The Expendables 3 Review

The Expendables 3, yet another entry in Sylvester Stallone's attempt to take a bunch of old action heroes and throw them all into one movie to cash in on the viewers' nostalgia.

The Expendables franchise has always had an identity crisis. Sometimes it wants to be a serious action film, while other times it tries to be a self-aware parody that makes jokes about the cast. For me, the parody route of the second film is what worked the best in my opinion, while the more serious moments always suffered from poor writing. The Expendables needs to be a fun nostalgic romp with plenty of humor, blood, and absurd action sequences. Unfortunately, The Expendables 3 tries yet again try to make a serious film, and the results are mixed.

Directed by: Patrick Hughes

Genre: Action, 

Release Date: August 15, 2014

Running Time: 126 minutes

MMPA rating: PG-13

The Good: Epic final action set piece, Mel Gibson is the best part of the movie, Harrison Ford (nuff said), A few fun references to previous films, Antonio Banderas is not that bad, 

The Bad: Novelty is wearing off, Why do you need the young cast?, Lacks the fun factor of previous films, Incredibly dumb plot, No one aside from Mel Gibson actually acts, Tonally conflicted, 

Plot: 2.9/10- The Expendables 3 continues to have a completely pointless and incredibly stupid plot. It is the typical takedown the evil War Lord plot. There are a ton of plot holes and just dumb moments. None of the Expendables films have had competent plots, but since the director is trying to portray a serious movie, the dumb moments are blatantly evident and distract from the overall enjoyment. Another negative plot point is that the movie focuses on a new crew of young characters. The reason in the story for introducing the younger cast is fine, but why would you want to?

Characterization: 5.0/10- As before, most of the characters are thinly defined charactertures with little to no development. However, Mel Gibson's villain, Conrad Stonebanks, is the highlight of the film, although that is mostly due to Gibson's acting. 

Action: 8.1/10- The Expendables 3 features two notable action sequences. The first action scene is decent, but rarely impressive, especially by current hollywood standards. However, the final action sequence is mostly top notch. Of course, you have to completely disregard physics and logic, but that is more or less expected from the franchise.

One controversial aspect of the film is that this third entry is rated PG-13 and not R. While there are a few moments where there could have been more blood, the PG-13 rating did little to affect the film in a negative way. 

Acting: 4.7/10- Most of the old cast like Statham and Kelsey Grammer phone in their performances. Stallone seems be trying, albeit unsuccessfully, to act, and even Harrison Ford is clearly phoning it in. As for the young members of the cast, they range from mediocre to bad, and their lack of acting experience is clearly seen. Thankfully, the film is saved by Mel Gibson as he relishes the evilness of his role. He often seems like the only guy actually acting, which makes the rest of the cast look even worse, and it is almost as though he knows it. Antonio Banderas is often cited as being the "Jar Jar Binks" of the film, and while he is occasionally annoying, he provided a great sense of fun and humor that the film was sorely lacking. 

Special effects: 7.1/10- Generally, the special effects looked alright. However, some of the CGI looked cheap at times.

Soundtrack: 7.5/10- Brian Tyler's score adds a degree of fun and energy to the action sequences, even when the action itself is not the best.

Humor: 7.8/10- The Expendables 3's humor works when they try to be funny, especially the references to the off-the-camera problems and jokes about the actors' iconic films. Antonio Banderas' jokes manage to be another high point in the humor. With that said, the film could have definitely used more humor.

Entertainment Value: 7.3/10- Due several factors, including the novelty wearing off, the unnecessarily serious tone, and a terribly dumb plot, The Expendables 3 is not nearly as entertaining as the previous entry, although it is still more fun than the first film. 

Overall: 6.2/10- Overall, The Expendables 3 is a fun, albeit dumb, action film. Unfortunately, there is not enough humor to be an action comedy, but it is not well written enough to be a competent action film, so it ultimately falls somewhere in limbo. 

Closing comments: Despite my problems with the movie, it is still worth watching if you enjoyed the previous movies, and it is at least better than the first Expendables.

