I mercenari 3

The second was mildly enjoyable, the third time it's tired, the attraction has lost any charm and they still haven't figured out a way to create a sense of world. Terminator, Lethal Weapon, all these films created their own world. Even Cobra had a home to come back to, that marvelous Venice beach apartment next to the Pepsi logo where he forked pizza with a knife.

There's absolutely none here. There's an action plot with actors mouthing their lines when they have to, then on to the next scene. Willis is swapped for Ford but it's again the same thankless plot function of a few minutes. Arnie hovers around in spots - he says 'choppa'. A few amusing scenes with Snipes and prison. And the action mechanics are completely slapdash, overall it feels like the second album after reunion of old heavy metal stalwarts, still polished but all the passion has gone out a long time ago.

Banderas is the only one who manages to charm and that's because he's the only one written with a tiny smudge of life - a screw loose because of what he witnessed.

I read a lot of bad reviews about this film, attacks on the script, plot and direction, so I was pleasantly surprised to find they were all wrong and they totally missed the point. I think these people were expecting Oscar winning performances but this film is about watching bad guys getting their a*s kicked. I also read that the actors seems withdrawn and bored of their roles and that is utter rubbish, and even if that were true it doesn't matter, im not interested in deep characters and meaningful performances in films like this, I just want to see lots of destruction and the bad guys getting owned.

There's some funny dialogue here and there and Banderas' character had me smiling a lot.

If you like action films you will enjoy this action romp, so ignore those bad reviews and grab yourself a bucket of popcorn and enjoy.

Continuing my plan to watch every Sly movie in order, I come to Expendables 3.

Plot In A Paragraph: Barney Ross (Sly) disbands The Expendables and signs up some new blood to take down arms dealer Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson)

Expendables 3 is certainly action packed and while there is plenty hand to hand knockabout and a lot of people die, but they either quickly fall bloodlessly, or it's all off screen (a lot of quick cut aways) with a PG13 rating there is no viewing of the actual carnage.

For me Snipes owned the beginning of the movie, (but then seemed to have been forgotten about the rest of the movie) Grammar kept things moving a long nicely during the recruiting section. Then Banderas walks away with the movie in the final third. If the character of Doc (Snipes) had been more carefully scripted, and given more screen time in the second half of the pic, he would have easily stolen the picture.

Sly has shown before he can be a fine dramatic actor when allowed to escape his action hero confines, however here Gibson steals the scenes he shared with him. His hairline is distracting again (especially when he meets Ford for the first time) at times, as is his wardrobe. He seems to change clothes every scene. In fact he actually looks younger in this movie, than he did in the first.

A big problem for me with this one is, Sly's Barney Ross is suddenly invincible!! the old man who "just got my ass kicked" in the first movie is long gone. No longer are The Expendables a team, who are there for each other (the first movie is the most ensemble of the three) it's a Barney Ross led gang. And he is fine with doing things on his own.

For his brief time on screen Ford brings style to the proceedings and simply radiates presence. Gibson is under used (in the first half) But he owns the scene with Sly in a Van midway through. It is the stand out scene of the movie (the only one with any intensity, and an example of how good an expendables movie can be) and a reminder of how good Gibson is. He is easily the best villain to grace the franchise. That scene in the van is possibly the best acted scene in the franchise.

Jason Statham has less to do in this movie than the other movies, but he gives his usual fine performance as Christmas. Jet Li once again is sadly nothing more than a cameo. Lundgren's Gunner seemed to be slipping back to the unbalanced guy from the first movie, and Couture just seems happy to be there!!

Of the young guns, Ortiz and Powell are bland and uninteresting, Kellan Lutz is at least annoying with his lack of respect for Barney, whilst Rhonda Rousey (My god is she hot) is OK

There is an Expendables movie so of course there is a fiery climax, which unfortunately involves some Awful CGI explosions. If Superman IV should have thought film makers anything, it is 'if you have bad special effects, don't reuse them over and over again!!'

