Publication Information
- Title : The Expendables
- Directed by : Sylvester Stallone
- Produced by : Avi Lerner, John Thompson, Kevin King Templeton
- Screenplay by : David Callaham, Sylvester Stallone
- Story by : David Callaham
- Starring : Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Terry Crews, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis
- Music by : Brian Tyler
- Cinematography : Jeffrey Kimball
- Editing by : Ken Blackwell, Paul Harb
- Studio : Nu Image, Millennium Films
- Distributed by : Lionsgate
- Release date(s) : August 13, 2010
- Running time : 103 minutes, 114 minutes (Director's Cut)
- Country : United States
- Language : English, Spanish
- Budget : $80 million
- Box office : $274,470,394
- Film score by : Brian Tyler
- Released : August 10, 2010
- Length : 71:41
- Label : Lionsgate Records
- Brian Tyler chronology : Skyline(2010) The Expendables (2010)
- Film score : by Brian Tyler
- Released : August 10, 2010
- Length : 71:41
Ross and rival mercenary leader Trench (Arnold Schwarzenegger) visit a man called "Mr. Church" (Bruce Willis) for a mission, who takes the name after their meeting venue. A busy Trench lets Ross take the contract, which is to overthrow dictator General Garza (David Zayas) in Vilena, a South American island in the Gulf of Mexico. Ross and Christmas fly to Vilena for initial undercover reconnaissance and meet their contact, Sandra (Gisele Itié), only for them to be discovered.
Ex-CIA officer James Munroe (Eric Roberts), with his henchmen Paine (Steve Austin) and The Brit (Gary Daniels), deride and keep Garza in power as a figurehead for their own profiteering operations, while Sandra is revealed to be Garza's daughter. Ross aborts and causes casualties among the army as they escape, but Sandra refuses to leave Vilena and let her people suffer. Meanwhile, a vengeful Jensen approaches Munroe to help and Garza is angered further when Sandra is captured by Munroe, who has her waterboarded for information.
Lacy has been physically abused by her new man, so Christmas beats him and his friends, then takes her home having revealed his work. Ross and the group discover that Mr. Church is a CIA operative and the real target is Munroe, as the CIA could not afford a mission to kill one of their own directly. Ross meets Expendables mission coordinator Tool (Mickey Rourke) to express his feelings. Tool makes an emotional confession about letting a woman commit suicide during the Bosnian War, instead of finding redemption by saving her. Ross is then motivated to go back for Sandra alone, but Yang accompanies him. Jensen and hired men pursue them on the road, ending in an abandoned warehouse, where Yang and Jensen fight a second time. Jensen attempts to impale Yang on a pipe, but Ross shoots him. A wounded Jensen makes amends and gives the layout of Garza's palace. Ross boards the plane with Yang and finds the rest of team, ready to aid him.
The team infiltrate Garza's compound. Thinking Munroe hired the Expendables to kill him, Garza has his soldiers' faces painted and prepares them for a fight. Christmas, Yang, Caesar, and Toll plant explosives throughout the site but Ross, while saving Sandra, is captured by the Brit and Paine. The team save him and kill the Brit, but are pinned down by Garza's men as Ross battles Paine. Caesar arrives and turns the tide of the fight with his automatic shotgun; Paine flees.
Garza finally stands up to Munroe, returning the money he had been given as part of their arrangement and ordering Munroe and his people out. As Garza rallies his men against the "American disease" that has taken over their nation, Munroe kills him and takes off with Paine and Sandra. Enraged at seeing their leader murdered, Garza's men open fire on the Expendables, who fight their way through the army, detonate their explosives, demolish the palace and destroy the compound. Toll kills Paine by setting him on fire while Ross and Caesar manage to destroy a helicopter before Munroe can use it escape.
Ross and Christmas both catch up to Munroe, killing him and saving Sandra. Later, Ross gifts his share of the mission payment to Sandra to help begin Vilena's recovery. The team travels back home and celebrate at Tool's tattoo parlor, with the reformed and recovering Jensen. Christmas and Tool have a game of knife throwing and Christmas recites a limerick about Tool, then throws a bullseye. At the beginning of the credits, the team departs on their motorcycles.
Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger appear in uncredited cameos as Mr. Church and Trench, respectively, although Willis was credited on the poster. The film features Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira as Garza's bodyguard and Lateef Crowder Dos Santos in stunts. Screenwriter David Callaham pitched The Expendables to a producer at Warner Bros. His draft of the screenplay eventually drew the attention of Sylvester Stallone, who took control of the project and re-wrote the script.
