Movie Reviews

Sly Stallone and his band of merry mercenaries are once again back at it in The Expendables 3. If you’ve seen the second installment of the franchise, you might have liked it as much as I did because… well, it was a fun popcorn movie where you got to shut down your brain for two hours. However, if you’re expecting this sequel to be of the same caliber, you are likely in for a disappointment.

It’s not just because this time around the R rating was tuned down to PG-13 in order to draw a younger audience. For the same purpose, some new blood was brought into the fold including Kellan Lutz, Glen Powell, boxer Victor Ortiz and the world’s leading female mixed martial artist, Ronda Rousey. It’s just that the surprise of seeing your favorite action stars from back in the day group together in one and the same movie has worn off. The fact that the screenplay is a bit of a mess, doesn’t exactly help things either.

This time around the Expendables’ missions include a prison break to get one of their founding members, Doctor Death (Wesley Snipes), out of the slammer. There’s also a new bad guy in town in the form of Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson), a former ally turned ruthless arms dealer.

There’s a lot of shooting and a lot of wisecracks but there are no surprises to be found here. The Expendables 3 is exactly what you’d think it is minus the charm of the second movie. What you end up with is a disappointing mess that relies on its star power and not a whole lot else.