The Expendables 3

 The expendables has the noble aim of reclaiming the action film from the Disney stars and giving it to the aging action stars of the 80s. The first 2 expendables films failed catastrophically, the first was far too serious the second nonsensical rubbish, the third however is a moderate success in that it’s the closest yet in getting the tone right. The film is helped massively by the three new additions Mel Gibson is a marked improvement as the villain compared to the previously lackluster Eric Roberts and JCVD, Antonio Banderas brings some great comic energy, but to quote a film of his “lock up your daughters the dark knight returns” Wesley Snipes is back and shows us just how much we’ve missed him. The problem of the film is quite a big one and it’s the addition of the young expendables, the second act of the film is dull as dishwater because instead of following our much loved action heroes we follow the expendababies, the film begins to contradict the very thing it set out to do by passing the torch on. It does attempt to reprieve this in the third act when the old and young team up for the final showdown, but the cynical part of me would have preferred them to die and Stallone et al seek vengeance, I just hope to god that they’re not in expendables 4. (3 Stars)