Expendables 4 Locks and Loads
Barney Ross is calling in his friends – some of them, anyway – because Lionsgate and Millennium Media have announced details about the long-awaited (by some, myself included) The Expendables 4. The film will begin shooting in October and see Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, and Randy Couture return as the characters they’ve played in all three previous films. Megan Fox, Tony Jaa, and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson will be joining them in undisclosed roles. Scott Waugh, who previously helmed Act of Valor, Need for Speed, and a Josh Hartnett snowboarding move I didn’t know existed until I looked him up for this article, will direct. The script was written by Spenser Cohen and revised by Max Adams and John Joseph Connolly. According to Borys Kit at The Hollywood Reporter, who exclusively reported the story, the film will focus on Statham’s Lee Christmas, with Megan Fox playing the female lead; elsewhere, Cinema Blend says that The Expendables 4 is not the movie’s official title. That jibes with an Instagram post from Stallone a week ago, where he called the film a spinoff and identified the working title as Christmas Story.
At times like this, I force myself to be cautiously optimistic. I loved the first two Expendables movies, but the third one was a massive letdown. The rating was downgraded to a PG-13, but it was sloppily done, so the action scenes were edited awkwardly; when the bullets started flying, the camera quickly cut away from the soon-to-be-dead bad guys, lest any blood gush from the open wounds. On top of that, the action stars we go to Expendables movies to see were mostly sidelined for the bulk of the film in favor of Rhonda Rousey and a couple of other boring losers of no interest to action fans. Why bring back a legend like Wesley Snipes only to disappear him for the entire second act in favor of a computer nerd? After a sour note like that, I want The Expendables 4 to be a return to form, with lots of bloodletting and manly dialogue about being a warrior like the others had. I suspect some of the bigger names aren’t coming back in order to cut costs; the same is likely of the director and writers, whose résumés indicate that they came cheap. Scott Waugh could be a coup, though, as he’s done stunt work on some excellent movies: Speed, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Spartan, Sudden Death – even Shoot to Kill! I could see him pulling off some great action set pieces with a repertoire like that. As for the new actors, they’re fine. Tony Jaa is definitely worthy of inclusion, and I wonder if he’s taking Jet Li’s place as the Asian martial arts master. And Megan Fox is sexy and looks like she’s up for some fun, so she fits the role of a female lead in an action movie. I don’t have an opinion on 50 Cent one way or the other; I hope he’s not playing the villain because I’d like someone larger than life to go up against the Expendables. Maybe he’ll be some ally they meet along the way, like Kelsey Grammer was last time. (And that’s another strike against the third one; how do you bring in Kelsey Grammer and not have him kill some bad guys before saying, “I’m listening”?) My fingers are crossed that we’re in store for another fun, old-school actionfest.
How does The Expendables 4 sound to you? Are you a fan of the series? Will a lower budget convince Stallone that Jeff Speakman is a good hire for the cast? Let us know in the comments and stick around Geeks + Gamers for more movie news!
Comments (1)
If Charisma Carpenter isn’t in it then it’s a hard pass for me. She is by far the sexiest 51 year old in the world today.
Seriously though, my biggest concern is Megan Fox being a Mary-Sue kicking the crap out of men twice her size. Nothing against women in action movies but I’d rather have them written where they use wit and looks to overcome their enemy instead unrealistic physicality not that action movies like the Expendables are realistic but it’s still less believable when a 5ft7 woman beats up 3 6ft3 men.