Jim’s teenage daughter is kidnapped, he’s forced to lead a band of ruthless killers into the wilderness to retrieve their share of a missing heist score. In order to rescue his daughter, Jim must use his unique brand of survival skills to outsmart the kidnappers before it’s too late.

So, all that’s needed is for you to answer the following question using the form below,

What was Hunt to Kill’s leading man Steve Austin better known as in his Wrestling days?

Competition Now Closed

The small print:

• This competition is open to the UK only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close Wednesday 13th October at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

Last week Gary posted this exhaustive look at the cinematic death dealt out by the main actors in Slyvester Stallone’s bombastic 80s action heroes class reunion, The Expendables.

Taking the gory initiative artist Stephen Wildish compiled this excellent infographic to illustrate the macabre tally and we wanted to share it with you.

You can read Gary’s review of the Expendables here, and check out Stephen’s work below.

There’s a link on Stephen’s site for a large version of it and I’d recommend checking it out here.

With the biggest, greatest, most over the top action film of all time coming out on 19th August in the form of The Expendables (our review here), HeyUGuys is bringing you the ultimate run down of the kill count that these historic action actors have each tallied up.

From throat rips to decapitations, martial art assassins to robotic killers and Yippee Ki-Yay’s to Asta La Vista’s, they have dealt death in every way possible with every weapon imaginable.

Each death reaches the same conclusion but each actor carries it off in their own unique style, often adding a personal touch. Be it an Arnie verbal send off like “Stick Around” after being stuck with a huge knife against a post or adding some humour by playing games with the baddies like John McClane in Die Hard ” Now I have a machine gun, Ho Ho Ho”. A memorable death greatly adds to the enjoyment of watching baddies/goodies perish at the hands, feet, guns, knives, robotic limbs of these iconic action movie stars.

Although this rundown is never going to be 100% accurate I have tried to find as much information to build the most definitive totals of bloody deaths in action film lore. I’ve also added a guess of how many kills each actor racked up in The Expendables, it was an impossible task, but I think Jason Statham came out on top after recording 41 kills in one scene pushing him ahead of his nearest competitor.

This is the Expendables body count run down that totals over 2000 dead bodies in over 300 films combined.

You can read our extensive coverage including our review for The Expendables here.

MICKEY ROUKE

First up is the rejuvenated Mickey Rourke who never really started off as an action movie star but has slowly become a very dominant actor in the action movie genre.

With starring roles in the excellent Sin City as Marv and as Ivan Vanko in Iron Man 2 being recent highlights, Rourke has shown an incredible natural ability to add a villainous menace or a convincing powerful force to his roles which makes him such a watchable actor in action films. Rourke again gives a great performance as ‘Tool’ in the Expendables, easily the best actor in the whole film.

Probably one of the toughest actors on the list, as an amateur boxer he reportedly had 12 consecutive first round knockouts and also went undefeated in 8 professional boxing matches from 1991 -1995 winning 6 and drawing 2 bouts before retiring to go back to acting. Rourke needed facial surgery to correct his disfigurement due to injuries suffered from boxing and a balls up from his plastic surgeon left him with his drastically different looking features.

Rourke’s first film was alongside Jon Belushi and Dan Akroyd in Spielberg’s war spoof ’1941′ and he went on to star in 9 1/2 weeks, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Sin City, The Wrestler and Iron Man 2 and he also turned down the roles of Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop, Stuntman Mike in Tarantino’s Grindhouse episode Death Proof, Johnny Ringo in Tombstone and Butch Coolidge in Pulp Fiction.

