You know that meme about Chuck Norris? The ‘Chuck Norris facts’ meme I think they call it.

The one where there are a load of facts about Chuck Norris and people list them and laugh at them. The facts that make Chuck sound like some sort of malevolent God from the planet awesome. The facts that have been circulating the internet for so long and so loudly that even mentioning them is clichéd beyond credibility.

The ones that go like this:

• Chuck Norris’ tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried.
• Chuck Norris counted to infinity – twice.
• Chuck Norris does not hunt because the word hunting infers the probability of failure. Chuck Norris goes killing.
• Chuck Norris has already been to Mars; that’s why there are no signs of life there.
• Chuck Norris doesn’t have a chin behind his beard. Just another fist.

You know, those facts. The ones that you hate me for recounting. God I’m ashamed of myself…

Well Chuck isn’t just some karate kicking cliché or some occasional brainless sex object there to be ironically lauded to the detriment of everyone who chooses to do so 6 years on from the facts’ inception. He’s a serious man. And will be treated as such thank you very much.

Yep, Chuck has had enough of the vulgarity that surrounds him and has made a stand with his latest appearance in The Expendables 2. Whereas the film is being pitched (as was the first) as a no-holds barred, violent, sweary, adult smash-fest of silly proportions, Chuck Norris in an interview with Polish site Gazeta has claimed that one of his conditions for signing up to the project was that the film clean up its act and cut out the hardcore swearing that Norris doth abhor so much in order to get a PG-13 rating. You know, for the kids:

The ExpendablesPremiere.com transcription of the interview shows Norris’ message as being:

In Expendables 2, there was a lot of vulgar dialogue in the screenplay. Fot this reason, many young people wouldn’t be able to watch this. But I don’t play in movies like this. Due to that I said I won’t be a part of that if the hardcore language is not erased. Producers accepted my conditions and the movie will be classified in the category of PG-13.

Well this all sounds very silly doesn’t it. If The Expendables 2 really was going for a PG-13 rating in the US then surely the language isn’t the only thing that would have to be toned down. Also since Norris surely doesn’t have that much sway in the grand scheme of things his requests will surely amount to nothing.

Even so, as a man of apparently strong moral convictions and with an internet fame that has now surely surpassed his status as a cult film star maybe it’s time that he made a stand against the ravages of two-dimensional fame. Good for you Chuck, although next time maybe don’t make a stand by starring in a film that is fundamentally defined by its R rating. I mean without blood and some fruity language what’s left? The ground breakingly nuanced performances?

Source: /Film

Eschewing the accepted convention of teasing a new trailer with the unveiling of a poster a few days beforehand The Expendables 2 is following its recent trailer with this new image of Stallone making his own inimitable impression on a nearby wall.

Those merry veterans of the movie web scene AICN were deigned hard enough to debut the poster and while it won’t win any design awards it’s a pretty fair indication of what to expect.

Sylvester Stallone leads a cast of Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Liam Hemsworth, Jean Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger. So there’s something for everyone. As long as all anyone actually wants is a collection musclebound actors killing people.

Here’s the synopsis,

Things go boom.

Here is a fuller synopsis,

The Expendables are back and this time it’s personal… Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Lee Christmas (Lee Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren),Toll Road (Randy Couture) and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) — with newest members Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth) and Maggie (Yu Nan) aboard — are reunited when Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) enlists the Expendables to take on a seemingly simple job. The task looks like an easy paycheck for Barney and his band of old-school mercenaries. But when things go wrong and one of their own is viciously killed, the Expendables are compelled to seek revenge in hostile territory where the odds are stacked against them. Hell-bent on payback, the crew cuts a swath of destruction through opposing forces, wreaking havoc and shutting down an unexpected threat in the nick of time — six pounds of weapons-grade plutonium; enough to change the balance of power in the world. But that’s nothing compared to the justice they serve against the villainous adversary who savagely murdered their brother. That is done the Expendables way….

Poster time, click to make it big.

`While the world was waiting for a trailer for The Dark Knight Rises to appear the first trailer for Simon West’s The Expendables 2 is thrown into the ring.

