Reviews

The Good- The film opens with a good action sequence, followed by another good action sequence. Stallone keeps it fresh by having to recruit a younger team. Antonio Banderas, Kelsey Grammar, and Mel Gibson are great in this movie. Each of them will have you laughing. The script is a big leap forward in terms of dialogue and story from the other two. The banter is usually funny and the back story interesting. There is also an excellent fight sequence between Stallone and Gibson. Wesley Snipes, Schwarzenegger, Ford are also solid here. The camaraderie that the cast has built up over the course of these movies is evident here.

The Bad- The biggest problem here is the sub-par CG for the film's climax. It's sub-par throughout the movie, but here, it's more evident because of the grand scale of the sequence. This leads to some logic defying stunts (even for an Expendables movie). While the set up for the final scene is good, the CG nearly ruins it making it just 'so-so'. Also, during the climax some of the fight sequences are redundant seeing the same moves three or four times. Due to the large cast it is difficult to give everyone something to do. Unfortunately, several of them are wasted here: Randy Coutre, Jet Li, and Dolph Lungren (which is a damn shame). Jet Li should not have been in this movie at all. As for the new recruits they are bland and two-dimensional.

The Deal- This is a satisfying conclusion (this should be the last one) to the series. Don't be alarmed by its PG-13 rating. Plenty of people die and there is a good amount of cursing including a couple of 'F' bombs. You will be surprised by the script in this movie. The action delivers for the most part and it is surprisingly funny. If not for the lousy CG at the end, this would have been the best in the series. Action fans will not be disappointed with this movie.

The Good- The plot of the movie (as ridiculous as it is) is actually interesting and somewhat intricate. Some of the modest effects work well and even when they don't it's funny anyway. There are a few genuine laugh-out-loud moments here.

The Bad- This movie is at least 20-30 minutes too long. Story arcs languish horribly instead of moving from point A to point B. The quizzical move to insert some generic sidekick instead of longtime friend Mike Matei is beyond me. The chemistry would have been far better had they gone that route. The jokes come at you like a tired pitcher's fastballs, no zip on them whatsoever. It's basically patch work AVGN phrases slapped together in a different order. The script could have used some tightening up and the dialog could have used a lot of work. There are some interesting set-ups that could have been funny but they let those opportunities go by the wayside. Also, he doesn't really seem all that angry here, it's more like the grouchy video game nerd.

The Deal- If you are sick in bed with the flu, then this wouldn't be the worst way to spend your time. It's ironic that he dedicates the movie to his fans and gives them a diluted version of the character. It is impressive that he got the movie made at all. And you can see James's influences throughout the film. The passion is there. However, the ability to pace a movie is not (somewhat surprising). It's not an awful movie, but much like a senior citizen with a walker, it takes awhile to get where it's going and when it does it's not sure what to do. Or, in the spirit of AVGN, it's like being constipated on the bowl for a half-hour and when you finally crap it comes out slower than words out of a post-retired Muhammed Ali's mouth. I think the AVGN well has been tapped.