Along with Stallone, they are the only Oscar nominated actors from the Expendables and Rourke got his Oscar nod for the role of Randy Robinson in the Wrestler

Mickey Rourke – 28 Kills on screen in 61 Films – 0.45 kills per film

Most Kills:- 15 as Marv in Sin City

Kills in The Expendables: 0

JASON STATHAM

Jason Statham is our next hard man in the list and a surprise action star considering he came from nowhere to appear in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and two years after that starred in Snatch. All of a sudden he became a martial artist action movie star who took off in ‘The Transporter’ a film which spawned two further sequels, which Stathem then topped with the insane, ridiculous and guilty pleasures ‘Crank’ and ‘Crank 2: High Voltage’ where he played the delightfully named Chev Chelios, a man trying to keep his ticker ticking by doing adrenaline pumping antics or otherwise he dies. Love it.

He has already faced off against Expendables Jet Li in War and The One as well as Mickey Rourke in 13 and has had leading roles in Bank Job, Revolver, Deathrace with further supporting roles in Italian Job, Mean Machine, Ghost of Mars and as the lead villain in Cellular.

When you watch a Statham film you can expect a few things from them. 1, there will be action and some very OTT action at that. 2, there will be some very well choreographed martial arts that include props and the scenery around him which is very reminiscent of the classic Jackie Chan films which it makes his films more than your average martial art film and very accessible. And 3, there will some quirky humour.

Statham has blossomed into a well loved Hollywood actor who must be in heaven starring in The Expendables with such iconic action movie heroes and fully deserves his major role as the co-star alongside Stallone. For me he was one of the many highlights of The Expendables with his knife killing skills.

Jason Statham – 147 Kills on screen in 23 Films – 6.4 kills per film

Most Kills:- 60 as ‘Farmer’ in ‘In the name of the King’

Approximate kills in The Expendables: 80

BRUCE WILLIS

Bruce Willis is only third in the list of the action stars in terms of on screen kills but is easily one of the most loved due to his success as John McClane in the Die Hard movies; despite how poorly received the fourth movie was, the lure of seeing McClane back on the screen was the main draw, and that’s thanks to Willis.

He had his first staring role in the non action movie ‘The Return of Bruno’, a “Hilarious Rock Comedy” which was followed by Rom-Com ‘Blind Date’ starring alongside Kim Basinger. It looked like Bruce Willis was heading towards being a comedy actor with his next role being in ‘Sunset’ with James Garner, but after that the legend was born with Bruce Willis being cast as Detective John McClane in 1988′s Die Hard apparently beating actors Richard Gere, Don Johnson and Richard Dean Anderson in the process and the rest is history.

Willis has performed in over 60 films and numerous TV shows with highlights being Pulp Fiction, 12 Monkeys, The Fifth Element, Sin City, Armageddon, Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. Moonlighting was the highlight of his TV Career winning a Global Globe with his performance as David Addison and also had appearances in Friends and Ally McBeal, but in the end he will always be known as John ‘Die Hard’ McClane.

Bruce Willis 168 Kills on screen in 62 Films – 2.7 per film

Most Kills – 26 as Korban Dallas in Fifth Element

Approximate kills in The Expendables: 0

JET LI

Next on the list is Jet Li and it’s also a step up in kill rates per film for the action stars, in fact Triple the amount of Bruce Willis.

Jet Li (real name Li Lian Jie) is arguably the most natural action fighting star in the film with an incredible knowledge of martial arts under his belt with the mastery of Wushu, Tai Chi, Drunken Fist, Praying Mantis Fist as well as weapon skills that make him the real fighting machine who could probably take on any of the guys on this list and win.

Jet Li’s first entry into movies was the successful Shaolin Temple films that were followed by the Once upon a time in China trilogy, Fist of Legend and High Risk that developed him into one of the greatest martial artists on the big screen of all time. Inevitably it wasn’t long before Hollywood came calling when he appeared in Lethal Weapon 4 in his first ever role as a villain which was then followed by his first Hollywood leading role in Romeo Must Die.

Li continued to make films back in China as well as in Hollywood with the pick being the stunning Hero but also he starred in The One, Cradle 2 the Grave, Unleashed, The Mummy 3, Fearless and The Forbidden Kingdom which would all be pretty abysmal or average films if it wasn’t for the killer moves and presence of the great Jet Li appearing in them.

