Rossatron I think the action in the film should be directed by David Leitch, he's an incredible director with some amazing films behind him, (The John Wick series, Atomic Blonde, *which has one of the greatest action sequences I've ever seen in a film, Charlize Theron is one hell of an actress*, & now Deadpool 2), I think he balanced the insanity of Deadpool with drama and story really well, (still haven't been able to see the film yet, but excited about it). Thnx for another great video, I'm learning so much about the film industry from watching ur vids. 🙂
Spot-on again with this video. Personally, I do like the third movie the best. More character driven than the others. Gibson makes a great villain. But Banderas steals the movie.
The Expendables was a massive missed opportunity. Liked bits of the first one, second one was good, third was horrible. The whole series should have been better.
I recently saw the Japanese film "13 Assassins" and that's how I want this last Expendables film to be, brutally bloody with almost no CGI and that almost no one gets out alive in the end. The big action set piece in 13 Assassins is some of the best I've seen in a long time, probably since The Raid films.
Karl Thaler yes, 13 Assassins. That is a good comparison. I almost forgot about that movie. 40 minutes of non-stop action that never gets boring. Where the stakes are real because we care about at least half the characters. Thank you for reminding me. I'll watch it again some of these days.
Why not just let Goerge Miller do it? Miike has a track record of terrible anime live-action movies these days. Remember those terrible Japanese anime films? He directed a good number of them.
I think you're a well educated Fan Rossatron. I couldn't figure out what my problem with action was until I saw your videos. It seems silly to say because now it feels so obvious but without you and your passion i'd still be in the dark.
I'd like keanu reeves for villain, or assistant of the villain, or assistant of the expendables... or just there in a corner looking... i just want to see keanu reeves
Adding to what you said about making it old school, another cool but subtle throwback would be to film it on film instead of digitally. That would look amazing!
~you could totally have scott adkins in Ex.4 . . . it's a B movie so it's gotta be his twin brother wanting revenge on the Stath for killing his brother type thing !!
The last film needs to basically be the Raid. Trim plot and lots of action with people dying in heroic situations due to impossible odds. Only difference is dat spicy humor.
Awesome video,the part where you talked about how you'd do an ending for the Expendables with them kniwing that it is the end,going out in a blaze of glory sounds perfect and I actually teared up a little when I heard it. Thanks for that,this video just made my day.
My problem with the second one is there could have been an amazing fight between Scott Adkins and Jason Statham. Instead it was shaky and lasted 10 seconds.
Top 11 The Expendables 4 Main Villain Choices: 1. Steven Seagal 2. Sigourney Weaver 3. Sean Connery 4. Al Pacino 5. Robert DeNiro 6. James Caan 7. Pierce Brosnan 8. Burt Reynolds 9. Timothy Dalton 10. Liam Neeson 11. Don Johnson
TwistedAmoeba Me too, but you know with the political climate and pc feminist bullshit nowadays, Sigourney Weaver would be optimal as the sole female villain.
I hated the second one and thought it was worse than the first. The first was very mediocre and didn't live up to the promise, but at least it had some structure, actual scenes leading from one to the other. The second one is just a complete shitshow where they throw a dozen famous faces on the screen and call it a day. It reminded me of those godawful Nostalgia Critic crossover feature films, that's how inept it was. The action was just horrible, as if the shakycam wasn't enough, now they solve every shootout by cutting from a guy holding a gun to some rando falling down, and it often doesn't even look like they're in the same room. The setting was incredibly dull and obviously chosen just to save money, attempts at humor were very cringeworthy, the CGI was some of the worst I've seen in the last 10 years, the bad guy is literally called Vilain yet they try to portray him seriously. Nothing about that movie made me feel like those crazy, colorful 80's action flicks it allegedly tried to bring back, it just felt like a marketing ploy to sell a terrible movie.
AGREED!!!! who's missing? aside from Jackie Chan and Donnie Yen, maybe . . . Michael Jai White, sigourney weaver, and Chow Yun Fat . . . and yah, Michelle Yeoh
I kinda agree with bringing John McTiernan out of retirement to get him to direct the final Expendables and make the film more tongue in cheek like Commando or Road House, but if I could make a suggestion, I'd probably get Shane Black to help polish up the script with some witty dialogue and decent chemistry with the characters. Sure, Shane hasn't been in a good place since The Predator movie, but this could be a chance to redeem himself. This man gave us Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys, and my personal favorite, The Last Boy Scout. He writes characters who feel more human and relatable rather than just superhero caricatures, plus his film noir inspired style is both intelligent and easy to follow. Plus I think it would be appropriate to set the Expendables 4 at Christmas. It just works.
