The Expendables
User Score
6.2 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 307 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 199 out of 307
  2. Mixed: 55 out of 307
  3. Negative: 53 out of 307

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  1. riferrari
    Aug 21, 2012
    9
    I wouldn't give a bad rating for this movie and despite its mistakes, I found it very entertaining. The action scenes are superb and most of the characters are interpreted by famous actors, so I would say, if you like action movies, watch it.
  2. cameronmorewood
    Nov 7, 2012
    3
    Too many characters try to do too much in what is a murky, underdeveloped story that leaves us unmotivated and unmoved.
  3. Compi24
    Nov 28, 2012
    6
    Gruesomely entertaining with hopelessly amusing silliness throughout.
  4. WriteFilmLive21
    Dec 9, 2012
    5
    "The Expendables" is a rough, harsh, testosterone-packed action flick that provides more than ample entertainment. Although the story is somewhat minimalist and the characters aren't too engaging most of the time, the movie makes up for it with fast, bloody, explosive action scenes - the highlight being the extensive adrenaline rush that makes the film's last big sequence. The best stuff comes from the three primary stars - Stallone, Statham and Li, with Statham's brutal skills with a knife being my favorite. It's a satisfying, steroidal firework of hard-as-nails shoot-outs and fisticuffs, and will easily sate your appetite for violence and heroic mayhem on more than one occasion.… Expand
  5. worleyjamers
    Dec 8, 2012
    4
    Short on plot like I expected, but it's surprisingly short on action as well. The Expendables was not the kick-ass collaboration it should have been. Forgettable.
  6. RedShadowHat
    Dec 31, 2012
    4
    I thought it was going to be a good movie when I saw who was all in it but as I watched it, lots of people who are usually the main people in a few only had 30 seconds in the entire movie. The fighting scenes had too many explosions and too unrealistic but thats what you get when you watch a Stallone movie. And besides that fact, there werent enough fight scenes. I was bored pretty much the whole time.… Collapse
  7. baole58
    Jan 22, 2013
    4
    A film about a group of men taking down bad guys and dictator. Big deal! You don't need to be intelligent to make a film like The Expendables that caters to lesser minds. A group of action heroes with some entertaining action sequences is a sure box office success but how many more films are they going to make like this just for the sake of money. We don't need, or want, to see more of the same crap. A "homage" to 80s and 90s action films. Yeah right, that's what they want you to believe and that's what the filmmakers justify as a good movie. The Expendables is just as modern as the movie adaptation of The A-Team. Plot and funny dialogues, or memorable one-liners, are nowhere to be found. Sylvester Stallone doesn't get to hog the screen just because he's the director when there's a group of A-listers starring in the same film who, compare to Stallone, happens to take the back seat. A film that stars Bruce Willis, who's only in the movie for like 2 minutes. Mickey Rourke may not be participating in the "epic" action sequences but his performance outshines the whole cast. How can he star in a whack job of a movie? We've moved on from the 80s and 90s, films standards are higher now. Haven't you heard of a saying "We can't live in the past!" Stallone, you're not Rambo anymore. A film starring a group of big named actors should hit harder but nowadays, they mostly don't. Don't waste your time or money on this crap.… Expand
  8. Erik_Imsen
    Feb 9, 2013
    1
    It truly hurts me saying it, but the movie sucks. What looked like an homage to the 1980s-1990s action flicks with a dream cast turns out to be a mountain of disappointment in this plot-less, characterless, humorless pseudo homage. Hell!! Even the action scenes are horrible!! A film shouldn't be a prisoner of it's own genre. An action film genre does not excuse a poor script, just as an horror film genre does not excuse flat and uninteresting characters. Defending an action film that has no story by saying "all that matters are the action scenes" in one of the most widespread fallacies. Take a Die Hard, or a Bourne film. The movies are great because the action scenes are great but TIED TOGETHER by a good when not great story. Which is why The Expendables cannot get any grade higher than 1 by my standards. The only semi-developed character is Statham's (and I didn't care, it was just so flat and boring), and the rest is pretty much useless. Which is a shame when you see that a movie such as Sin City manages to introduce you to up to 12 memorable characters in 2 hours, and The Expendables fails to even make you like one in 1 and 1/2 hour. In total, both villains must have a consolidated screen time of 6 minutes, which isn't much, especially when you add how flat and boring they are. You do not understand them, you don't like them, you don't fear them, you don't even dislike them. You simply couldn't care less about them. Rourke's emotional moment that is supposed to be the pivot of the film comes out of nowhere and falls flat. As for Stallone motivations... And to make even things worse, you don't even believe that they are a bunch of friends used to fighting together. Couture's pseudo-funny moment about his ears falls flat too, and so does the buddy effect.// The script is so dull it looks like it didn't even care about it's own credibility. I didn't buy for a second the whole dictatorial mini-state that pops out of nowhere. And last but not least: the action scenes: THEY AREN'T EVEN GOOD!!!! The editing is so erratic you can't even enjoy the fights! All you see are 10 frame long close-ups of body parts moving and probably hitting other body parts, cut every once in a while by a wide angle 15 frame sequence shot. Couture's fight against the villain's lieutenant is not interesting, the main villain's death is bad borderline ridiculous. And they blow up. In conclusion, I'd say that the premise of the film is what killed it: by wanting to put too much, you end up with nothing.… Expand
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Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
45 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 35 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 22 out of 35
  3. Negative: 7 out of 35
  1. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    75
    Expendables is the closest thing to movie Viagra yet invented. It's reprehensible. It's stoopid violent. It's a lot of unholy fun.
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  2. Boxoffice Magazine
    Reviewed by: Pete Hammond
    60
    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.
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  3. Tampa Bay Times
    Reviewed by: Steve Persall
    50
    If anyone gets a career boost from The Expendables it will be Dolph Lundgren, playing a drug-addicted loose Howitzer booted from the team and flipping to the bad side.
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