Recommended for: Action fans, If you watched the previous films,

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A Good Day to Die Hard Review Round-Up.

Heree is A Good Day to Die Hard Review Round-Up, where I take reviews from my favorite critics so you will know what to expect. While I wanted A Good Day to Die Hard to be a good movie, I

honestly did not expect it and from the reviews, it isn't pretty. Basically this is the worst Die Hard movie yet, or at least an average action film. Too bad though, since it had an awesome tag-line: "Yippee Ki-Yay Mother Russia." Also if you have written a review the movie, please comment and I will add a link to it below.


Jordan at Rath's Reviews: 5/10: A Good Day to Die Hard was in his words "Yippee Ki Yay Mother Average". Be sure to click here to read his full review.

Chris Stuckmann: D+: Stuckmann is a big Die Hard fan and likes every other Die Hard film, but said Die Hard 5 might be the most disappointing sequel he has ever seen (review below).

Schmoes Know: 2/5 and 2.25/5: Just like Stuckmann, the Schmoes were disappointed with Die Hard 5. However, they said that it did have the best villain of the series, the movie's director.

Jeremy Jahns: You Won't Remeber It in T-Minus 10 Minutes: Jahns said it had fun action but it didn't resemble a Die Hard movie.

If you want to contact us or have any questions please send an e-mail to johnstarslayer@gmail.com.

Die Hard Review.

The votes for yesterday's Reader's Choice are in and you have chosen Die Hard, How to Train Your Dragon, Blade Runner, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Terminator 2: Judgement Day. All of these reviews will be posted in the coming days starting with Die Hard today. The other films that did not quite get enough votes were Charade and Gettysburg, however those two will either be up for voting again in a week or I will post after the aforementioned films. There is still time to vote for which review you want to see if you haven't already so Click Here to vote in the comments or just vote in the comments of this post.

According to your votes Die Hard is one of the reviews you wanted to see and with "A Good Day to Die Hard" coming out in a few weeks, I plan to post reviews for the entire Die Hard series leading up to the new movie. Most likely I will make a "Review Round-Up" for "A Good Day to Die Hard", if anyone is interested.
Die Hard is the action movie that redefined the action genre with the concept of a somewhat average guy saving people from a hostage crisis. The plot may seem like a cliché today but that is because so many other films have copied the formula with varying success for example: the movie Speed is considered "Die Hard on a Bus", and Air Force One "Die Hard on a Plane". At the time Bruce Willis was not known as the action movie star he is today, so the concept of him staring in a big action movie was unheard of. His likeness was not even on the original poster for Die Hard. Bruce Willis as John John McClane Unlike most action movies Die Hard did not start with a "Bang" like most but it set up the characters' back stories, which greatly aided in making it different from its contemporaries. Alan Rickman as the gentlemen villain Hans Gruber is one of the key aspects that makes the film great, he is one of the best film villains to date. It is difficult to describe why Die Hard worked without spoiling the film, you just have to watch it for yourself. While I would not consider Die Hard to be quite on the level of perfection that other actions films such as Raiders of the Lost Ark or The Matrix, it is nonetheless one of the best actions movies ever made. There is a lot of action after the movie gets going and there are even a few suspenseful moments. The only complaints I have with Die Hard are the few cheesy lines by some of the henchmen and the absurd amount of profanity. That is why I watched it on cable with the bad language cut out, please do not criticize my decision, but I do not enjoy watching movies with a ton of F-words (violence on the other hand is not a problem in the slightest). However, those are minor issues with an overall amazing and fun action film. One question that often comes up is whether Die Hard is a Christmas film. While it is set on Christmas-Eve and uses Christmas music, however it was released in the Summer (July 15), so it is a Christmas film? Considering that there are few Christmas movies that I really like, I have it at number one favorite Christmas film. I almost want to say that it  is one of the "Ultimate Guys Only Movie" because it is generally considered the de facto guy film. However there are some really cool women readers who love the movie, so I can't say that accurately.


