Expend4bles 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.0

Expend4bles 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 20, 2023

An inordinate number of often incredibly noisy explosions have recurrently taken place throughout the Expendables franchise, but one of the loudest (if figurative) "booms" may have been from the bomb this film was at the box office. Cheesy jokes aside, what started out as a kind of fun exercise in employment for action stars of a certain age has degenerated into yet another completely formulaic action adventure enterprise that attempts to sustain momentum largely courtesy of, well, explosions and other loud noises, sadly to little avail. When a very title which at least alludes to aging and a perceived "expiration date" jettisons its "geezer" aspect for a more demographically appealing (relatively in some cases) younger cast, it may be a pretty potent sign that a series has run its course, which frankly may have already happened at least by the time The Expendables 3 came out, especially since that film didn't exactly set the box office on fire. While Dolph Lundgren as Gunner Jensen, Randy Couture as Toll Road and most prominently Jason Statham as Lee Christmas are still on hand, Sylvester Stallone's Barney Ross, arguably the "anchor" that held the first three films together, is consigned to a glorified cameo here that apparently ends in catastrophe (the set up for a late "twist" is more than evident), with the clear indication that should this series continue (a highly debatable proposition, based on this film's spectacular failure at the box office, though of course stranger things have happened in the wild and wooly world of Hollywood), Statham will no doubt be the focal character going forward.

That perceived "transition" of a focal character is handled in almost spectacularly poor fashion in an often addle pated screenplay (credited to Kurt Wimmer, Tad Daggerhart and Max Adams), with various "issues" actually keeping Christmas away from the brunt of the action for quite a while. This weird tactic may make veritable "room" for the "new kids on the block" (and/or the ship, as the case may be, since much of the story takes place at sea), but it's disjunctive at best and positively counterproductive at worst. The "team", which may or may not resemble previous iterations of the Expendables, is brought together by a CIA honcho named Marsh (Andy Garcia), on the hunt for an arms dealer named Suarto Rahmat (Iko Uwais), though anyone with any "spidey sense" for quasi-stunt casting like Garcia may already be intuiting yet another one of this film's less than surprising "twists", especially when it's revealed relatively early on that Suarto is an underling of some unknown higher up.

The new if not necessarily improved Expendables consist of Gina (Megan Fox), Christmas' erstwhile girlfriend who of course also works for the CIA, Lash (Levy Tran), another CIA agent, Easy Day (Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson), and Galan (Jacob Scipio), supposedly the son of former member Galgo (Antonio Banderas). The film attempts to globe trot a bit, even if repeated uses of green screen suggest "location" photography may have been minimal and consigned largely to second units (Greece, Bulgaria and England are listed as actual filming sites), beginning in Libya but then ventures into Thailand for the rather long sidebar involving Christmas, who ends up recruiting yet another new member, Decha (Tony Jaa).

This is silly even by Expendables standards, with some needless interpersonal turmoil raising its ugly head only to be almost immediately supplanted by the expected action adventure scenes, which themselves are kind of rote, even if they do often feature some adrenaline pumping stunts and (lest it be forgotten) lots of explosions and gunfire. It's apparent this fourth installment wants to continue some of the quasi- MMA aspects of some of the former entries ( Expendables 3 in particular), but even that aspect is never really fully exploited.

Note: My colleague Brian Orndorf had much the same reaction to Expendables 4 that I did when he assessed its theatrical run. You can read Brian's thoughts here.

Expend4bles 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots are sourced from the 1080 disc in this package.

The Expendables 4 is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 2.39:1. Digitally captured with Sony CineAlta cameras and finished at 4K, this 4K UHD version probably only emphasizes the one major drawback I found with the 1080 presentation, namely some patently fake looking green screen backgrounds. Otherwise, though this is a really sharp and appealing looking transfer, and the 4K version offers some noticeable upticks in fine detail in particular, though the improvements can be in relatively "minor" things like the crevices and creases and stubble on the faces of Statham and Stallone. As I mentioned in my assessment of the 1080 version, he kind of weird thing about some of the computer aided effects in this piece is that actual CGI tends to be rather well detailed (the opening establishing shot of Libya, to cite just one example), with deficits tending to only accrue in background material, for whatever reason (even some scenes that seem like they could have been shot on real sets, as in the early showdown between Christmas and Gina, look like the backgrounds were green screened). Some of the more noticeable changes in this version come courtesy of Dolby Vision / HDR, and while subtle at times, there are some noticeable variances in tonal values. The Libyan soldiers' hats, for example, are somewhat more crimson looking in this version, and the introduction of Barney offers a more luxurious cobalt blue tinge than the already nicely suffused 1080 version does. Some of the tanker material has improved shadow detail in dimly lit or nighttime scenes.

Expend4bles 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Expendables 4 features an expectedly raucous Dolby Atmos mix that provides simultaneous overhead and booming LFE effects in any number of the film's big action set pieces, starting with the melee in Libya that kicks off the film. Even "smaller" moments like Barney riding his motorcycle provide good opportunities for rumbly panning effects, and other moments involving everything from gunfire to some kind of disturbing hand to hand combat (including knives to the neck and other methods of terminating with extreme prejudice) regularly engage the side and rear channels. Dialogue (such as it is) is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English, French and Spanish subtitles are available.

Expend4bles 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Both the 4K UHD and 1080 discs in this package sport the same slate of supplements.

• Audio Commentary with Director Scott Waugh


• Bigger, Badder, Bolder: The Expendables in Action (HD; 16:57) proves that no amount of alliteration in a bonus item title can disguise the deficits of a film, though joking aside, this piece wisely focuses on what is probably the film's chief asset, its set pieces.


• More Than A Team: New Blood Meets Old Blood (HD; 19:07) offers a look at the cast.


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 1:52)

Additionally a digital copy is included and packaging features a slipcover.

Expend4bles 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Expendables has been a manifest case in point for that oft repeated maxim of the law of diminishing returns, and those returns have diminished so far by this point, including at the box office, that it's hard to see this franchise continuing, though as stated above, stranger things have certainly happened in the film industry. There are a few genuinely exciting action set pieces in this film, but it's an often haphazard and almost intentionally disjointed story that has little of the (relative?) heart and humor that its predecessors did. Technical merits are first rate and the supplements are surprisingly enjoyable for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.