Sylvester Stallone’s not-as-good-as-it-should-be-but-still-compulsively-watchable geriactioner franchise is back with more bravura, more quick cutting to mask those creaking joints and even more faces competing for screen time.
Willis and Norris are out (cast members have no first names in the world of The Expendables), in come Banderas, Snipes, Gibson, Ford and Grammer. Grammer, really? The rest of the new additions aren’t too impressive – Lutz was in Twilight, for crying out loud – but two things (three if you count unaccountably forgiving nostalgia) will get us in the cinema: man-mountain comedy genius Terry Crews as the awesomely named Hale Caesar and Patrick Hughes, the director of the pretty great Australian Western noir Red Hill, is calling the shots. It’s just a shame they couldn’t finagle Van Damme back for this one – he was easily the best thing in the last installment.