I agree 100% with everything Rossatron said in this video.HARD R rating,no cgi blood or explosions,great villains and one liners and most importantly...a lot of the Expendables must die in the final battle! There has to be stakes! Also dont bring that young team from EX3,better yet have them ALL killed off in the opening scene!
Almost certainly. Even as a villain perhaps, as he's such an underrated action. He was small but very memorable in The Dark Knight, and absolutely killed it as Black Dynamite.
Exactly, all I wanted this series to be is "Commando: Matrix & Buddies" with well shot action, blood and fun writing that has a lot of dark humor and one-liners, the only drama being some of them getting hurt or die (WE would feel sorry because we love these actors) to give a sense of stakes despite the craziness. Instead I got poorly shot and edited forgettable borefests with little (crappy) or no blood. What a waste.
John McTiernan, will never see the light of day on the Director's chair. With a state appointed administrator taking over every aspect of his money, Studios don't want to be bothered. He's a liability.
Four words: Directed by PAUL VERHOVEN! After assaulting and destroying a cocaine factory but failing to kill the Baron (Stephen Bauer, Danny Trejo?) The Expendables are targeted in revenge by an equally experienced team of killers (including Jesse Ventura or GTFO!), some even battling each other to the death. A large chunk of L.A. is destroyed in the fighting. Desperate, Barney Ross turns to Drummer (Harrison Ford) and the CIA and in exchange for not exposing that the L.A. attacks were blowback from their operation asks for help and an army of expendable soldiers (see what I did there?) to take on the Baron at his secret base in an epic final showdown.
imo they just have to lower the stakes or scale. It's too big and grandiose. make it a crazy 80's over the top action crossover but dont give it these huge stakes, and pull the camera back, like holy shit. Make someone else fight the bad guy. I don't remember most of these films but im pretty sure Stallone gets in a fistfight with the bad guy every time. give Arnie or literally anyone else a shot. Dip into global action cinema - get guys from old school martial arts films for variety.
I've only saw expandables 1 in the cinema when it came Out. I can only remember 4 Things: the Fight Scene between Jet Li and Dolph lundgreen being edited Like Shit, Jet Lis rant on why He deserves more Money because He is smaller than the Rest of the Team, the Fake as hell looking fire effects and that weird slowmo Part where Terry Crews planted those Explosives that Just went on and on forever. It was the Most incompetent Action Film I ever paid Money for to See.
TBH I kinda want them to use directors that aren't busy on other stuff. Leitch and Stahelski have such interesting projects coming up. They'd be a dream pairing with the material, but other guys are available that could do it. Just don't go for like a Colin Trevorrow or someone!
The tongue-in-cheek references and humour would have worked better if these actors were playing fictionalised versions of themselves ala 'This is The End'. That would make for an amazing movie, if Stallone, Statham, Norris, Willis, Schwartzenegger, etc were all playing themselves caught in this crazy action movie plot.
What I'd do: wait till time travel is possible and reboot the Expendables with Lee Marvin, Robert Mitchum, Warren Oates, Oliver Reed, Richard Roundtree, Bruce Lee, Jack Palance, Robert Shaw and Charles Bronson. The budget will be eaten up by the time travel and at least half the cast will be drunk on set, but it'll show audiences today what tough motherf#%kers used to be like. Oh... and Kurtwood Smith, Ronny Cox and Alan Rickman can be the trio of villains.
He's definitely done some more mature fare, including Rosewood which is a solid John Singleton directed flick. That's why I didn't go too hard on him, but I doubt he was hired by Millenium due to those flicks, and more due to the money his family friendly fare has made.
I think the next thing they should do for expendables in the future is to bring action star who also have martial arts background from 2000s-2010s like slyvester stallone try to cast action actors from 80s-90s
From what I read, Terry Crews' character was supposed to be killed off in the third film, but Crews didn't want that and they decided to have him survive.
I don’t get how a bunch of people who made the 80’s films seemed to not understand how to make them today. Especially the witty banter it’s like pay a script doctor who can come in and write the those lines. I honestly think the best one liner is Terry Crews saying “remember this shit at Christmas” and the way it’s cut feels like an improv. The shaky cam is strange because if you look at the directors cut of the first it’s feels like it was intentional and yet when removed it I don’t think the action worked as well because it isn’t how how it was possibly shot
I'd like to see some more smaller stars, like Scott Adkins and Gary Daniels, even though they were really underused in the first movies. Now that Dudikoff is working again, he should absolutely be in it, as should Rockworth! And throw in Billy Blanks. And David Bradley, if he's still around.
