In many ways this film has been in the making since the mid-1970’s when Rocky (1976) was first released. Sylvester Stallone was hands on with this film since its conception in the early 2000’s. He helped write, direct and star in the film making the film, in many ways, his. Without Stallone’s incredible success with the Rocky franchise it’s safe to say that The Expendables franchise would never have come to exist. Stallone (who played the main protagonist, Barney Ross) recruited an all-star cast of action heroes, including Jason Statham (Lee Christmas), Terry Crews (Hale Caesar), Randy Couture (Toll Road), Jet Li (Yin Yang), Dolph Lungren (Gunner Jensen) and Steve Austin (Paine) to star alongside him and create an energetic experience unlike anything the big screen had seen before. Cramming this many big-name actors into one film is a potential cause for disaster, yet Stallone and the other writers managed to provide appropriate screen time for each and every cast member and allowed them to shine in their own ways. The characters in the film developed well (especially Stallone’s Ross and Statham’s Christmas) and that lent itself to a successful film and franchise. While the characters were well written and they helped develop not only themselves but the film as a whole, it was the action sequences that allowed the film to be as much fun as it was. It’s obvious what Stallone had in mind when he rounded up some of the biggest names in action to work together, but the pacing and the filmography truly presented itself in a positive fashion and made the film a ton of fun. The fight scenes were some of the best choreographed scenes I have ever seen in a film. The camera angles were exceptional and allowed the audience to enjoy every second of every scene and, of course, each of the actors in the film have years of experience choreographing fights and made them seem about as realistic as possible. The collaborative effort of the writers and all of the actors allowed this film to be successful and appeal to a large audience. The film’s success allowed for two sequels (to date) and hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. Stallone (and his cohorts) hit the nail on the head and made a film that is fun for action fans both young and old. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1320253/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
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