“The Expendables 3” Review

“The Expendables 3” is an action-packed, chuckle-filled thrill ride of a movie with every old action star you can think of and some new, young blood added in just for fun. I know what everyone is thinking: Did they really make a third “Expendables” movie? Who even watched the second one? If you’ve seen and enjoyed the first one even a little bit, do yourself a favor and watch the second and third movies because they only get better as they go along. With the addition of a few more old action stars each time they make a new one, it made this final movie absolutely outrageous, but in the best way possible. Who else would have dared to put Harrison Ford, Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mel Gibson, Wesley Snipes, Dolph Lundgren, Kelsey Grammar, Jason Statham, Terry Crews, Antonio Banderas among others together in one giant testosterone fest? No one, that’s who, in the latest, and reportedly final, installment of “The Expendables,” Stallone fires his old team and fills it with new blood for a personal battle. He has been hired to take down Gibson’s character, the Expendables co-founder and notorious arms trader who is hell-bent on wiping out Stallone and every single one of his associates. The battle that follows is crazy, involves a lot of awkward close-ups of Stallone’s face and has a lot of over-the-top weaponry. The jokes are age-based, whether they are erectile dysfunction-related or about technology. The underlying theme of the movie focuses on the new versus the old ways of doing things. The new kids take on the old guys, and that battle results in some pretty great jokes. Men and women alike can head to the theaters for this movie and enjoy themselves because it’s fun, hilarious and has some great stunts as well. Statham even had a mishap during filming where he almost drowned, so you know it’s going to be insane. I’ve watched every single trailer for this movie a number of times and it still didn’t give away the entire plot, as most do these days. I think the best part of the trailers is that a lot of the scenes don’t actually happen in the theatrical version of the movie. So even if you’ve been seeing them on TV or seeking the trailers out on your own, you haven’t really figured it all out. But just to be safe, when it comes to action movies, it’s best not to over think the plot so you don’t ruin anything. I have to say, if this really is the final film of the series, they couldn’t have gone out in a better way. The final 45 minutes are explosion-filled and will have you on the edge of your seat waiting to see what will happen.