# The Expendables - Greatest action movie ever made? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 31, 2010, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expendables-greatest-action-movie-ever-made/534506 "2010-03-31T22:50:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expendables-greatest-action-movie-ever-made/534506/61 "2010-08-15T21:07:33Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Um, in Seagal’s first movie, “Above the Law”, he has the shit kicked out of him several times. In ‘Hard to Kill’ he gets shot half a dozen times and spends years in a coma. In “Air Force One”, he dies in one of the opening scenes. > > There’s lots of things to knock Seagal over, but you missed the mark on that one. Ok, so only 90% of the time he beats the shit out of everything in sight without any difficulty. Totally off the mark. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expendables-greatest-action-movie-ever-made/534506/62 "2010-08-15T21:15:34Z")
He’s an action star. It’s what they do. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expendables-greatest-action-movie-ever-made/534506/63 "2010-08-15T21:16:31Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > In “Air Force One”, he dies in one of the opening scenes. > . I presume you mean Executive Decision, or else that scene was one of the really early ones, like before the movie started. With regards to the movie, I laughed when Sly flicked a switch on the airplane that said “auto-pilot”. Oh, that must be the box that controls the script! ---
**Author:** ![Noelq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noelq/32/16438_2.png) [@Noelq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noelq)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expendables-greatest-action-movie-ever-made/534506/64 "2010-08-16T18:57:39Z")
Hee hee hee! Lots of good explosions, and some massively neat shotgun explosions. Its a popcorn flick. It was awesome in its sheer amount of destruction. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expendables-greatest-action-movie-ever-made/534506/65 "2010-08-16T19:54:06Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#): > > I thought Arnold Schwarzenegger stopped acting once he got elected. He’s had other cameos since becoming governor. He had a 3 second cameo in [The Rundown](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rundown) with Dwayne Johnson in 2003, was in the remake of [Around the World in 80 Days](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Around_the_World_in_80_Days_(2004_movie)) in 2004, and appeared as himself in [The Kid & I](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kid_%26_I) in 2005. His term ends this year. He can’t run for reelection because of term limits. He hasn’t said if he’ll return to acting full-time. There is a rumor he may run for the Senate, but that hasn’t been confirmed. ---
**Author:** ![RogueRacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RogueRacer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RogueRacer)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expendables-greatest-action-movie-ever-made/534506/66 "2010-08-16T20:12:08Z")
I thought it was a good action movie. It had that 80’s-90’s feel most of the time, with some updates to 2010. There were the required one liners and some pretty good inside humor. For example: When the main bad guy is talking to the general’s daughter he makes a comment about how he never hits women, but then looks at Steve Austin’s character and says that he (Austin) doesn’t live by those rules. Steve Austin has done jail time in real life for domestic violence. Now I’m not saying that domestic violence is funny, but it was kind of neat seeing Austin have to eat a little crow there for his paycheck. For whoever said that they would have rather seen Couture do more fighting than Stallone: It was Couture that ended up beating Austin. Austin kicked Stallone’s ass. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expendables-greatest-action-movie-ever-made/534506/67 "2010-08-16T23:14:13Z")
Chester A. Bum [reviewed it](http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/bum-reviews/27493-the-expendables). It perfectly sums up the movie, I think. ---
**Author:** ![silk1976](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@silk1976](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silk1976)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expendables-greatest-action-movie-ever-made/534506/68 "2010-08-17T03:23:20Z")
I just saw it tonight. Given the cast, I expected an utterly impenetrable wall of testosterone-laden bad-assness that would destroy everything in its path. I expected a bad movie with such over-the-top action sequences that I’d be laughing constantly at the sheer awesomeness of the inevitable glorious explosions, doom-style wasting of hordes of enemies and poorly written one-liners. Think of the scene in Predator where the guy goes nuts with the gatling and mows down the forest. Think of Rambo, Commando - all those movies wrapped into one, but multiplied 6-7x due to the cast. What I got was a movie with a few cool sequences, but otherwise was just about any old action flick. Still enjoyable, though. I’m just a touch disappointed that the movie wasn’t as bad as I though it’d be - and I have a hard time describing that feeling in any other way. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expendables-greatest-action-movie-ever-made/534506/69 "2010-08-18T22:25:29Z")