Not many martial art actors have earned world wide recognition but Jet Li has fully earned his place alongside the greats of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan as the best.

Jet Li – 327 Kills on screen – 39 Films – 8.3 per film

Most Kills – 50 as Kit Li in High Risk

Approximate kills in The Expendables: 30

SYLVESTER STALLONE

The man who brought them all together in Expendables and the man who holds the second highest amount of kills in one movie for his throat ripping, machine gun firing and knife chopping killing spree in 2008′s Rambo. From his most innocent kill from dropping dead weight in Cliff Hanger to shooting a soldier pointblank repeatedly with the biggest machine gun in Rambo 4, Sylvester Stallone is quite possibly the first name that would spring to mind if you were asked to name an action movie star on Family Fortunes, he is and always will be an action movie star.

Complications during his birth left Stallone with a severed a nerve in his head which left him with partial paralysis in his face, slurred speech and his sagging lower lip, but something that could have seriously limited most actors chances to succeed, it  has become as much a part of his character as his bulging muscles and killing machine personality.

His career has had its up and downs with Stop! or my Mom will Shoot being a horrible low and Rocky being a triple Oscar winning high. Stallone has a fine collection of franchise movies with Rocky producing six highly enjoyable films and Rambo forging four well loved movies with Rambo 4 giving Stallone the second highest kill rate in one film from our list with a staggering 87, he just knows how to create iconic characters in his movies.

Stallone is one of the biggest box office earners, one of the greatest movie stars of all time and one of the most recognisable actors in the world. Action movies wouldn’t be anywhere near as enjoyable without his contribution.

Sylvester Stallone – 334 Kills on Screen – 50 Films – 6.7 per film

Most Kills – 87 as John Rambo (2008)

Approximate kills in The Expendables: 60

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER

Although having little screen time in the Expendables, the Guvnor of California will be rightfully represented in the movie and he will forever been known as one of the best and most consistently enjoyable action movie stars that there ever will be. If not for his amazing array of movies, he is memorable for his quotable and trademark one liners or the characters he has portrayed; the man is an action hero.

Arnie started off as a body builder winning Mr. Universe at the age of 22 and entering movies in his debut as Arnold Strong in Hercules in New York. Arnie then went on to get a ‘Best acting debut’ Golden Globe for his role in Stay Hungry (1976) alongside Jeff Bridges and Sally Field but it was Conan the Barbarian that launched him into the Action Movie Hall of Fame which subsequently lead to his role as The Terminator. After dominating the movie business for 20 years he then did the unthinkable and became Governor of California where he has served to this day.

Arnie holds the record for most kills in one film with the awesome Commando where he slaughtered a phenomenal 102 bad guys. It’s the ultimate display of killing but it was no way his greatest moment, most people will instantly say Terminator is his defining moment and it’s hard to argue with that. His turn as the killing machine sent from the future to kill Sarah Connor, then protect her son John Connor in James Cameron’s sequel, is one of the finest in Sci-Fi history and one he will be forever remembered for.

In his prime Arnie made arguably the finest collection of Action movies that have ever been made by one actor, easily beating everyone on this list in terms of variety, enjoyment, cult status and personality in his films, Arnie has proven to be possibly the most popular action movie star of all time. Listing the films just proves this:

Conan, The Terminator, Commando, Raw Deal, Predator, Running Man, Red Heat, Total Recall, Terminator 2 and True Lies that (for me) was his last true classic Action Movie. Arnie is my favourite action movie star of all time and in my opinion, No one comes close.

Arnold Schwarzenegger – 513 Kills on screen – 31 Films – 16.5 per film

Most Kills – 102 as Matrix in Commando

Approximate kills in The Expendables: 0

DOLPH LUNDGREN

And finally the winner of the most kills combined and with a staggering 632 kills in an average of 17.5 people per film, it’s Dolph ‘He-Man’ Lundgren.

