THE EXPENDABLES

The Expendables stars Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Randy Couture, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Mickey Rourke, Terry Crews and brief but memorable appearances by Bruce Willis and yessss Arnold Schwarzenegger. Directed by Sly Stallone himself. Rated R with a running time of 1 hr. and 43 mins.

Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) is a man with nothing to lose. Fearless and void of emotion, he is the leader, the sage and the strategist of this tight-knit band of men who live on the fringe. His only attachment is to his pickup truck, his seaplane and his team of loyal modern-day warriors. The team behind him is made up of Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), former SAS and a savant with anything that has a blade; Yin Yang (Jet Li) a master at close-quarter combat; Hale Caesar (Terry Crews), who has known Barney for ten years and is a long-barrel weapons specialist; Toll Road (Randy Couture), a skilled demolitions expert and considered the intellect of the group; and Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), a combat veteran and an expert in precision sniping who struggles with his own demons. When the mysterious Church offers Barney a job no one else would take, Barney and his team embark on what appears to be a routine mission: overthrow General Gaza (David Zayas), the murderous dictator of the small island country of Vilena and end the years of death and destruction inflicted on its people. On a reconnaissance mission to Vilena, Barney and Christmas meet their contact Sandra (Giselle Itie), a local freedom-fighter with a dark secret. They also come to learn who their true enemy is: rogue ex-CIA operative James Monroe (Eric Roberts) and his henchman Paine (Steve Austin). When things go terribly wrong, Barney and Christmas are forced to leave Sandra behind, essentially giving her a death sentence. Haunted by this failure, Barney convinces the team to return to Vilena to rescue the hostage and finish the job he started. And to perhaps save a soul: his own.

WOW. The Expendables is one of the greatest action movies I have ever seen. Its only fitting that it comes from Sylvester Stallone who is one of action's greatest stars. Here he gathers up a few of the biggest action stars from the past and present. They are basically a team of mercenaries who go from job to job taking down the bad guys. One of the best parts of this movie is that everyone is given a chance to shine and kick some ass. Of course there are some amazing shooting sequences but there are also some great hand to hand fight scenes, especially the one between Steve Austin and Stallone. The great thing about this movie is that you are entertained non-stop and really in to the action. This movie is very bloody and thats what a great action movie is supposed to be like. I hate it when there is lots of killing in PG-13 action movies but you do not see an ounce of blood. That is just not realistic and in a way it ruins the movie. So don't worry The Expendables has plenty of blood.

Stallone has created a great action movie with a great cast. Oh and there is also that little scene with Bruce Willis and The governator Arnold Schwarzenegger. Its not a long scene but it is very funny and just seems to add to the movie in a fun and awesome way. Who knows there could be an Expendables 2 with Schwarzenegger having a bigger part. Now thats how Stallone could top this movie. But that would still be very hard because The Expendables is just so damn good! Great action, great fighting. Just great fun. One of the funniest scenes and bloodiest is when Terry Crewe's character comes barreling down a hall way blowing heads and body parts off men with his giant gun/bazooka looking thing. Believe me its awesome. Mickey Rourke is also good as the man who gets the Expendables their jobs and he also owns the bar where the guys like to hang out. I believe its impossible to come away from this movie and not to enjoy it. ITS THAT GOOD!

A