Film production began on March 3, 2009, with a budget of $82 million. Filming commenced 25 days later in Rio de Janeiro and other locations in Brazil, including Mangaratiba, Niteroi, Guanabara Bay, Colônia Juliano Moreira and Parque Lage. Filming originally ended on April 25 but was continued on May 11, in Elmwood and New Orleans, Louisiana, including the French Quarter, St. Peter Street, Fort Macomb, Claiborne Avenue and the Interstate 10 overpass. Filming officially ended on July 1, but on October 27 there was a pick-up scene at a church in Los Angeles, California featuring Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Willis (the latter two doing the scene without compensation, according to Stallone in the Blu-ray Disc director commentary).
On June 2, West Coast Customs Street Customs built three customized 1955 Ford F100s for Sylvester Stallone for the film. One was built for a crash scene, the second for green screen and the third for Stallone to keep. "The Expendables has a seventy million-dollar budget," says Stallone's co-star Dolph Lundgren, adding, "It's an old-school, kick-ass action movie where people are fighting with knives and shooting at each other." The flying boat used for filming is a Grumman HU-16 Albatross. In summer 2010, Brazilian company O2 Filmes released a statement saying it was still owed more than US$2 million for its work on the film.
Jean-Claude Van Damme was personally offered a role by Stallone, but turned it down because he felt there was no substance or development to the character. Stallone said that Van Damme told him that he should "be trying to save people in South Central." At the premiere of the film, Stallone claimed to have been speaking to Van Damme over the phone and had said, "I told you!", to which Van Damme concurred and expressed his regret over not participating. Van Damme would ultimately appear as the primary villain Jean-Vilain in the film's upcoming sequel.
The role of Hale Caesar was initially conceived as a role for Stallone's Demolition Man co-star Wesley Snipes, but later rewritten for Forest Whitaker. Due to a scheduling conflict prior to filming, Whitaker was then replaced by 50 Cent before the part of Hale Caesar finally went to former NFL player Terry Crews. Steven Seagal was asked to make a cameo appearance, but turned down the offer due to negative experiences with producer Avi Lerner. Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Ben Kingsley, and Ray Liotta were all considered for the role of James Munroe before Stallone's The Specialist co-star Eric Roberts was eventually cast in the role.
By May 2009, the script had undergone a number of rewrites. Stallone's Demolition Man co-star Sandra Bullock was rumored to have a role in the film, but revealed that she did not even know about the project. Despite the news, she did express interest in working in another action film and would have liked to appear in the film, depending on the storyline.
The role of the man who hires the Expendables, Mr. Church, was difficult to cast. Schwarzenegger was offered that role, but instead appeared as fellow mercenary leader Trent Mauser. The role was then offered to Kurt Russell, whose agent replied that he was not interested in "ensemble acting at the moment". Stallone spent several months after principal photography determined to find a big action name for the part. Rumors suggested that the role had been offered to friend and fellow former Planet Hollywood co-owner Bruce Willis, who was busy filming Cop Out. Willis' casting as Mr. Church was confirmed by August 2009, as was the fact that he would appear in a scene with both Stallone and Schwarzenegger.
Composer Brian Tyler announced on his official website that he had been hired to write original music for the film. Tyler previously worked with Stallone on Rambo in 2008. Godsmack vocalist Sully Erna was approached by Stallone himself to write a song for the film. Erna showed him a potential unfinished piece of Sinners Prayer and Stallone liked it and wanted to use it in the film. However, during the films post-production, the scene that Sinner's Prayer was originally meant to be used in was reworked and the song was taken off the film and its soundtrack.
The American hard rock band Shinedown contributed a brand new track, "Diamond Eyes (Boom-Lay Boom-Lay Boom)", recorded specifically for the movie but the song does not appear in the film nor its official soundtrack. The song was used in the theatrical trailer and the finished piece was released on June 15, 2010. Both the songs where finally used for the Extended Director's Cut of the movie. One of the alternate trailers uses the song "Paradise City" by Guns N' Roses. The song "The Boys Are Back in Town" by Thin Lizzy played in TV spots and is played over the credits. The score for the film was released on August 10. The tracklists have been revealed. All songs written and composed by Brian Tyler.
The film had an original scheduled release date set at April 23, 2010, but was later pushed back four months until August 13, to extend production time. On March 17, 2010, the official international poster for the film was released. A promo trailer (aimed at industry professionals) was leaked online in August 2009. Sometime in October, nearly two months after the promo trailer was leaked, it was officially released online. The promo trailer was edited by Stallone and it was shown at the Venice Film Festival. On April 1, 2010, the official theatrical trailer for the film was released. The film had its red carpet Hollywood premiere on August 3, 2010. The grand premiere of the film was held at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada on August 10, 2010.
The film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes shows that 40% of critics gave the film a positive review based upon reviews by 191 critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the film has received a mean score of 45, based on 35 reviews. CinemaScore polls, however, reflect solid audience approval with a B+ average grade.