To be honest I know little of Lundgren’s films, I know he was in Masters of the Universe, Rocky 4, The Punisher, Universal Soldier films and Blackjack but apart from those, the others I’ve never seen or ever really heard of but that doesn’t make his career insignificant. Dolph is a killing machine and has killed almost more people than Rourke, Statham, Willis and Jet Li put together and has a higher average per film to boot.

Dolph Lundgren was born in Sweden and it the largest of the Expendables at 6’5″ who has a third Degree Black Belt. His career in action films started in a small role in James Bond A View to a Kill due to being the real life body guard to Grace Jones, but it was his best and most well remembered role as Ivan Drago in Rocky IV that set him onto the path of becoming a major action movie star.

He followed Rocky with his most high profile role with the live adaptation of He-Man, he played the lead role of Adam Prince of Eternia in a fantasy/action movie that I still have fond memories of seeing, but one that I haven’t seen since the late 80′s, It can’t be that bad…

After Masters of the Universe, Lundgren went on to star in Red Scorpion, The Punisher and Universal Soldier alongside Jean Claude Van Damme that turned out to be his last major movie for many years as he slipped into low profile straight to DVD movies where he has made a living from since including turning to directing in 2004 with the movie Defender.

Lundgren was considered for the role of Ben Richards in The Running Man and was also offered the role of Captain America in the 1980 version but due to doing the Punisher, he turned it down. It’s a shame as he could have easily of had a career like Schwarzenegger, but he made a better villain than a hero and the bad guy rarely becomes the big star.

Dolph Lundgren – 632 Kills on screen – 36 Films – 17.5 per film

Most Kills – 60 as Frank in the Punisher

Approximate kills in The Expendables: 10

THE BLOODY FACTS:

TOTALS: 2149 Combined Kills in 302 Films.

1. HOW HIGH – If you laid all the bodies these guys have racked up in their movies and stack em up like a single tower morbid game of Jenga it would be the height of 2149 feet, 655 metres or 0.4 of a mile which is roughly the same size as five London Eye big wheels, Two Eiffel Towers or as tall as 13 Godzilla’s (Japanese 1954 original version)..

2. HOW FAR- Alternatively if you don’t fancy stacking you could lay each body-bag head to toe (presuming each guy exterminated was 6 foot tall, which is about right height for your average villain) it will total up to about 12,894 feet, 2.5 Miles or 3,930 metres in Length. That’s 9.8 times around an Olympic track that would take Usain Bolt about six minutes to reach the end of running at full pelt..

3. BLOODBATH! – If the average human body contains 5.6 litres of blood and presuming after each life our action stars takes the bodies loses around half that, then there would be enough blood to fill 10,588 pints of beer, 22.3 baths of water and is three times the amount of blood used to blast out of the bed in A Nightmare on Elm Street!

Thanks to excellent site www.allouttabubblegum.com for an invaluable source of information on movie deaths. Check them out, I had almost as much fun reading their site as I did watching the Expendables!

This Summer, some of the finest actors of a generation have been brought together for a big action movie, with a unique and original plot, and mind bending storyline. But enough about Inception. Also this Summer, Sylvester Stallone brings together either a collection of has-beens and never-weres, or the most impressively assembled collection of action movie icons in the history of cinema, depending on your point of view.

The Expendables tells the story of a team of mercenaries, action men whose lives have been devoted to carnage and mayhem. These Expendables are so called because they are unwanted, unloved, and completely, well, Expendable. Is this just an excuse for one of the most over the top, action heavy movies of all time, or is it a thinly veiled metaphor for the careers of those involved?

Whilst there are several younger ‘actors’ involved, some yet to make a name for themselves, the story of Sly’s summer blockbuster is his attempt to bring together as many action heroes of his era as he could get to sign on the dotted line. All can be considered former box office draws, but most have seen their best days long past. This weekend, it’s going to be interesting to see if these once A-list heavyweights are still able to draw an audience, or if they are now just as disposable as their alter egos in the film.

