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REVIEW
Oct. 4, 2023
Expend4bles
The Expend4ables is back in action as the film’ fourth cinematic instalment after nearly a decade since its 3rd franchise. Serving as the long-standing leader of Expendables, Barney Ross finds himself contemplating his future within the team due to his advancing age and solitary experience. Meanwhile, Lee Christmas grapples with issues with his girlfriend. Review by Wee Yan Ling.
Genres: Action/Adventure/Thriller
Distributor: Lionsgate
Santa Monica Headquarters (310) 449-9200
Length: 103 minutes
Produced by:
Kevin King-Templeton
Les Weldon
Yariv Lerner
Jason Statham
Production company: Millennium Films. Campbell Grobman Films and Media Capital Technologies
Description
The Expend4ables is back in action as the film’ fourth cinematic instalment after nearly a decade since its 3rd franchise. Serving as the long-standing leader of Expendables, Barney Ross finds himself contemplating his future within the team due to his advancing age and solitary experience. Meanwhile, Lee Christmas grapples with issues with his girlfriend.
Following a mission in Libya that goes disastrously wrong in their attempt to thwart the theft of nuclear warheads, the Expendables must regroup in order to prevent a terrorist organisation from provoking a conflict between the United States and Russia. However, the internal betrayal looms large as Lee becomes the scapegoat for their mission failure, propelling him to take swift action to both rescue his comrades and safeguard the world.
What remains primarily is an adventure that centres around Statham, with Lee Chirstmas now stepping into the leadership position, replacing Barney Ross as the central character in the franchise. It almost takes on the feeling of a side-story or spinoff. Furthermore, since Statham serves as a producer for the sequel, the shift in direction makes logistical sense but might leave fans who were hoping to see other familiar faces in prominent roles to be disappointed.
Some of the drawbacks of the film include the visible seams in the show. In addition to their reduced cast, the film sets were not as elaborate and emitting an overall rushed feel, with only two major action pieces bookending the movie. To the movie’s credit, the later parts of the film were supplemented with a lot of action with gunfights which were competently delivered.
Despite efforts from more favourable reviews to boost the movie’s reputation, The Expend4bles has obtained a franchise low on Rotten Tomatoes, with a meagre 17% rating with an average score of 3.7 out of 10. The rating is nearly half the previous franchise’s record low set by The Expendables 3, which had a 31% rating. Unless the box office performances surpasses expectations, this could potentially mark the conclusion of the franchise, as some critics have suggested.
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