This falls into the “holy shit” category of casting. I’d not heard of The Expendables until this week and now I have to admit I’m looking forward to it. Even if it stinks, it’s going to be fun to see this cast together.
Basically if you’re looking for a movie filled with testosterone, this movie is it. Written and directed by Stallone, I think this film has the potential to kick some serious butt.
Here’s the synopsis:
Expendable: capable of being sacrificed in order to accomplish a military objective.
THE EXPENDABLES is a hard-hitting action/thriller about a group of mercenaries hired to infiltrate a South American country and overthrow its ruthless dictator. Once the mission begins, the men realize things aren’t quite as they appear, finding themselves caught in a dangerous web of deceit and betrayal. With their mission thwarted and an innocent life in danger, the men struggle with an even tougher challenge – one that threatens to destroy this band of brothers.
Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) is a man with nothing to lose. Fearless and void of emotion, he is the leader, the sage and the strategist of this tight-knit band of men who live on the fringe. His only attachment is to his pickup truck, his seaplane and his team of loyal modern-day warriors. His is a true cynic who describes what he does as “removing those hard to get at stains.” The team behind him is made up of Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), former SAS and a savant with anything that has a blade; Yin Yang (Jet Li), a master at close-quarter combat; Hale Caesar (Terry Crews), who has known Barney for ten years and is a long-barrel weapons specialist; Toll Road (Randy Couture), a skilled demolitions expert and considered the intellect of the group; and Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), a combat veteran and an expert in precision sniping who struggles with his own demons.
When the mysterious Church offers Barney a job no one else would take, Barney and his team embark on what appears to be a routine mission: overthrow General Gaza (David Zayas), the murderous dictator of the small island country of Vilena and end the years of death and destruction inflicted on its people. On a reconnaissance mission to Vilena, Barney and Christmas meet their contact Sandra (Giselle Itie), a local freedom-fighter with a dark secret. They also come to learn who their true enemy is: rogue ex-CIA operative James Monroe (Eric Roberts) and his henchman Paine (Steve Austin). When things go terribly wrong, Barney and Christmas are forced to leave Sandra behind, essentially giving her a death sentence. Haunted by this failure, Barney convinces the team to return to Vilena to rescue the hostage and finish the job he started. And to perhaps save a soul: his own.
Are you interested yet? I know I am… Look for it sometime in August 2010!
I’m a little late to the party, but I thought I’d pass along news that Death Race 2 started filming in South America in February and March 2010. Evidently this film will be a prequel to explain the rise of insane driver Frankenstein on the Death Race circuit.
It actually seems to have a pretty good cast – with Luke Goss (Hellboy 2: The Golden Army), Ving Rhames (Con Air, Pulp Fiction), Sean Bean (National Treasure, Lord of the Rings trilogy), Danny Trejo (Planet Terror, USA Network’s Burn Notice), and Lauren Cohan (The CW’s Supernatural). Let’s hope director Roel Reiné (The Marine 2, The Lost Tribe) can do justice to the Death Race circuit.
I enjoyed the remake of Death Race back in 2008 starring Jason Statham. So we’ll see if the prequel can hold up.
Here’s the synopsis:
Death Race 2 takes place in the very near future, as the United States economy begins to decline and violent crime starts to spiral out of control. To contain the growing criminal population, a vast network of for-profit, private prisons springs up, creating a lawless subculture ruled by gangs, cold-blooded killers and sociopaths. The worst of these prisons is Terminal Island. Convicted cop-killer Carl Lucas arrives on the Island to serve his life sentence just as ruthlessly ambitious television personality September Jones launches the ultimate reality show, Death Race. A brutal prison yard demolition derby that pits prisoners against each other in steel reinforced, heavily armed vehicles, Death Race offers the winner the ultimate prize: freedom — if he can survive to enjoy it. When Lucas signs up to be a driver, the stage is set for the birth of a legendary racer.
Let’s see what happens with this one – might even be a direct to DVD release. No release date yet, but due out sometime in 2011.
