Expend4bles
2023 · Directed by Scott Waugh
Original language: English
- action
- adventure
- thriller
The story
Armed with every weapon they can get their hands on and the skills to use them, The Expendables are the world’s last line of defense and the team that gets called when all other options are off the table. But new team members with new styles and tactics are going to give “new blood” a whole new meaning.
What it’s like
Hard-edged, sun-washed action with glossy digital sheen: bright daylight on concrete, dusty desert, and flat-lit interiors, with plenty of fast handheld moves and rapid cutting through brawls and gunfights. The palette leans on steel greys, sandy browns and the orange flare of explosions, and the score is loud, driving and synth-tinged, so it fills a room without much room for quiet. Shootouts are frequent and comic-book in their bloodless-to-bloody ratio, with gunfire, fistfights and vehicle crashes that look stylised rather than grim, and the body count runs high while the gore stays modest. Pacing is brisk and rarely lets up, with banter between old friends and a stream of set pieces that keep the energy high from start to finish. The emotional register is wisecracking, nostalgic and deliberately over-the-top, and the arcs are simple: veterans grudgingly making room for newcomers and a found-family loyalty that gets tested under pressure. It suits a Friday night with friends, a loud comfort watch, or a long-haul flight where background spectacle is the point. Intensity is high on action and violence but low on gore and sexual content. It is for people who want big, unfussy, crowd-pleasing mayhem with a sense of humour.
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