Where the movie succeeds is in
the scenes in between the dull
set-pieces, as the actors have a
blast riffing off each other in their
over the top roles. It’s difficult to
decide who ultimately steals the
show, with everyone determined
to outdo one another. Gibson relishes his snarling panto villain,
Ford plays a riff on his Late Show
with Letterman persona, all snark
and gruffness, Banderas is a comic
revelation as a character who feels
like a live-action version of Eddie
Murphy’s Donkey from Shrek, and
Grammer delivers his best comic
New Jersey Stage
performance post-Frasier.
I should really be old enough to
know better, but it’s hard for an
80s kid not to feel a pang of delight at getting to see Mad Max
fight Rambo while Han Solo pilots
a chopper with a cigar-chewing
Arnie as his Chewbacca. With
the younger cast members (Lutz,
Rousey et al) roundly displaying
a complete lack of charisma, it’s a
sad reminder of how Hollywood
no longer produces movie stars.
Like Steven Soderbergh’s
Oceans movies, The Expendables
3 feels like you’ve gatecrashed
August 2014
pg 26