Some, like Dolph Lundgren, had a very short purple period many years ago with Rocky IV and Masters of the Universe in the eighties, and have now faded into obscurity. Others, like Sly, and Willis and Schwarzenegger (who admittedly only have small parts) are still trucking (though not for a few years now in the case of Arnie), but have been forced to watch their drawing power decline steadily over the last decade. Jet Li could almost be considered a surprise inclusion in the cast, as he has had much more recent success, and has not been around for nearly as long as some of the others. To be categorized alongside the rest of the ageing cast must have been somewhat of an eye opener for him, and it will be interesting to see what kind of effect it has on his movie career in China and Hong Kong.

Mickey Rourke has already mounted a comeback, with an impressive performance in Sin City followed up with his Academy Award nominated work in The Wrestler. One of Rourke’s biggest career weaknesses the first time around was bad role choices. Despite the aforementioned critically acclaimed roles, it is starting to look like he is struggling once again to maintain his profile with the right career decisions, following his underwritten role in Iron Man 2 with a date with career killer Megan Fox in Passion Play. In many ways, Rourke has a lot to lose by associating himself with actors whose careers have gone to seed.

Perhaps the healthiest movie career at stake is that of Jason Statham. He has thrown off the shackles of his mockney crime caper beginnings by carving out a career as one of the new generation of action heroes. Statham has built up a big fanbase with appearances in both the Transporter and Crank series, and should be looking to lift himself up to the next tier. If The Expendables doesn’t work, it could mire him in the same career dire straits as some of his older castmates, which would be a bit of a shame.

One thing is for sure, whatever reputation the eighties stars present currently hold, it could be worse. With the massive fall from grace that has befallen Mel Gibson, and the loss of popularity Tom Cruise’s bizarre behaviour has cost him, Sly and co. are in a far better position to springboard themselves back onto the Hollywood A-list than several of their peers.

So what are The Expendables prospects? And what would success actually look like? No-one is expecting high art, and that’s as it should be. The Expendables was always going to be a mindless action flick, and to over-complicate it would be asking for trouble. The plot does however need to be cohesive, and entertaining, with some spirit and genuine human interest. The Losers was a very similar style of movie, and a lack of compelling emotional drama and interesting plot meant it did not fare well at all. So far, reviews for The Expendables have been mixed, and there is nothing to suggest that it will be a classic of the genre.

I think financial success is far more important to The Expendables than critical plaudits. With a production budget of reportedly around $80m, it isn’t really THAT expensive. An opening weekend of around $30m would be massive, and instant justification for the movie. I think it could actually top that, with the competition from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World possibly a little overestimated. With plans already afoot for a sequel, projections are clearly looking quite good at the moment. However, the era of big names translating into big box office seem to be behind us, and you could argue it is only really Stallone of the principal cast that has the potential to draw in an audience.

This is an important movie for everyone involved. For the big personalities, it is a measure of just how much their star has faded, and an indication of where they stand with action movie fans. For the less well known, younger actors, success could lead to a lucrative action movie career. For Rourke and Statham, it is more of a gamble, and success is really a must to keep them up at the level they are currently at. For the likes of forgotten man Dolph Lundgren, it could lead to a career resurgence, which he must be hoping for, or it may just end up as the last hurrah of a washed-up action hero.

Whatever happens this weekend, The Expendables was an ambitious attempt to put together one of the most star-studded casts in recent history, and has managed to draw the interest of movie fans around the globe. We may be about to find out whether the stars of the past can still be relevant to a modern audience, or if they are obsolete, unwanted and, well, expendable. I hope the movie does do well, and i hope it does turn out to be a fun watch. It’s nice to see stars of yesteryear attempting to force themselves back to the top of the tree, and i’ll be fascinated to read the reviews and box office results at the end of the coming weekend.

Bazmann – You can follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/baz_mann

The Expendables has been on my radar for months and like many other excited fans it’s a film I’ve been itching to see since Stallone announced that he would be bringing us ‘the ultimate action movie’ .