Yes, it’s that time again. The time to chase Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) around town at one speed — INSANE! — over the course of a movie. Back in 2006, Crank introduced us to the crazy world of Chev, a professional assasin who ran afoul of a criminal named Verona. Verona poisoned Chev with a concoction that would eventually stop his heart, unless he could keep high doses of adrenaline pumping through his veins. Chev does eventually take a dive (literally, out of a helicopter), but not before causing a ton of trouble for Verona, his gang, Chev’s girlfriend, and a variety of other lowlifes in town.
I honestly don’t know how they are going to top Crank, but Crank High Voltage opens on April 17, 2009 to give it a shot. Chev lay bleeding after falling from a helicopter at the end of Crank, and the sequel picks right up where it left off. It seems someone has taken Chev’s heart and replaced it with a temporary one to keep the rest of his organs from failing. But nobody who manufacures mechanical hearts could possibly stress test it like Chelios!
Instead of adrenlaine, this time it’s electricity. He literally has to charge up his heart to keep going. I can hardly wait to see what wackiness occurs!
If you’re looking for logic, I’d avoid the Crank franchise. But if you’re looking for unbelievable action and Jason Statham running like a chicken with his head cut off from the beginning of the movie to the end… be sure to check it out!
Check out the latest TV spot for Crank High Voltage at the end of the post…
–Fitz
p.s. If you can, be sure to watch Crank before watching Crank High Voltage, so you have the whole story!
Recently I saw The Bank Job on DVD. And though I didn’t particularly like it (I give it 2 out of 4 stars), it provides a window into an interesting time in London’s history, when a sexually adventurous Royal caused more than a little trouble for the government and a group of thieves who stumbled into the conspiracy.
Let’s start at the beginning… In 1971, a small gang of thieves broke into the safety deposit vault of a branch of Lloyd’s Bank. The group had rented a shop down the street and tunnelled from the basement of the shop about 40 feet beneath a restaurant to get into the bank from below. A local ham radio operator overheard some of the chatter between the thieves and a lookout and brought the police in to see what they thought. After four days of coverage in the media, the situation suddenly went quiet when the government issued a D-Notice (similar to saying it was a matter of National Security).
Rating:
Only recently were the reasons behind the D-Notice disclosed. Evidently Princess Margaret was an adventurous soul who traveled quite a bit in the Caribbean in the 1960s and 70s. Photos of a sexual nature taken of Princess Margaret on one or more of her trips were stored in a safety deposit box in the Lloyd’s bank that was robbed that night in 1971. The photos supposedly were associated with Michael X, a Black Power leader in London at the time. Michael X was purportedly a man associated with prostitution and the drug trade in London as well. However, the files in London about Michael X won’t be released until 2054, so who knows when that story will fully come to light.
(If you want to know more about the history involved, read this article in the Mirror. It’s very interesting with lots of curious twists and turns.)
So now that you know a bit of the history that the movie is based on, you also know much of the plot of The Bank Job starring Jason Statham. (You can get the complete cast list and much more at IMDB’s site here.
Directed by Roger Donaldson and written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, the movie focuses on Statham’s character, Terry Leather. Terry runs a car lot and used to run with a group of small-time thugs. He’s approached by an old friend of his, Martine Love played by Saffron Burrows, and told of a bank job. She thinks he should get the band back together and take advantage of the situation.
It only gets more convoluted from there. Between pimps, crime bosses, dirty cops, and politicians caught in all sorts of compromising positions, there are enough double crosses in this movie to keep everybody happy.
One of the things I thought was done well was that the look of the sets and costumes appeared quite historically accurate. I can’t say I was around in 1970s London obviously, but all the things in the background (clothing, glasses, furniture, etc.) all lent themselves well to what I felt that time period should look like.
One thing I didn’t really appreciate (though it served its purpose in the film) were the nude scenes and the S&M scenes. Though it was important to the plot, I had to wonder if it was a bit gratuitous in some places.
But my biggest complaint was the pacing of the movie. At 111 minutes, it seemed to drag in a number of places. Honestly, I can’t say that it was the script (there were lots of juicy things to include as plot points), and it might not have been the director. But there had to have been some edits that could have tightened it up a bit.