There are less jokey references to the stars previous roles than in Expendables 2, and it is much effective than the infinite amount in Ex2. It is longer than other two movies, so it gives a bit more time to know the characters, Sadly it wasted on the likes of Ortiz and Lutz, who are both a waste of screen time.

The fight between Sly & Gibson is too short (About same as Sly and JCVD in Ex2) and is predictable. The climax is also more than slightly ridiculous. As I said earlier, Gibson is the best villain to grace an Expendables movie, one you felt could hurt the Expendables, and it is was saddening to see him dispatched so effortlessly and singlehandedly by Sly. I'd have rather Gibson got the better of Sly in a brutal fight, with both of them giving every ounce they had (as Rambo and Riggs would have done) before Sly won, or even better if Jet Li (ala Lethal Weapon 4) helped Sly fight him.

The core audience of this franchise don't care about the new younger people that were added to the cast, and they also don't want to see a PG-13 movie with them in, whilst younger cinema goers don't care about an Expendables movie.

I think if we got an R rated DVD, it may be a bit better thought of, but the lame new recruits would still be a waste of screen time, the fight would still be the same and again all of the Expendables would live.

Another Expendables movie that continues the trend of the previous two movies, some good parts, some not so good parts, an overall feeling of a missed opportunity, but still OK.

Hampered by the rating, which angered some/most fans, and the HD screener leak, Expendables 3 limped to $39 million at the domestic box office, and ended the year, the 80th Highest Grossing Movie of 2014.

The first one was interesting seeing old big names on screen. The second one had the Chuck Norris jokes and van Damme doing his signature kicks. This one?... This one has a lot of "kaboom and badawoom"... Which is why, I guess, it is an all right movie.

Unfortunately none of the big names do anything interesting on-screen. If you're expecting to see Wesley Snipes do Blade stuff, or Jet Li some amazing kung fu, nope! you will be disappointed...

Mel Gibson is great, but he's got a tiny part. The only fun is provided by Antonio Banderas.

As for the new actors... who cares!

The problem with the Expendables movies is that the more big names are on the credits their on screen time has to be shared with others and it breaks down to just a few moments each.

I do not understand how they missed the point again!

Okay fine The Expendables franchise isn't a complete failure in my eyes, this is by far the best one and three movies in shows potential.

First of all I want to address a point. I've long since complained about the state of a world where it's highest paid people are actors, singers and sports people. Though I'm a movie obsessive I'll never deny that they are offensively overpaid and Expendables 3 demonstrates that with the absence of Bruce Willis. They tried to get him back in a small capacity, just 4 days work and offered him 3 million. 3 million dollars for 4 days work! In response, he demanded 4 million and they decided to cut him loose. So think about this, a man being paid more for a days work than a minimum wage worker is likely to make in their entire life! That ladies and gentlemen is the world we live in.

Anyway I digress.

I wouldn't go as far as to say that The Expendables 3 entertained me but it certainly had its moments. The action was marginally better than the previous two films but it's saving grace was the cast. No I'm not talking about the same guys who have been phoning it in for the past two movies, I mean the newbies. Antonio Banderas stole the movie, he was brilliant. Snipes delivered like I haven't seen him do so in years and despite all the criticism I think Rousey did a great job as well.

So fine, it's not the big action blockbuster to end all action blockbusters but it blows the previous two movies out of the water. With a great villian, the new cast and a good lengthy finale it's passable stuff.

The Good:

As much as it pains me to say, Mel Gibson

Antonio Banderas & Ronda Rousey

The Bad:

Robert Davi was wasted

Still mindless cliched stuff

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Every person on the planet without any formal training can wield any type of firearm like a professional

The moment Gibson was outed as a bigot, he started doing bad guy roles and nailed it every time

I genuinely want to know if it's possible to attain/maintain a physique like Stallones without steroids

Countless explosive shells fired from tanks at a building rigged with explosives won't set them off

Disguising yourself as a bad guy complete with helmet without your allies knowing you're doing it in a full assault situation makes perfect sense