This is a film which unites some of the greatest action stars from the last two decades including Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone.

Was it worth the wait? Hell Yeah!!

Review contains spoilers

The Expendables are a group of highly trained mercenaries who take on impossible jobs for money. They are given roles by their handler ‘Tool’ (Mickey Rourke) and are introduced to the fast shooting leader, Barney ‘Schizo’ Ross (Stallone), knife specialist ‘Lee’ Christmas (Statham) short martial artist ‘Ying Yang’ (Li), big gun liability ‘Gunnar Jensen’ (Lundgren), Demolition expert ‘Toll Road’ (Randy Couture) and big gun ‘Hale Caesar’ (Terry Crews).

The team begin by boarding a boat where rebels are holding hostages that are to be executed. Outnumbered, we get to see their great skills against the odds. It’s a superb opening scene of coolness, sharp shooting and humour, and it sets the scene nicely as well as throwing in an upper body decapitation leaving the legs standing for good measure. Welcome to the action!

From here, we head into its main “story” where the Expendables are offered a job by the CIA. Their mission a covert ‘Op’ into Vilena to overthrow South American murderous Dictator General Garza (David Zayas). A reconnaissance mission leads Barney and Christmas (not the most tough sounding named action heroes) to meet local freedom-fighter and contact Sandra (Giselle Itie) who shows them who their real enemy is, former CIA operative James Monroe (Eric Roberts), who pulls the political strings, and his muscle Dan Paine (Steve Austin) and ‘The Brit’ (Gary Daniels). Forced to flee in a hail of bullets and explosions, leaving Sandra behind to face torture and death. Barney plans to return with The Expendables to rescue the girl and destroy the murdering regime against all the odds……

What’s Good

Stallone is truly awesome and he still looks pretty good considering he’s 64. He carries the movie with his presence and energy for the role and you just can’t not enjoy him in the movie. Stallone however is outshone by Jason Statham who, for me, steals the show with some excellent fights, moves, one-liners and a highly enjoyable performance that may well propel him into the next big action movie star.

The rest of the cast all offer decent performances with no one being particularly out of place or abysmal despite their lack of screen time or acting credits. Jet Li and Lundgren put on a good rivalry although both are underused. Eric Roberts is just a wonderfully textbook evil-in-a-suit bad guy with Steve Austin providing a formidable opponent in his fights towards the end of the film. Mickey Rourke puts in the one solid performance with and was easily the standout in terms of acting, particularly in the key turning point in the film where he spills out his heart to Barney, he has such a cool presence in the movie and it’s a shame he doesn’t feature more.

The action scenes as expected are exhilarating viewing and took me back to some classic action movies of the 80′s and 90′s with some really OTT moments which all got a well deserved applause after they lit up the screen. It was so enjoyable watching such bombastic action play out like it does in The Expendables, from such iconic actors. There were some awesome one on one fights towards the end with head snaps, arm breaks, decapitations and plenty of huge guns literally ripping enemy soldiers to pieces if everything else failed; it’s outrageously riotous and so damn, bloody fun.

Then comes the action movie money shot that everyone had been waiting for, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone together for the first time in a movie. Yeah it’s a completely pointless scene and it’s sole use is to give us an action movie orgasm but it was very funny as they played off each other and I doubt there was a single person in the cinema who didn’t love every second of it, I know I did.

What’s Not So Good

The script is really cheesy at times, the story is crazy/laughable, some of the dialogue from Jet Li, Stallone and Lundgren was slightly inaudible due to their mumbled broken English. There is also some disappointing shoddy fake CGI blood and effects thrown into the action to add some gore which looked terrible and it makes you wonder why they bother when real prosthetic limbs and squirting plasma looks so much better, but I can easily forgive all of these issues as they pass quickly so not to dwell on the weaknesses of the film and let us sit back and enjoy the ride.

