The Expendables movie series continues to chug along fueled by the apparent demand and affection for aging action stars such as Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The first movie in the series fared well, and the second added a sacrificial lamb (a younger Expendable, of course) where it leaned on being a bit more fun and a little less serious. Critics hammered the third movie in the series, saying it looked like the writer just threw some old, tired plot lines together to create an uninspired result.
But since old legends continue to die hard, the word is out that Sylvester Stallone mentioned the likelihood of a fourth Expendables movie. The #metoo movement has Stallone facing charges of sexual assault (say it’s not so!) but apparently he’s decided to move forward, settle his disputes with producers and directors, and get busy living. The movie is in its early stages of coming together, so not much detail is available at this time.
From the early comments, there are clearly two camps out there. One thinks it is just a waste of money because no one is interested in washed up, old action heroes. The other camp is getting excited with the possibility of a 4th Expendables. What fans in this second group seem to agree on is the writers, directors, and producers have to come up with a script that is R rated. Apparently the PG-13 rating of the previous movies isn’t giving the hardcore franchise fans what they are hoping for.
Stallone’s final movie in the Rambo franchise had its share of bloodletting, and some Rambo fanatics want him to make another movie in the franchise. The Expendables franchise has not attracted many under 18 viewers. Based on a brief survey of under 18 commenters, they either didn’t relate to the actors (perfectly understandable) or thought there was too much blood and violence in the movies (!). So the voices looking forward to the next installment apparently are justified in saying stop trying to market it to younger people who neither are familiar with the actors nor want the level of action adults are comfortable with.
The Expendables 4 must be better than its last effort if there is any intention of yet another attempt in the future. Then again, it might be a Rambo (and Rocky) type of ending where the heroes go on a final excursion before returning home and quietly going back to live normal lives. That wouldn’t be such a horrible idea, in part because the new breed of movie action heroes are from Marvel and DC comic books. Younger viewers are more used to CGI characters and action sequences than fans of the Expendables franchise. If we love our aging action heroes as much as we claim to, then they deserve to go out with dignity. We will miss them but it is all for the better.
One of the possible storylines mentioned is for the group to be caught in completely unfamiliar territory and they have to find a way to extract themselves from it — alive. That may actually be art imitating life, because these aging action heroes will have to make that journey sooner than later, as they will have to sit on the sidelines and bring their action careers to a close.
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