> [@Hades](#): > > He’s an action star. It’s what they do. Bruce Willis in all the Die Hard movies gets his ass kicked. Segal kills like 60 guys at a time with his pinky. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expendables-greatest-action-movie-ever-made/534506/70 "2010-08-18T22:28:07Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > > [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > > > The thing that worries me is that to a large extent a hero is only as tough as his opponent. This might be why Rambo didn’t have any lasting effect on the movie market. The bad guy in this is the lovable buddy-cop [Angel from Dexter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Zayas). > > From the trailer, it looks like the bad guy sensibly hires Dolph Lundgren as a tough opponent for Sylvester Stallone – which, by definition, works. I think Steve Austin is one of the bad guys and maybe one of the other action stars listed. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expendables-greatest-action-movie-ever-made/534506/71 "2010-08-18T22:32:46Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > I think watching a movie is about the gayest way of expressing manliness there is, other than flower arranging. As soon as I get out from under this hair dryer I am so kickin yo ass. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expendables-greatest-action-movie-ever-made/534506/72 "2010-08-18T22:35:42Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > > [@msmith537](#): > > > > [Trailer here](http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808411960/video) > > [Much BETTER trailer here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fncp0sQvBM0&hd=1) 😉 The association with Eat Pray Love is hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expendables-greatest-action-movie-ever-made/534506/73 "2010-08-18T22:39:22Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > > > Um, in Seagal’s first movie, “Above the Law”, he has the shit kicked out of him several times. In ‘Hard to Kill’ he gets shot half a dozen times and spends years in a coma. In “Air Force One”, he dies in one of the opening scenes. > > > > There’s lots of things to knock Seagal over, but you missed the mark on that one. > > Ok, so only 90% of the time he beats the shit out of everything in sight without any difficulty. Totally off the mark. I like Seagals first movie because he was a bad ass that still got hurt. When he turned ex navy seal expert in every fucking thing, one man army I got very turned off. It seems in almost every movie he did someone had to have a line about what an super incredible bad ass he was with more and more exaggeration. It’s too bad he and Van Damme didn’t get in on this. Van Damme especially. and,…no cameo for Chuck Norris. Couldn’t he have been a retired James Braddock? ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expendables-greatest-action-movie-ever-made/534506/74 "2010-08-20T13:01:16Z")
When I see people talking about Rotten Tomato and Metacritic I start to wonder if I’m out of touch with how people watch action movies. Aren’t great action movies _supposed_ to be terrible, super cheesy, and all around _bad_? That’s why I love movies like Commando, the second Rambo movie, Road House, and et cetera. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expendables-greatest-action-movie-ever-made/534506/75 "2010-08-20T13:24:39Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > Aren’t great action movies _supposed_ to be terrible, super cheesy, and all around _bad_? That’s why I love movies like Commando, the second Rambo movie, Road House, and et cetera. Those movies are great fun, but there are also plenty of action movies (like Predator, Die Hard and Lethal Weapon) that are also just plain great movies. I think that’s why people complain a little bit when something like The Expendables is just a great action movie, when it could have been a great movie. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expendables-greatest-action-movie-ever-made/534506/76 "2010-11-24T16:19:00Z")
OKay, out on DVD and I finally got to watch it. I liked it. I actually liked Dolph Lundgren’s just a little too crazy character although the forgiveness at the end was a bit much. Liked the fight scene between him and Jet. Although Terry Crews sure has the look of an action star all his comedy was a distraction in a sea of action stars. I thought Austin kicking Stallone’s ass was appropriate as well as Coulture kicking his ass later on. I’d like to see Coulture in one of Austin’s B action flicks. Maybe opponents who have to work together in a competitive way. Liked Staham’s knife throwing gig. Still would have liked to have seen Van Dame and Sagal. Sagal should have had Eric Roberts role and there could have been a cool fight scene at the end with Staham. Lundgren in Crews role, and Van Dame in the a little too crazy drugged out merc role. A fight between him and Lee would have been a good sequence. Wait, where’s Jackie Chan, and still want that retired James Braddock cameo. ---
**Author:** ![Short\_Guy\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@Short\_Guy\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Short_Guy_1)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2010, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expendables-greatest-action-movie-ever-made/534506/77 "2010-11-27T12:02:06Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > One reviewer I like echoed what was said above-they should have gotten the likes of Jeremy Irons or Alan Rickman to play the supervillian. No way. Eric Roberts is the cheesy out-of-date action movie villain in the exact same way that Stallone and Schwarzenegger are the cheesy out-of-date action movie heroes. Perfect casting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expendables-greatest-action-movie-ever-made/534506.md?page=3)