Directed by: John McTiernan
Genre: Action,
Release Date: July 15, 1988 (1988-07-15)
Running Time: 131 minutes
MMPA rating: PG-13


The Good: Action packed, Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber is a great villain, John McClane is a great hero, Revolutionary for its time, Memorable quotes, Great use of humor,

The Bad: Some cheesy dialogue,

Warning: This movie is rated "R" for graphic violence,  profanity, and other mature content.




Plot: On Christmas Eve, Detective John McClane of the New York City Police Department arrives in Los Angeles to reconcile with his estranged wife, Holly Gennaro-McClane. McClane is driven to the Nakatomi Plaza building for a company Christmas party by a limo driver named Argyle. The party is disrupted by the arrival of twelve armed men led by Hans Gruber. They cut the telephone lines and seal the building doors, trapping Argyle and the limo inside the parking garage and replacing the building guard with one of their own men. Hans and his group secure the party goers as hostages, but McClane manages to slip, barefoot, into a stairwell.
Gruber portrays himself to the police as a terrorist, but they are actually trying to steal $640 million in bearer bonds from the Nakatomi vault (Though it is later revealed that Gruber actually was a terrorist having gone rogue). When Nakatomi executive Joseph Takagi refuses to reveal the code for one of the vault's seven locks, Gruber executes him. Gruber orders Theo (Clarence Gilyard), the technical member of his team to break through the locks on the vault. Theo reminds Hans that the final lock is powered by circuits that cannot be cut locally.
McClane moves through the building, hiding from or shooting the terrorists he sees. He learns more of their objectives while acquiring a two-way radio and C4 explosives. McClane uses the radio to attract the attention of the LAPD, who send Sergeant Al Powell to investigate. Gruber sends his men, led by Karl, to kill McClane and retrieve the detonators. Fooled by the impostor guard, Powell is about to leave when McClane drops the corpse of a terrorist onto Powell's police car. Gruber's men then open fire on Powell, severely damaging his car, prompting Powell to call in back up. Watch the movie to see what happens next. This plot summery is from Wikipedia.com.


Plot: 9.4/10- The concept might not sound as original today as it did in 1988 but that is because so many movies have copied the concept throughout the years. Compared to most action movies at the time, only Indiana Jones humanized the main protagonist more than Die Hard did with McClane. The setting adds the feeling of claustrophobia with the tight corridors, which at times added suspense. Except for a few cheesy lines and F-words, the dialogue sharp and often humorous, filled with memorable quotes (please reframe from quoting famous line in the comments because any profanity will be removed).

Action: 9.5/10- While some of the action and explosions were over-the-top, this first Die Hard is still in the realm of movie believability, unlike the disappointing sequels. There was not one extreme memorable action scene that stood-out among the rest, but overall the action was fun and well filmed.

Acting: 9.2/10- Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber was phenomenal, one of the all time best on-screen villains, his mannerisms and way of speaking were so entertaining. Bruce Willis was obviously great and played a likable protagonist as stated previously. Some of Hans Gruber’s henchmen’s performances were not the best and some could have been better.

Special effects: 8.0/10- There two scenes that use special effects both still look good today.

Soundtrack: 7.8/10- The soundtrack was good and used great classic Christmas songs to great effect.

Comedy: 8.1/10- John McClane’s dialogue is often humorous and memorable and contains many humorous lines throughout.

Would I Watch it Again: Since it is one of my favorite movies, it is a fantastic movie to re-watch, especially at Christmas time.

Overall: 9.4/10- Overall Die Hard is a classic action movie that every action film fan should watch and one of my favorite movies period.

Closing comments: Not only was Die Hard a fantastic action film, it was  redefined action films and created its own “Die-Hard-Clone” sub-genre.

Recommended for: Action movie fans, Alan Rickman fans, Bruce Willis fans,

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A Good Day to Die Hard Trailer!