Some reviews praised the film highly. The Hollywood Reporter said that "the body count is high and the personalities click in this old-school testosterone fest," and Boxoffice Magazine stated that "it's filled with literally explosive excitement" and that "a who's who of classic action stars light up the screen for pure combustible entertainment in Sly Stallone's The Expendables, a sort of Dirty Dozen meets Inglourious Basterds—and then some…" Richard Corliss of Time added that "what you will find is both familiar in its contours and unique in its casting." Peter Paras of E! Online said that the movie is "peppered with funny dialogue, epic brawls and supersize explosions," and that "The Expendables is the adrenaline shot the summer of 2010 needs," and the Boston Globe stated that the film is "a lot of unholy fun".
Some highly negative reviews appeared. In The New York Post, Lou Lumenick labeled it "the brain-dead male equivalent of Sex and the City 2", and in The New Yorker, Anthony Lane called it "breathtakingly sleazy in its lack of imagination". Peter Travers, writing for Rolling Stone, said, "Stallone forgets to include non-spazzy direction, a coherent plot, dialogue that actors can speak without cringing, stunts that don't fizzle, blood that isn't digital and an animating spirit that might convince us to give a damn." Claudia Puig, writing the review for USA Today, summed the film up as a "sadistic mess of a movie".
Mickey Rourke's performance was given special recognition by some critics. In the Chicago Tribune, Michael Phillips said, "Rourke delivers a monologue about his time in Bosnia, and the conviction the actor brings to the occasion throws the movie completely out of whack. What's actual acting doing in a movie like this?" Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle praised Rourke for the same scene, stating, "He's amazing…a great actor." The film was nominated for Best Action/Adventure Film at the Saturn Awards, losing to Salt. However, Sylvester Stallone was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Director, losing to M. Night Shyamalan of The Last Airbender.
The film made its US debut at 3,270 theaters with approximately 4,300 screens, which earned it the #10 spot on the list of the 'Biggest Independent Releases of All Time' at Box Office Mojo and the #16 spot on their list of top opening weekends for August. It earned $34.8 million in its opening weekend and took the #1 position in the U.S. box office. On the day of its release, the film earned $13.3 million in sales, exceeding the $9.7 million sum from the debut of the last previous summer action film The A-Team. Brandon Gray of Box Office Mojo has stated that the film "took a commanding lead in its debut", compared to competing films Eat Pray Love and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Ben Fritz of The Los Angeles Times stated that the "over-the-top shoot-'em-up'" opened to a "very strong" reception.
As well, he described it as "a crowd-pleaser even if critics didn't take to it." Research by Lionsgate found that between 38% and 40% of the film's viewers were female. The results were unexpected, for a film thought to have limited appeal to female filmgoers. The Expendables remained at the top position in the U.S. box office during its second weekend, earning a weekend total of nearly $17 million. As of December 17, the film has made :
- $103,068,524 in the U.S.
- $171,401,870 in the international box office
- bringing its worldwide gross to $274,470,394.
The Extended Director's Cut premiered on Epix on May 30, 2011 for the Memorial Day weekend. The Extended Cut contains roughly 11 minutes of additional, never-before-seen footage and reintroduces the Shinedown song "Diamond Eyes" to the soundtrack, both during the climactic shootout and again over the end credits, and the song "Sinners Prayer" by Sully Erna in the new opening credits. The Expendables 2 is currently in post-production with a scheduled release date of August 17, 2012.
Cast
- Sylvester Stallone as Barney Ross
- Jason Statham as Lee Christmas
- Jet Li as Yin Yang
- Dolph Lundgren as Gunnar Jensen
- Randy Couture as Toll Road
- Terry Crews as Hale Caesar
- Mickey Rourke as Tool
- Eric Roberts as James Munroe
- "Stone Cold" Steve Austin as Dan Paine
- David Zayas as General Garza
- Giselle Itié as Sandra Garza
- Gary Daniels as The Brit
- Charisma Carpenter as Lacy
- Amin Joseph as Pirate Leader
- Senyo Amoaku as Tall Pirate
- Lauren Jones as Cheyenne
- The Expendables : Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
- Released : August 10, 2010
- Length : 71:41
- Label : Lionsgate
- Tracklists:
- The Expendables - 3:22
- Aerial - 2:58
- Ravens and Skulls - 4:49
- Lee and Lacy - 2:15
- Massive - 3:24
- The Gulf of Aden - 6:56
- Lifeline - 4:29
- Confession - 2:56
- Royal Rumble - 3:41
- Scanning the Enemy - 3:47
- The Contact - 1:31
- Surveillance - 3:27
- Warriors - 3:49
- Trinity - 4:19
- Waterboard - 3:01
- Losing His Mind - 2:37
- Take Your Money - 2:41
- Giant with a Shotgun - 3:57
- Time to Leave - 1:55
- Mayhem and Finale - 5:47