I am a big fan of Jason Statham. The Transporter series, Crank, and Death Race have all been fast and fun. Statham just chugs through the scenery and looks great doing it. (I’m sure my wife wouldn’t mind if I had his physique.) He’s turning out to be a bit like Jean Claude and Steven Seagal… they play the same roles in all their films, the just have slightly different names and settings. This movie was a bit out of his normal line of roles, which is probably a good thing for his career.
Somehow, even he couldn’t save this movie all the way. However, I think he did a great job in a more ensemble-type film than he’s used to.
All of that said, I thought the end of the movie was quite good. All the double-crosses came to a head. The good guys (most of them, anyway) won. The bad guys lost. The Royals’ precious honor was preserved. And all was good with the world. I just don’t think it should have taken nearly 2 hours to get there.
The Bank Job had its moments, but they weren’t enough to save this movie for me. I’m giving it two stars out of four (2/4).
Thanks for reading!
–Fitz
p.s. If you want your own copy, check out the following DVD & Blu-Ray versions available at Amazon.
I had a chance to see Death Race today. If you don’t know the history of this movie, then let me fill you in a little… in 1975, Roger Corman produced Death Race 2000, which starred David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone in the roles of Frankenstein and Machine Gun Joe. It’s a cult classic you haven’t seen it. Full of B-movie cheese from the 70s.
Rating:
After director Paul W.S. Anderson did Mortal Kombat in 1995, and it was the top grossing movie during its opening weekend, Anderson had lunch with Roger Corman and they discussed remaking Death Race 2000. Corman approved and 13 years later, it finally made it to the screen.
Keep in mind when you watch this film that the original 1975 version was made for $350,000. Want to guess what the budget was for the updated version? Let’s say $75 million. Just a wee bit of a difference.
In Anderson’s updated version, it’s not a cross-country car race where you get points for running over pedestrians… Now it’s a pay-per-view race starring inmates on television in a bloody battle to see who can win their freedom.
In Carradine’s role steps Jason Statham as Jensen Ames, taking up the mantle as the racer “Frankenstein.” And Stallone is replaced by Tyrese Gibson as Machine Gun Joe. Natalie Martinez is “Frankenstein’s” sexy co-pilot, Case. And Ian McShane steps in as Coach, Jacob Vargas as Gunner, and Frederick Koehler as Lists.
Statham in Death Race
Death Race Poster
Death Race Cars
Death Race “Case”
Death Race – Statham and the Guys
Death Race – The Prison Wench
Death Race – Tyree
So with all of that setup out of the way, did I like the film? Yep! If you go, you just have to make sure that you check your brain at the door. The plot is linear, the characters pretty 2-dimensional, and you have to know you’re just along for the ride.
There’s plenty of gunfire, explosions, and blood to keep even the most jaded race fan happy. But if you’re going for the cinematic experience of a lifetime, you’re going to be disappointed!
Transitions were a little rough in spots, as was some of the camera work (they seemed to love filming in slow motion, through bars, and with a shaky cam — thankfully not all at once).
I’m giving this movie a solid 3/4. It’s not terrific, but it was a heck of a lot of fun. Almost like playing a video game!
If you have some time to kill, see it at the theater. Otherwise, wait and rent it where you can watch some poor guy bite it at the end of a tank gun.
This will have to tide me over until Transporter 3 comes out later this year or early next.
Still continuing the theme of late reviews… Saw Revolver, a Guy Ritchie movie starring Jason Statham and Ray Liotta. This was a very interesting movie, but too warped for me to enjoy I think.
Rating:
This is one screwed up mind game of a movie. Take Ocean’s 11 and mash it up with Memento and you might have something close. I’m still not sure what the heck the movie was about.
Jake Greene (Statham) is released from prison after seven years and wants to make the crime boss (Mr. Macha, played by Liotta) pay who had him put away. When Macha tries to have Greene killed, Greene gets help from an odd duo.
What’s this movie about? Heck if I know.
I believe (to some degree) that it was an exploration of the ego’s need to control the id. And how that can be expanded into hustling and mind games with a mark.
But really I have no clue. I kept watching, hoping for things to become clear – but they stayed pretty murky.
So I’m giving it 2/4. Interesting, but too wacked to enjoy.
Good luck if you watch it. Maybe you can tell me what it was about.
