Extra Cinema: The Expendables 3 (PG-13)

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Arnold Shwarzenegger, Mel Gibson
By The Newsroom
Published 16th Aug 2014, 07:00 BST
The Expendables 3 (l-r) Sylvester Stallone, Randy Couture, Antonio Banderas, Jason Statham, Wesley Snipes and Dolph LundgrenThe Expendables 3 (l-r) Sylvester Stallone, Randy Couture, Antonio Banderas, Jason Statham, Wesley Snipes and Dolph Lundgren
The Expendables 3 (l-r) Sylvester Stallone, Randy Couture, Antonio Banderas, Jason Statham, Wesley Snipes and Dolph Lundgren

Director: Patrick Hughes

This is the third outing for Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) and his rag-tag bunch of battle-weary, hardened quasi-soldiers.

The unkind among us would say that the Expendables franchise is little more than a pension plan for tired-out, 80s, action movie heroes.

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And I suppose it is a bit of a last hurrah for some of these stars — but it doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun on the way.

For instance, the opening has our band of merry men rescuing a man from prison.

That man is Doc (Wesley Snipes) and when asked what he was in prison for, he answers: “Tax evasion.”

Snipes served three years in klink for that very offence.

Barney is given a new job: he has to capture an old foe, Conrad Stonebanks.

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It transpires that this is the very same man who set up the Expendables with Barney before going rogue and chasing the money instead of the glory.

Anyway, the CIA want Stonebank to stand trial at the Hague, and Barney’s just the bloke who can deliver.

Trouble is, as Barney looks around his old coleagues he has a pang of conscience and sets about building a new team of young go-getters.

But if you think that this is the last you’ve seen of Arnie, Wesley, Jason, et al, you’d be sadly mistaken. Before long, the new kids are in all manner of strife and it’s down to the wiser heads to come back and save the day.

Rating: 6/10