Some of the characters are really underused with Jet Li only given a few scenes to show off his martial arts.  The pairing of Randy Couture and Terry Crews get their moments at the beginning and the end of the film. However, they are just there for the muscle but due to their acting ability it’s probably a wise move not to extend their screen time but it does just make their characters there to make up the numbers. Dolph Lundgren has a smaller part than I expected but his contribution was none the less brutal.

Actors that I wish had appeared: Steven Seagal, Jean Claude Van Damme, Carl Weathers, Roddy Piper, Kurt Russel and Chuck Norris – but maybe Stallone is saving them for a sequel…

Overall

The ensemble cast is why people will flock to see The Expendables and the cheers as each actor’s name appeared in the opening credits was evidence to how excited people are for the film and I really believe you won’t be disappointed with it.

The hype for The Expendables is just about met, no one really expected a solid story with intelligent character dialogue. What people want is proper action and that’s what you get, by the tonne, from the greatest action stars of our generation. Easily the best action movie you’re going to see all year.

The Expendables is out 19th August. Check out our extensive Expendables coverage here.

We’ve been waiting for The Expendables to come around for quite some time now, fuelled by a touch of nostalgia as well as a desire to see some of the biggest action stars in Hollywood tool up and blow stuff up.

Tonight we’ll be attending a screening of the film, where we’ll no doubt get the chance to walk away from the explosion without looking back and we’ll post our review as soon as possible.

Suffice to say that the marketing for this one has included a ton of trailers, poster, featurettes and Sly and his guys have embraced the internet in more ways than one, including this nice new video which has Stalone answering a few questions and then, well, you’ll see.

Now, click here to watch Stallone take YouTube to task.

I honestly thought that this new clip from Stallone’s movie cocktail of muscle and nostalgia, The Expendables, was going to rely on the nuanced performances of two of its actors, Sly himself and Jet Li.

It begins with the two of them bantering about in a car, not exactly Mike Leigh, but fun enough and I was waiting for this benign scene to play out with a wisecrack or two before the fade to black.

Then, of course, a small corner of Hell breaks loose and bullets meet glass and action ensues.

Still, The Expendables is all about its action and while there’s been a lot seen in the clips so far, I’ll wager that the charisma of the actors will be what helps this one to stand out at the box office.

Here’s the clip,

Yahoo decided now was the time to show this to the world.

Suddenly, new movies seems to have some old-fashioned,retro styled 8-bit video game attached to it. Last week I posted the video game for Twilight: Eclipse and today, The Expendables have gone with the same idea to promote the new Sylvester Stallone directed movie which also stars Jason Statham, Jet Li, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Giselle Itie, Eric Roberts, David Zayas, Steve Austin, Bruce Willis and even Arnold Schwarzenegger!

The fact that the movie has so many 80s stars sort of makes sense why they’ve gone this route and if you’d mid to late 30 – 40, you’ll remember playing this sort of game back then anyway!

The Expendables is released in UK cinemas 19th August.

Click here to play the 8-bit game

‘Hi, I’m Sylvester Stallone. You may remember me from such action films as Rocky, Rambo, Rocky 2, Rambo: First Blood Part 2, Rocky 3 and Demolition Man. I’ve got a new movie coming out and it’s full of muscle and explosions. I’ve got every action star on the planet Hollywood to work with me, and I want to tell you all about how we made it.’

With only a month or so until The Expendables unleash themselves onto our screens there’s time enough amongst the numerous trailers to peep behind the curtain and see how a plan like this one comes together.

Stallone has teamed up with Apple to produce a weekly behind the scenes series and the first of five is available now by clicking this link.

What I love about this is the way Stallone moves around the set, like a moustachioed marble statue with a cigar – he even does this…

Not long now until the full force of Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Willis, Statham, Lundgren, Rourke and Li (among many others) smash their collective fist into our faces then pop wise cracks like fireworks in The Expendables.

