Before the series became a washed-out, PG-13 parody of itself, it was actually a legitimate attempt to revive both the bullet-slinging, one-lining, squib-spurting 80s action movies of yesteryear and the careers of the ageing actors who starred in them. But this somewhat narcissistic exploit actually missed the point of the pictures it was trying to recapture and, while its intentions may have been somewhat pure and only motivated monetarily by a majority fraction instead of a whole one, this means that it fails in its mission to take action flicks back to their 'glory days' despite the fact that much lead is slung and many Stallone one-liners are slurred, though the blood-packs are entirely replaced with their digital equivalents - and their non-convincing digital equivalents at that. 'The Expendables (2010)' ends up a rather dull slog through cliché after cliché, trope after trope and, perhaps less often than you'd like or even expect, shoot-out after shoot-out but avoids the fun that comes with even the 'worst' of the genre without having the courtesy to being self-aware about it. Ultimately, it isn't an enjoyable experience even though it is technically competent, conceptually admirable and, in essence, watchable. 5/10

To be terribly honest, Expendables isn't all bad; it's technically accomplished. But there is a reason why the best action movies have simple story lines, because you aren't able to balance between a believable and reasonable motivations as justification for the visceral action sequences. Something will have to give; and that can break the film. The Expendables is such an example. I think Stallone is an accomplish director but as a screenwriter, he's just not that very good. The first problem is the damsel in distress. To wage a war against an island nation to save a girl is simply preposterous; no man in their right mind will commit to such a unworthy endeavor. Barney Ross wants to be a white knight, but instead, this film he just comes across as a muscular beta male simp. Dolph Lundgran's character is absolutely unnecessary and his quarrel with Barney Ross is ludicrous. Jet Li's character is also quite unnecessary and even his action sequences were boring and unimaginative. David Zayas, Eric Roberts and Steve Austin was wasted in this film, as their roles were 1 dimensional and lacked any credibility. The hand to hand combat was simply tame, slow and weak. it simply showed these guys were too old to do this. What is good about the film is are the explosions, flight scene, chase scene and the gun fights, which I thought were very well shot and executed. And the script had the occasional great moments, with the banter between Barney Ross and Lee Christmas being the most interesting. Sigh.

I read a lot of bad reviews unfortunately these people are right on the money. You don't have to be a film geek to see how bad this movie is. I honestly miss the old action movies where there is an actual build up to the action so that the action feels intense. The film makers of today need to realize that less is more. No good one liners. They really need to expand on the characters. Jet li was a great action star and they just made him look like a bitch in this movie. I remember when Steve Austin was great in Predator in this movie he couldn't have been more generic. And the action ...geeez I literally fast forwarded the last sequence because it was so boring. Arnold just felt and looked like a wrinkly puppet who's appearance really had no significance at all in the movie. At the end turns out Gunner was alive? and they were all just getting along splendidly like he didn't try to kill them or betray them? Wow.

I was super hyped when this film came out years ago. It had every action star imaginable all together fighting crime and kicking ass. When it came out I thought it was one of the most awesome films I had ever seen. However as the years went on, it simply isn't that good. The directing is really annoying and suffers from BS quick-cut editing where you cant see a single thing that's going on. We know people like Statham, Stallone, Lundgren, and Stone Cold Steve Austin can fight, so why can't we see it? The plot is really boring and you wish that maybe they would've done something a lot more interesting than a generic plot ripped from Commando or Rambo. When I first saw the film in theaters, I actually really liked the plot because it was an exact homage to 80's action film plots, but after rewatching it, I definitely think something different should've been done here. I meant the film is not bad, but it is not great anymore. If there is one thing the film excels on, it's the gore. The gore in this film is so over-the-top that it's amazing...that is, when it isn't CGI. The only thing truly worth noting is the actors. It is AWESOME to see them interacting together on screen like they do in this film. Stallone, Statham, Lundgren, Schwarzenneger, Willis, Li, Austin, and Crews are all incredible with their witty dialog and exchanges, and even cooler with their big guns and fight scenes. That's what the film is all about, I guess.