Sylvester Stallone returns with a packed cast including Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Liam Hemsworth, Jean Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Here’s the synopsis,

The Expendables are back and this time it’s personal… Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Lee Christmas (Lee Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren),Toll Road (Randy Couture) and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) — with newest members Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth) and Maggie (Yu Nan) aboard — are reunited when Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) enlists the Expendables to take on a seemingly simple job. The task looks like an easy paycheck for Barney and his band of old-school mercenaries. But when things go wrong and one of their own is viciously killed, the Expendables are compelled to seek revenge in hostile territory where the odds are stacked against them. Hell-bent on payback, the crew cuts a swath of destruction through opposing forces, wreaking havoc and shutting down an unexpected threat in the nick of time — six pounds of weapons-grade plutonium; enough to change the balance of power in the world. But that’s nothing compared to the justice they serve against the villainous adversary who savagely murdered their brother. That is done the Expendables way….

Here it is people! The one you’ve all been waiting for! it’s the first official poster for The Expendables 2 and it packs some serious punch! The movie appears to have the title EX2. I Don’t know yet if that is the official title for the movie but we’ll keep you posted. Joining Sylvester Stallone on the poster are: Jean-Claude Van Damme Chuck Norris, Dolph Lundgren. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham, Bruce Willis, and Terry Crews. Jet Li, Scott Adkins, Jet Li and Liam Hemsowrth also star in the movie but they didn’t make the cut on the poster!

The film should be with us August 2012.

Click he poster to enlarge.

Source: JoBlo

In case you haven’t already heard, the sequel to last year’s all-star action blockbuster, The Expendables, has been increasing its cast and signing everyone who’s anyone in the martial arts/butt-kicking scene.

Last week, we got a look at Sylvester Stallone, who won’t be directing this time around, hanging out with Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger on the set of The Expendables 2.

We’ve now got a picture, courtesy of Collider, that shows of a few more cast members, most notably giving us our first look at the one and only Mr. Chuck Norris – the ‘Mr.’ because the man could destroy with his eyes, so it’s a good idea to be polite. Norris is of course renowned for his general awesomeness, and though I confess that I’ve never actually seen him act – don’t hate me – I am naturally a fan of many of the Chuck Norris jokes you hear every now and then. A personal favourite, via TheChuckNorrisFacts, being:

“Chuck Norris does not hunt because the word hunting infers the probability of failure. Chuck Norris goes killing.”

The sequel will be directed by Simon West (Con Air, The General’s Daughter), and along with Stallone, Schwarzenegger, and Willis, we should get to see Jason Statham, Jet Li, Liam Hemsworth, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren, Scott Adkins, and possibly John Travolta and Donnie Yen, who remain rumours at the moment. Essentially, more names than you can reasonably fit into one sentence (but I did it anyway).

Principal photography is clearly underway for The Expendables 2, with a release date currently scheduled for 17th August next year, making it quite possibly/probably 2012’s biggest summer blockbuster in terms of cast recognition. Without further ado, here’s the new photo from the set, with Mr. Norris himself. As usual, click to enlarge.

Schwarzenegger’s appearance alongside Stallone and Willis in the first Expendables film was a glorified cameo and didn’t have nearly as much impact as they all seemed to think it did. Frankly, I felt robbed and it is therefore with some gratitude that I hear that there may be a bit more of him this time around.

Yes, it’s sequel time and along with the rest of the returning cast, we should get a whole host of other action stars as well. So far, we know to expect Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Sly, Scott Adkins, Chuck Norris (who apparently can win Connect 4 in three moves), Jean Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis and possibly The Rock, Vin Diesel, John Travolta and Nic Cage. Crikey.

Rumour-mongering aside, we know that Sly, Willis and Arnie are on set, because we have this lovely photo to prove it. So there.

Source: It’s from Arnie’s Twitter feed.

UPDATE: It seems the man can’t get enough of tweeting his movements, today he also found the time to tweet a pic of him ‘wrapping up a big day on The Last Stand with Zach Gilford and our great director, Jee-Woon Kim’.

]]> http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2011/10/19/schwarzenegger-on-set-for-the-expendables-2/feed/ 0 http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2011/09/21/liam-hemsworth-brings-a-youthful-vibe-to-the-expendables-2/ http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2011/09/21/liam-hemsworth-brings-a-youthful-vibe-to-the-expendables-2/#comments Wed, 21 Sep 2011 15:00:53 +0000 Adam Lowes http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/?p=107532

According to Deadline, up-and-coming Australian actor Liam (brother of Thor’s Chris) Hemsworth is joining the starry cast of action dinosaurs in The Expendables 2.

Hemsworth will team up with the original’s director/star (Con Air’s Simon West is welding the megaphone this time around) Sylvester Stallone, alongside Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Terry Crews, Jet Li, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and newcomers Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme.

