The Expendables: Great Movie or Greatest Movie

I had the immense pleasure of watching the new smash hit movie The Expendables this weekend.
In case you're a terrible awful person and are unaware, The Expendables is the brainchild of Sylvester Stallone, Starring Sylvester Stallone, Written by Sylvester Stallone, and Directed by Sylvester Stallone. Aside from being a sweet Sylvester Stallone joint (which, frankly, is more than enough to get me to the theater, that man has great credentials [Rocky, Rambo, Cliffhanger, Cobra, etc]) the film also stars/features the esteemed likes of: Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, and Mickey Rourke. I've been in love with this film since it was announced, no, I've been in love with this film since I thought of it in 5th grade while I was supposed to be doing something or other at school.

I need to say it: The Expendables exceeded each and every one of my expectations. I thought it would be a fun action flick. I like fun action flicks. There is an absolute need for them. Not every film should be a testament to the capabilities of the medium, some should just be a testament to the insanity of the over indulged adolescent male brain. Stallone, despite being 40 years my senior, can tap into that little hyper active boy far better than I could hope to. As far as I'm concerned, that makes Sly a national treasure. For a good two hours I was on the edge of my seat watching brutal fist fights, massive gun battles, and explosions galore.

Watch this film.

Predators Day!

Yesterday I watched Predators.

To more completely describe the experience I need to fill you in on a tradition that I've been creating with a few of my friends. When a sequel to a film comes out, a sequel such as Predators, take a day and watch all of the films in the series, in this instance, we watched Predator and Predator 2. Just spend a good day and a half hanging out and watching some old film with good friends. It's a classy idea, and I recommend that everyone at least try it.

On to Predators, and why I loved watching it!


Let's start out with the concept for the film, because it's a good one, and it lends itself wonderfully to making a great action flick. Toss a handful of diverse and interesting characters into a foreign land (in this case an alien planet), give them a common goal (survival), and a common foe (Predators!). It's a simple formula, really simple, but it gave me exactly what I was looking for, and I love that. It also helped to set the pace of the film early. We open with Adrian Brody falling out of the sky, he barely hits his parachute, and takes a bumpy landing. The first bit of the movie doesn't slow down from there. We're introduced to our cast and concept wasting absolutely no time. Fantastic!

Then there are the scenes I'm going to carry with me, the bits that were clearly minor labors of love and genius.

Laurence Fishburne played a survivor of the alien planet. This is one of those tropes for like movies that you generally have, or at least I feel like it's a trope (I'm thinking Battle Royale here). Of course, Fishburne continues the trend of characters in this film, everyone in the film is a terrible person. Fishburne is no different and you come to realize HOW it is that he has stayed alive for so long. Lovely bit there. That he was either crazy to start with or developed an imaginary friend is an added bonus. His scheming mania was a real high light for me, there was some nice humor in the film anyhow, what with Topher Grace playing a guy who "wasn't supposed to be there" and Walton Goggins' fairly worthless in combat serial killer, but the madcap over the top element always makes me happy.

I'm a fan of Japanese cinema, or at least, what I've seen of Japanese cinema, so the ridiculously classic shoot of a Samurai battle between a Yakuza and a Predator filled me with pure delight. Is it ridiculous in context... maybe a little. Why would the Predator not shoot the Yakuza, why go one on one? Why not! Either the director loves Samurai films like I do, or he gave a fantastic homage because he knew it would be fun, it doesn't matter. The outcome was brilliant.

And of course we have spectacular performances from every one involved, a script that flows smoothly, and direction that shows love.

My hat is off to the cast and crew.