So The Expendables third instalment hit theaters today amid much eye rolling from critics and fans of cinema alike. Having seen the first two of these and having had a good look at the credits to this one, I can tell it won't be much different. In terms of quality The Expendables bears a lot of similarities to something like Transformers in terms of how it's treated by filmmakers behind them. I reviewed Hercules last week (you can read it here www.flymetoreview.com/reviews/hercules) and found it to be pretty enjoyable due to it not trying to be something it's not.
A nuts and bolts action film pretending to be high art is just annoying but a nuts and bolts action film that wants to be just that can often be lots of fun. The problem with The Expendables is that it's trying so hard to be a grunting, shooting classic war movie that it just comes off as a bit silly. There 's nothing wrong with silly over the top action flicks like The Expendables but some people do silly better than others. Take Robert Rodriguez for example. Like friend and sometimes colleague Quentin Tarantino, Rodriguez is a big fan of old OTT Grindhouse flicks where the violence and comedy were ramped up to eleven but nothing was taken all that seriously.
His movies, specifically his Machete series, are famous for being action movies that don't try to be something they're not. One can only imagine the fun Rodriguez would have with something like The Expendables. The Purge, a film set in a world where all crime is legal for one night, was another example of a great idea poorly executed. The premise offered near unlimited potential for a whole series of great movies but was wasted. They've made two already, but I'm willing to spend money on seeing however many of these there will be in order to catch the one installment that's half decent. The premise is so rich that, even by the law of averages, one of them will be worth it.
Which brings us briefly to Harry Potter. A series of eight films where only three were at the standard you'd expect from a franchise that big. Not that the others were bad, except The Half Blood Prince which was ghastly, just not really good enough. There were some obvious trip ups, releasing the films before the books had finished being one of them, although I can appreciate the marketing reasons behind that. You can see the ebb and flow of quality as the films were handed to different directors with Alfonso Cuarón's Prisoner of Azkaban being the standout piece of the series.
So by all means enjoy The Expendables but think about what might have been. You might even get your wish with a fourth instalment aimed at a female audience with an all female cast titled, I kid you not, The Expendabelles having already been given the green light.
I wish I was kidding.
