Expend4bles

Directed by Scott Waugh, Expend4bles follows the title group of mercenaries, which includes Sylvester Stallone’s Barney, Jason Statham’s Christmas, and Megan Fox’s Gina, as they’re forced to once again spring into action after a vicious villain (Iko Uwais’ Rahmat) steals a nuclear weapon. Filmmaker Waugh, working from Kurt Wimmer, Tad Daggerhart, and Max Adams’ screenplay, does a terrific job of instantly luring the viewer into the proceedings, as Expend4bles kicks off with an exceedingly entertaining (and exceedingly violent) opening stretch that’s elevated by the charisma of the various performers – with, especially, the movie benefiting substantially from the irresistible banter between Stallone and Statham’s respective characters. And while the picture admittedly does hit a slight lull as it enters its comparatively low-key second act, Expend4bles plows into a tremendously engaging midsection focused on Christmas’ Die Hard-like exploits within an enormous cargo ship – with the effectiveness of this stretch, which somehow also includes a motorcycle chase (!), certainly elevating the proceedings considerably and paving the way for a ludicrously over-the-top climax. The end result is a top-notch entry within a fairly consistent action-movie series, and it’s impossible not to hope, certainly, that Stallone and the gang keep cranking these things out well into the foreseeable future.

*** out of ****