The Expendables 3 (2014)

 

And we're off for number three in the franchise. Whereas the first film was a hoot and rightfully R-rated (huzzah for blood and guts), the second one was toned down to PG and we still had mayhem, only a lot less graphic. With Jean-Claude Van Damme we got a fun villain, though. This one goes down the same road, but it's both the villain and new sidecharacters that steal the show in an otherwise slightly blander version of the same old story.

Our classic crew (well, you know: the regular older geezers) break an original member out of prison. This turns out to be Doc (Snipes), who is first presented as not being all there, but they quickly drop that idea. Then it's off to a mission in Somalia, where Barney (Stallone) discovers a man called Stonebanks (Gibson) is far from dead. There is bad blood between them, and when Stonebanks seriously injures Caesar (Terry Crews), Barney feels it is time to retire the old team, as he has begun to see them as family instead of associates. He then goes on the hunt for fresh new mercs in order to hunt down Stonebanks. He assembles a cast of up-and-comers, of whom the most notable is probably Ronda Rousey. The other ones? You won't remember their names, let alone their faces and no, I didn't flip that statement. 

Naturally, the young team gets captured and now Barney has to go and rescue them with the help of his old buddies who just couldn't let him do this all on his own. 

Is the entire storyline as clichéd as it gets? Why yes, it is. And the entire film does feel a bit tired and not very exciting, alas. The action is mostly fine, but this one also got some of that annoying choppy editing during th action scenes, so it's often hard to keep track of what exactly is happening. Worse still, most of the actors are phoning it in and only Rousey is passable among the new faces. 

Two people steal the show however, and they both chew the scenery to bits: Antonio Banderas and Mel Gibson. Gibson is revelling in playing the bad guy with all the toppings of maniacal glee, and Banderas is exploiting the everloving fudge out of his goofy persona. It often seems like he is one of the few people having fun on set and his over-the-top excitement is rather catching.

Other than that? This is okay but nothing more, unfortunately. The story is too much of a rehash of the previous one, the editing is sloppy and it just isn't as investing as the previous ones. Maybe they should have gone even more cartoonish? Or better still: stay fairly grounded but return to R-rated violence. Neutered action often falls flat and here, it doesn't do the film favours. 

In short: it's watchable, but nothing special.