This piece of casting is certainly a shrewd move by the makers. Hemsworth is on the cusp of major stardom owing to one of the starring roles in the upcoming, hugely anticipated adaptation of the hit young-adult science fiction novel, The Hunger Games, which is due for release in the UK next March.

No word yet if his role in The Expendables sequel will be that of Stallone’s grandson, which the 21-year-old could feasibly play.

This evening is going rather nuts. First there is news that Russell Crowe may play Jor-El in Zack Snyder’s Superman: Man of Steel and now we see that Simon West (Con Air, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and The General’s Daughter) will direct The Expendables 2! The Expendables was a bringing together of both 80s and 90s ‘hard men’ to create a throw back to all the movies that we know and loved from the two decades. Sylvester Stallone wrote, directed and starred in the first movie and ever since, we’ve speculated on who might direct the second and now we know.

Deadline have broken the news and also tell us that Sylvester Stallone, Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Terry Crews and Jet Li are all expected to be back for the second installment. Let’s hope that Steven Seagal and Jean Claude van Damme appear this time along with larger roles for Arnold Schwarzenegger (personal life allowing!) and Bruce Willis.

Good news or bad? Tell us in the comments section below!

We’ll be in out Cannes this Friday but there nice and early is our friend Alex Billington from First Showing who has come across the first poster for the sequel to Sylvester Stallone’s Expendables. At present, it looks the title will simply be The Expendables 2 but I wouldn’t be surprised if that changes.

The first movie was directed by Stallone and boasted many 80s and 90s ‘hard men’ in it’s cast including Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Steve Austin and a cameo from Arnold Schwarzenegger. We hope many of them wll return in the sequel, hopefully alongside Jean Claude van Damme and Steve Seagal!

More as we get it.

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.

Opening with fireworks and a beautifully constructed action sequence The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk quickly shifts to a sandy landscape and a Olympic games style contest that introduces the titular hero of the film, Fong Sai-Yuk. Based on a real life legend of Chinese history Fong Sai-Yuk is played here by Jet Li. Coming off the success of the Once Upon a Time in China films, where he portrayed another legendary folk hero Wong Fei-Hung, this period in Jet Li’s career helped put him on the map both in Asia and in the West.

Fong Sai-Yuk is in this film, the first of two films in which Li plays the character, immature, headstrong and cocky. Still young he is finding his way and not yet the legendary figure that led to his heroic status in history. Jeff Lau, who expertly scripted The Legend of Fong Sai-Yuk, takes a lot of liberties with history and weaves new elements into the well known legend to create a dramatic and comedic story. He also injects a romantic subplot into the story which helps increase the stakes in certain action scenes.

After meeting and falling in love with Lui Ting-Ting (Michelle Reis) early in the film Fong Sai-Yuk is determined to win her hand in marriage by winning a martial arts contest held by her father. Into this situation walks Fong Sai-Yuk’s mother Miu Chui-Fa, played by the film-stealing Josephine Siao, who pretends to be a man and wins the contest and accidentally the heart of Ting-Ting. This kind of gender swapping and mistaken identity comedy is common in Hong Kong cinema and can often become a little grating but here it is genuinely funny, helps develop the characters and aids in moving the plot forwards. The film is also not strictly a comedy and does contain some very dramatic and occasionally violent moments and these more amusing scenes help take the edge off what could have become portentous. The chemistry between Jet Li and Josephine Siao, who play the mother-son relationship more like they are siblings, is a joy to watch and Li’s performance as Fong Sai-Yuk is one his best.

Running alongside this action/romance/comedy plot is a more dramatic one involving the hunt for a macguffin, a list of the members of the Red Lotus Flower Society, an underground organisation that is committed to a rebellion against the emperor. Fong Sai-Yuk’s father is involved in this orginisation and is he becomes the target of the evil Governor Kau Man who is seeking to destroy the Red Lotus Flower Society. Vincent Zhao plays Kau Man and with the recent Chinese and Hong Kong release of Yuen Woo-Ping’s True Legend and Zhao incredible performance in it, he should get more of the praise and respect he deserved earlier in his career.