And if you’ve not yet signed up to our Last Action Heroes mash up there’s a new trailer which features the Governator and Mr. Willis, though their roles are not thought to take up too much screentime it’s still interesting to see how Lionsgate are selling this one.

There’s an easy to click link right here to all of our Expendables coverage, just so you can drown in the testosterone and see just how many ways you can blow things up.

Check it out below. Explosions. Muscles. This one will grab you by the Expendables.

Put your hands together for Mr. Billington and his FirstShowing site, for he showed us the way.

Jon put up the brand new trailer for The Expendables yesterday which you can see here. To accompany it, Fox have released this brand new poster for the movie that has every single movie hard man on the planet!

The Expendables is directed by Sylvester Stallone and the stellar cast includes, as well as Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Giselle Itie, Eric Roberts, David Zayas, Steve Austin, Bruce Willis and even Arnold Schwarzenegger!

This new poster embedded below (and courtesy of JoBlo.com) shows off pretty much all of them. There seems to be an awful lot of movies coming out like this at the moment including The A-Team and The Losers but i don’t mind, I’ll be watching all of them!

The Expendables is released in the UK 13th August.

Clearly proud of the assembled muscle on offer, Lionsgate has thrown out another trailer for their Action supergroup film, The Expendables.

Though it looks a touch like a fan made trailer for an Action-80s nostalgia fuelled fanboy dream project there’s no denying that the list of names is impressive, I sort of wish they’d have shown some actual footage as seeing the list of names flash up on screen is a little less impressive.

There was a recent trailer with actual footage, and this is only part of the marketing sledgehammer we’ve been enjoying for the past few months, all of which you can see here.

IGN have a shiny big version, but it all looks the same to me.

Yesterday I posted some new images from Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendbles and today, AICN have released a brand new awesome banner and TV spot for the movie which has a steller cast which as well as Stallone, includes Jason Statham, Jet Li, Terry Crews,     Randy Couture, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Giselle Itie, Eric Roberts, David Zayas, Steve Austin, Bruce Willis and another man you might recognise, Arnold Schwarzenegger!

I love this new banner but they seem to have forgotten Schwarzenegger although maybe he’s not allowed to appear on any promotional material since he’s the Governator and all that!

Click on the banner belowto enlarge or visit AICN to view the new TV spot.

I went to the cinema a couple of days ago to watch Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass again as I hadn’t seen it since a very early screening where they hadn’t finished the audio. Before the movie they showed a new trailer for The Expendables which is Sylvester Stallone’s new action movie bringing 80s, 90s and current day actions heroes together.

As well as Stallone, those in the cast include: Jason Statham, Jet Li, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Giselle Itie, Eric Roberts, David Zayas, Steve Austin, Bruce Willis and another man you might recognise, Arnold Schwarzenegger!

This new 30 second trailer is more of a character builder with a crazy over-hyped audio dub on top of it. You’ll love it!

The Expendables is released in the UK August 20th.

Last month we posted the trailer for The Expendables and although it was generally well received I was not that impressed by it. Despite the action packed nature of the trailer I actually thought it made the film look a little dull.

Thanks to a  tip from AintItCool we can now show you the Japanese trailer for the film, embedded below, and I like this a lot more.

At only 30 seconds it may seem short but there is so much crammed into it. It appears to have been edited by someone who has difficulty concentrating for more than 2 seconds.

Although I’m still not that excited about The Expendables I do really like this trailer as it is just so fun and over the top.

Let us know what you think.

Yahoo have literally just released a brand new trailer for Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables. The movie stars loads of 80′s, 90s and 00′s hard men which includes a rather impressive cast of Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Terry Crews,     Randy Couture, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Giselle Itie, Eric Roberts, David Zayas, Steve Austin, Bruce Willis and another man you might recognise, Arnold Schwarzenegger!

This new trailer gives us a much better look at the movie including a look at all the main characters including Bruce Willis and the Governator himself. It has the potential to be awful but no matter what, i’ll be going to see it at the cinema when it’s released 13th August.

Enjoy!