5.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
Armed with every weapon they can get their hands on and the skills to use them, The Expendables are the world's last line of defense and the team that gets called when all other options are off the table. But new team members with new styles and tactics are going to give "new blood" a whole new meaning.
Starring: Jason Statham, Curtis Jackson, Megan Fox, Dolph Lundgren, Tony JaaAction | 100% |
Adventure | 41% |
Thriller | 17% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
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.
The Expendables 4 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Digitally captured with Sony CineAlta cameras and finished at 4K, when some patently fake looking green screen backgrounds aren't employed, this is a really sharp and appealing looking transfer. The kind of weird thing about some of the computer aided effects in this piece is that actual CGI tends to be rather well detailed, 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). That niggling qualm aside, the bulk of this presentation offers an often beautifully robust palette and some impressive fine detail levels, especially in the repeated use of close-ups, where crags in the faces of the more, um, seasoned performers are well defined, and where more mundane items like textures on fabrics are rendered very precisely.
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.
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.
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