 

A new trailer for “A Good Day to Die Hard”, the 5th installment in the iconic Die Hard franchise, has been released and John McClain is back in action! The original Die Hard is one of my favorite action movies; however the sequels are not that great. Although the recent "Live Free or Die Hard" was fun, it was way too over-the-top with some ridiculously unrealistic stunts. But I still have some hope for A Good Day to Die Hard because Bruce Willis is awesome. While the trailer barely shows anything important, it does use the song, that I think is "Ode to Joy", which was used in the original Die Hard since it was set around Christmas. From the few details that are revealed, John McClane's will be teaming-up with his son, who is also a cop and he will be fighting Russians but that is all I know at this time. For my upcoming "Reader's Choice" post, reviews for the Die Hard films will be up for you to vote on. What do you think about this trailer? Please comment below. Also I first found this trailer at Movie Reviews by Nora01. Be sure to check back tomorrow for Trivia.

  

 

 

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Die Hard Review.

If you have seen the movie please give it any score from 1 to 10.

Thanks That Dude at Thoughts of a Dude and a Dudess for recommending Die Hard.


Directed by: John McTiernan
Genre: Action,
Release Date: July 15, 1988 (1988-07-15)
Running Time: 131 minutes
MMPA rating: PG-13


The Good: Action packed, Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber is a great villain, Top notch action, John McClane is a great hero, Revolutionary for its time, Memorable quotes,

The Bad: A few very unrealistic parts which isn't that for a action movie, Some cheesy dialogue,

Warning: This movie is rated "R" for graphic violence,  profanity, and other mature content.




Plot: On Christmas Eve, Detective John McClane of the New York City Police Department arrives in Los Angeles to reconcile with his estranged wife, Holly Gennaro-McClane. McClane is driven to the Nakatomi Plaza building for a company Christmas party by a limo driver named Argyle. The party is disrupted by the arrival of twelve armed men led by Hans Gruber. They cut the telephone lines and seal the building doors, trapping Argyle and the limo inside the parking garage and replacing the building guard with one of their own men. Hans and his group secure the party goers as hostages, but McClane manages to slip, barefoot, into a stairwell.
Gruber portrays himself to the police as a terrorist, but they are actually trying to steal $640 million in bearer bonds from the Nakatomi vault (Though it is later revealed that Gruber actually was a terrorist having gone rogue). When Nakatomi executive Joseph Takagi refuses to reveal the code for one of the vault's seven locks, Gruber executes him. Gruber orders Theo (Clarence Gilyard), the technical member of his team to break through the locks on the vault. Theo reminds Hans that the final lock is powered by circuits that cannot be cut locally.
McClane moves through the building, hiding from or shooting the terrorists he sees. He learns more of their objectives while acquiring a two-way radio and C4 explosives. McClane uses the radio to attract the attention of the LAPD, who send Sergeant Al Powell to investigate. Gruber sends his men, led by Karl, to kill McClane and retrieve the detonators. Fooled by the impostor guard, Powell is about to leave when McClane drops the corpse of a terrorist onto Powell's police car. Gruber's men then open fire on Powell, severely damaging his car, prompting Powell to call in back up. Watch the movie to see what happens next. This plot summery is from Wikipedia.com.



Plot: 8.7/10- The plot is not very original compared to other movies today because it was been copyed so many times but for when it came out it was original.


Action: 9.7/10- Die Hard is a action packed movie with some impressive action scenes.


Acting: 9.0/10- Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber was very good and Bruce Willis is also good but Hans Gruber's thugs were a little cheesy.


Special effects: 8.0/10- There two scenes that use special effects both still look good today but they are not as impressive as they were when the movie was made.


Soundtrack: 7.9/10- The soundtrack was good but not great.


Comedy: 8.1/10- Die Hard had some very humorous moments and quotes.


Overall: 9.0/10- Overall Die Hard is a great action packed movie that was revolutionary for its time.


Closing comments: Die Hard is a great movie that you should check out if you like action movies.

Recommended for: Action movie fans, Alan Rickman fans, Bruce Willis fans,