This was a movie that was so long we watched it over the course of two nights. In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale was the longest, most drawn out fantasy movie I have ever seen since Willow.
Wow what an uneven mess this movie was. Even with all those good and ok actors, you’d think they could salvage something… Nope.
Not to say that it was horrible. But it definitely wasn’t great. Half the film should have been cut. And Uwe Boll seems to have this bizarre thing for having his audience watch rain. Why? Please, somebody tell me.
There were some cool effects. And watching Jason Statham fight is always fun. He’s got a unique style I’ve enjoyed since The Transporter.
But nothing could’ve saved this movie. Bad script based on a bad computer game with some bad directing and bad editing… Can I work the word “bad” in there any more…
Some of the cinematography wasn’t horrid, but come on — it’s like watching a car wreck.
I’m giving this 1.5/4 only because I didn’t totally hate it.
But I’d recommend against wasting your time with it.
I have to admit that the WGA strike has allowed us to watch many more movies on our Netflix list than in prior months, so in that respect it’s a good thing. Can’t say the same about this flick however.
Rating:
War starred Jet Li and Jason Statham in an assassin vs. cop story of betrayal, revenge, the Yakuza, the Triads, the FBI, and whomever else they could shoehorn into this script. And though I’m a fan of both Jet Li (ever since Unleashed) and Jason Statham (The Transporter and Crank), this movie didn’t do much for me.
Although this appeared to be a big budget production, I thought they should’ve spent more time on the script. It seemed that the writers took a bunch of ok ideas, put them in a blender, and came up with this movie idea.
Let’s take The Transporter, a bad Jet Li movie (because there are good ones), toss in several Asian crime syndicates, the FBI, some cops, some nudity (because for some reason when you deal with Asian crime syndicates, they must include seedy places with guys eating or drinking off of naked women), the FBI agent needs to get a divorce because he’s obsessed with his job (not cliche at all), add a dead partner and a needlessly murdered wife and daughter… Put the blender on puree…
And voila! This movie pops out!
I’m actually not sure how I made it through this one. I was bored about halfway through and predicted plot elements as they were telegraphed. I think it was the fact that I knew Luis Guzman was in this movie, and I really like him, that kept me watching.
What’s to like? Well, there are Statham and Li fight scenes. Some of them aren’t badly choreographed. Lots of gunfire and explosions. Even a plot somewhere in there.
What’s not to like? Well, the plot and script were more than a little contrived IMHO.
So if you’re a guy and you have 103 minutes to kill, this one is for you. Not for the kiddies, and your wives and girlfriends will probably not appreciate it much unless they like looking at Jason Statham.
This one gets 2/4 stars. Hardly worth watching once, but I have to give props to Guzman for making me stick it out.
Had a chance to go see a movie by myself this weekend… The action flick “Shoot ‘Em Up” starring Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti, and Monica Belucci. Quite a send-up of modern action flicks. Anti-hero gets involved in a situation and sees it through to the end.
Clive Owen as “Mr. Smith” and Paul Giamatti as “Mr. Hertz” were amazing foils for each other, each taking the role and hamming it up beautifully. Monica Belucci, though pretty, didn’t act much. That might have been her role, but she was the weakest link in this testosterone-laden gun fest.
Rating:
If you liked last year’s testosterone-fest “Crank” starring Jason Statham, you will most likely enjoy this one too. I only found one slow scene in the entire film, and it was the seemingly obligatory love scene (though Bourne Ultimatum actually avoided that cliche) between Owen & Belucci. However, it saved itself well as they rolled around the room during a gun battle.
This one’s definitely not for the kiddies, as there’s way too much adult subject matter, bullets, and blood. But if you feel the need to see many extras die in fun ways, this may be your ticket to ride.
Overall, I can only give this movie 3 out of 4 stars. But I got my money’s worth and avoided the stinker that is “Dragon Wars.”
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Only recently were the reasons behind the D-Notice disclosed. Evidently 
So now that you know a bit of the history that the movie is based on, you also know much of the plot of The Bank Job starring 
It only gets more convoluted from there. Between pimps, crime bosses, dirty cops, and politicians caught in all sorts of compromising positions, there are enough double crosses in this movie to keep everybody happy.
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