Both the comedic and dramatic action sequences in The Legend of Fong Sai-Yuk are expertly directed by Corey Yuen and the wire work throughout is there to enhance the action and complement the choreography rather than overshadow it with excess. The direction of the action is exceptional with great use of low angles and wide shots when necessary. Particularly impressive is the fight on people’s heads and the sequence near the end of the film that takes place in a confined space. The latter especially features a very good use of space and also some stunning expressionistic lighting. The editing during the action is also very effective; fast editing builds the pace in the right places but the action is clear and always fluid.

Jet Li is also an impressive physical performer and the film is in many ways a vehicle to show the world his talents (he also co-produced and helped finance the film). The film never feels like a vehicle for Li though and the writing and Siao’s performance are just too good to let the film fall into the trap that other martial arts films have fallen into in this respect.

This UK DVD release of The Legend of Fong Sai-Yuk has been a long time coming and in many respects it does not disappoint. One very significant area though that makes it very hard to recommend is the choice of cut for the DVD. The DVD is a direct port of the American Region 1 Dragon Dynasty DVD and therefore features the ‘International Cut’ and not the original ‘Uncut’ version. The differences are quite significant and do not just come down to violence (although the very memorable face-ripping scene is absent). Gone are a couple of subtle character interactions, minor plot points and the soundtrack is changed slightly in places.

The International Cut not terrible though (like the International Cut of Shaolin Soccer for instance) and the changes are actually quite minor but there are noticeable differences. It is likely that the decision to use the International Cut was based on the availability of the English dub for the film that matches the cut and this is probably essential to helping sales in the US and UK but it is a shame it wasn’t possible to perhaps include both cuts (maybe on a Blu-ray?). As far as I am aware the Uncut version is currently only available without English subtitles (the French DVD for example) or in an unremastered form (there are many R3 releases) so this does appear to represent the best version in terms of transfer quality with English subtitles. Although I have reservations about this disc because of the cut I would still recommend it and if this is the only version available to you then you should not be put off checking it out as the film is stunning.

The transfer is excellent with little damage visible and the colours are vibrant and defined. The disc has the original Cantonese audio in Mono which is surprisingly clear but not exactly impressive in terms of quality. The English dub is also present in Dolby 5.1 and although not as egregious as  many English dubs it should definitely be avoided in favour of the original audio and English subtitles, which are clear and seemingly well translated. The DVD comes with only a few extras but they are filled with valuable information. The interviews with Corey Yuen and Jeff Lau are interesting, informative and contain a smattering of nice anecdotes but it is the Bey Logan commentary that is, as it often is, so invaluable. Full of fascinating information pulled from Logan’s encyclopedic knowledge of Hong Kong cinema, even dedicated fans will find new morsels of information that they have not heard before.

Despite my reservations about the choice of cut for the UK DVD The Legend of Fong Sai-Yuk is a wonderful film and a great example of early nineties Hong Kong martial arts cinema well served by good quality DVD.

The Legend of Fong Sai-Yuk is released on DVD today.

As my title suggests, I am a female. Gal, lady, woman, chick, girl.  In some ways I could even be considered a girlie girl.  I like to shop.  I love shoes.  Heels specifically.  I tend to get cranky if I have a bad hair day and I never go to work without putting on my make up.  Any time I’m not at work is a completely different story.  But I digress….

I am a girl in most respects.  I’ve been told that the one area I’m not like most other females, is in my choice of movies.  I don’t care much for the “chick flick”.  Romantic comedies can be fun, but if given the choice, I’d go with action or science fiction instead.  If I had to pick between watching Pretty Woman or Aliens for all eternity, I’d pick Aliens without thinking twice.

I guess you could say I’m more of a “nuke the planet from orbit” kind of gal versus the “I want the fairy tale.” kind of gal.  I have no issue with this and most of my male friends are thankful.  Instead of going on and on about the new Sex and the City movie, I’m prattling on about how great this action scene was or how I can’t wait for that science fiction movie.

I trace it all back to my childhood.  Instead of watching whatever chick flicks girls my age were watching back then, I was glued to the likes of Commando, American Ninja (and it’s sequels), Gymkata, First Blood parts 1 and 2, Die Hard, Bloodsport, Missing in Action, Hard to Kill, Above the Law, Lethal Weapon, Red Dawn, The Delta Force, you get the picture.  Basically anything with Stallone, Norris, Seagal, Van Damme, Schwarzenegger, Willis and all of those other fellas in those wonderfully awful 80′s (and later, the 90′s) action movies.

