Expend4bles
“Expend4bles” is a 2023 American action film and the fourth installment in “The Expendables” film series. The movie is directed by Scott Waugh and stars an ensemble cast including Jason Statham, Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, and Randy Couture reprising their roles from previous films, with Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Megan Fox, Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, Jacob Scipio, Levy Tran, and Andy García joining the cast 1. The movie pays tribute to the action films of the 1980s and 1990s.
The plot of the movie revolves around a team of highly skilled mercenaries led by Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone). The team is sent to Libya to prevent mercenary Suarto Rahmat from stealing nuclear warheads for a mysterious terrorist named Ocelot. The team is formed by members Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Toll Road (Randy Couture), and Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), with new members Easy Day (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson) and Galan (Jacob Scipio). However, they are incapacitated when all of their vehicles are destroyed in the ensuing fight. When Rahmat shoots their plane down, the team finds what appears to be Barney’s burned body in the wreckage, identified by his ring. At Barney’s memorial service, CIA operative Marsh (Andy Garcia) reveals that the team will pursue Ocelot and Rahmat but without Christmas, who jeopardized the mission trying to save Barney. He is replaced by Gina (Megan Fox), his former lover, who also brings an operative named Lash into the team. The team travels to Asia but is secretly tracked by Christmas, who had slipped Gina a tracking device earlier. Barney’s apparent death opened a sealed file which states that there is an eyewitness that could identify Ocelot. Ocelot plans to provoke World War III by letting the nuclear warheads explode in the Russian Far East, transporting them on a ship disguised as an American aircraft carrier 1.
The movie received largely negative reviews from critics. Peter Sobczynski from Roger Ebert gave it 1 star out of 4 and called it “a laughably lazy exercise in utility-grade meat-and-potatoes filmmaking” 2. Abhishek Srivastava from Times of India gave it 2 stars out of 5 and said that “this film struggles to live up to its hype” 3. However, some critics praised the action sequences and performances of Jason Statham and Megan Fox 4.
In conclusion, “Expend4bles” is a movie that pays homage to classic action films but fails to deliver a compelling story or engaging characters. While some critics praised its action sequences and performances of Jason Statham and Megan Fox, most found it to be a poorly made mess with poor visual effects and weak dialog.
The movie will be available soon in MovieBoxPro. You can enjoy it.