Growing up on those types of movies naturally set the foundation and paved the way for my viewing habits as an adult.  Obviously my standards are a bit higher and I want quality to go with my visuals, but I really don’t see anything wrong with the occasional empty movie.  You don’t eat ice cream for nutrition.  You eat it because it’s full of yummy goodness and empty calories.  So why can’t the same be said for movies?

I love all different kinds of movies.  I think movies can be important and make a statement and I don’t mind the occasional heavy soul crushing movies but I can only take those in small doses and the same goes for Vietnam era films.  But I’ll still watch and like, maybe even love them.  But there are times where I want, no…I NEED some mindless entertainment and I long for those 80′s and 90′s action movies.

I want to be taken back to a time where I would lay on my belly on the floor, feet in the air, propped up on my elbows with my eyes wide with wonder as I watched Arnie fire off that missile launcher, or watched Stallone shank that guy with his jagged blade hunting knife.  So naturally, when I first started hearing news about Stallone’s new film The Expendables, I was excited.  In all honesty, he had me with the cast and synopsis.  I really didn’t need to see anything else.  It was decided right then, this would be a can’t-miss movie for me.  When you look at the line up it’s a bit surprising this movie got made.  Some big names, some not so big, but all awesome in their own right.

This isn’t going to be a review.  Our writer Gary has already taken care of that and you can read it here.  After poking around online I’ve noticed that the majority of reviews written about The Expendables are by male writers.  There are several done by females as well, but the ratio doesn’t seem to be equal.  The comments posted on the reviews by the women writers were both positive and negative.  From things like it being a stupid review to how women shouldn’t review actions movies.  I’m here to tell you that’s a bunch of malarkey.  Some of the female reviewers didn’t like the movie, some did.  The reviews by the males were the same.  Some liked it, some didn’t.  So what’s the difference between a man or a woman liking or disliking it ?

Was I looking for a deep meaningful story, excellent acting and fluid film making? No.  I was looking for big explosions, ridiculous fights, weapons that nobody should ever own or have access to that I wished I had and extreme explosions.  Care to know a secret? I loved it.  Care to know another secret? I giggled like a gossiping school girl the entire time.  I was able to look past the transparent story and stilted dialogue because this movie delivered exactly what it promised.  A bunch of action stars fighting, shooting, stabbing and blowing stuff up.  What else could you really ask for?

Don’t mistake my enthusiasm for blinders.  I’m fully aware that the movie had it’s flaws.  There are things I wish they had  done differently.  There weren’t nearly enough Jet Li fight scenes.  I was also really hoping for some tribute, maybe in a dialogue throwback to the actor’s earlier films.  I wished that the action and fight scenes weren’t done with a series of quick takes.  I wish there had been more Dolph.  Those are but a few examples.  Even though it had it’s faults, I still loved it.  I found myself sitting there with a stupid grin on my face the whole time.  I didn’t look at my watch once. I was instantly transported back to my youth the second it started.  Seeing Jet go up again Dolph, Statham go up against several guys at one time, Randy Couture and Steve Austin squaring off against each other….what’s not to love?!

Now is the time that Geek girls are coming out in abundance. You can find us anywhere.  Yes, I do consider myself a geek girl.  I love  all things science fiction, Star Wars AND Star Trek, comic book movies (even though I’m not much into comics, I was a faithful reader of The Punisher for a time) Battlestar Galactica and all those other fun geek things.  I do realize there is more to being a Geek girl that just those things but for the sake of not turning this into the next great American novel, I’m keeping the list short.  I also consider myself an Action girl.  There is a contingent of us out there who will take The Expendables over Eat, Pray, Love any day of the week and twice on Sunday.  Yes fellas, we are out there.  We aren’t a myth.

After I saw Inception I had a discussion with someone who didn’t like it because they “don’t want to have to think too much” when watching a movie.  You won’t be burning any brain cells during The Expendables but if you know that going in, and expect it, you’ll have a great time.  I loved it for it’s ridiculous action.  I loved it for all the reasons I loved watching all of those other 80′s  and 90′s movies.  Most of all….I LOVED Terry Crews’ gun! And no, that’s not a metaphor.

My point here is that girls need action love too.  You can love mindless action movies AND have a uterus.  Having the double X chromosome doesn’t mean we are bound to the romantic comedies and girlie movies.  Needless to say I’ll be bypassing the lines for Going the Distance this weekend and heading straight for Machete.  But right now, I have a date with Blind Fury and Showdown in Little Tokyo.

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.