How about Jean Claude Van damme's twin brother returns to ask Sly for Help. Because he worked at DOE , under project manager(Steven Segal's character) who stole 5 Nukes from Sandia National Laboratories Albuquerque,NM. Who has gone rogue, but JC knows where he's at. Leading to the fight that everyone's been waiting for, since the Alleged incident at Sly's house For Expendables I. But tell everyone just before the movie comes out that the fight in this movie was real. And Van damme & Segal really tried to beat each other up. But Sly, Staham & Lundgren while trying to break them up, ended up in a free for all with Segal's Posse. And it was all on film & in the movie.
What i would do is honestly just have fun with it. And i would bring in actors like Keanu Reaves, Dave Bautista, Henry Cavil, Matt Damon, Nicholas Cage, Sam Worthington, and as a cameo, because why the hell not, SGT Slaughter. Also I love the Expendables trilogy, i remember seeing the 2nd one back in 2012 with my Dad and it was like Christmas for me, and it was the first R rated movie i saw in a theatre! That and the Avengers were like my 2 favorite movies of the year, until Skyfall beat them both out.
I feel with a name like the Expendables, that should have been the scenario the whole time. Like I get Stallone and maybe Statham should have been reoccurring, but everyone else could have been...uh...expendable and perished over the course of the movies. If Jet Li wasn't interested in a sequel...kill him in the opening act, don't have him just "Peace out. See you all later, maybe"
Would love if they went out with a purposeful bang. Expendables dying, an over the top villain like Travolta and lots of 80s style action. I want Chan to be part of it.
What I would do: Full Villain Squad, Keith David as the Charismatic Leader, Danny Trejo dual wielding flamethrowers, Jackie Chan ( or Lee Byung-hun) as ethnic martial arts guy, Ron Pearlman with a pet alligator, and Tommy Flanagan as a creepy torture technician. These guys and their mercenary army have taken over a small Central American Country bordering Panama and are using their crime assets to smuggle weapons and make contacts all over the world. The Expendables are sent in to fight them. Having been chased out of a city they find the local resistance and their Free World Allies: Arnold Schwartzenager, Carl Weathers, the presumed dead Bruce Willis and veteran actor Timothy Dalton. During the night the villains attack, and here we get our First expendables deaths: Randy Cature and Dolph Lungren, Randy was injured previously and makes them let him stay behind and Dolph goes back to save a little girl in a fire. The Next day, bloodied and full of Rage, they launch another attack, and it goes much as you said, I have in my mind Terry Crews with fist fulls of grenades leaping through Danny Trejo's flame to take him out. Martial arts fight with Jet-li and Jackie Chan, Ron Pearlman fed to his own alligator, Arnold has to lift heavy things and dies once its done. Laser sights with visible beams, light machine guns with bottomless belts (maybe a guy dies when Jackie throws a shuriken into one). And for some reason Cynthia Rothrock and Ming-na-wen have a limited clothing fight to the death but I wasn't sure which team to put either on.
Would to seeing the previous directors from the TV series Strike Back like Daniel Percival or Paul Wilmshurst at the helm. Love to see you what think of Cinemax's Strike Back or in the UK Sky One which is just known as Strike Back
Great video, whole-heartedly agree. McTiernan, Woo, both Hyams’s, Hill... these guys are still around. Wonder why Hollywood isn’t giving them jobs. At least Chad Stahelski is still keeping the old guard up with the John Wick films, but both of S. Craig Zahler’s films (“Bone Tomahawk”, “Brawl in Cell Block 99”) were brilliant ultra-violent pulp, I’m curious to hear what your thoughts are on Zahler and his approach to cinematic violence.
They should get Shane Black. The guy worked in the environment of 80s action films and knows how to write a good action script that's both fun and gives the characters something to do. Not to mention that he can give genuine surprises and prefers a more colorful cinematography than these films have had.
Ohh boy...i wanted to sleep early tonight. Man, I remember when I first heard about the Expendables...I was full with joy. Like a kid on Christmas day. I even went to see it twice the day it came out. Ohh, good times. Didn't know they were making a fourth one...I hope it doesn't suck....I mean, I'll like it...it'll basically be my childhood right there. But I just really really want to like it as much as I like Predator for example.
Expendables was entertaining because it was the first time we finally saw them together...but it still wasn't great. Thought they would get it right with 2 but what a huge disappointment that was. Then 3 happened and I couldn't wait until that movie was finished. It gave me a huge headache. All these movies suffer from the stupid idea of putting MMA fighters in them like it would give it some bad ass credential. The point is to have the original action cinema bad asses together not people who have never been an Action star like the fighters or even Terry crews. I think Jason Statham doesn't fit either or Antonio banderas... Just have every one from the 80s and have an 80s tone to the film. Make the villains nostalgic 80s villains....communists jihadists or Spanish drug lords. Just pay homage to the long gone genre in every aspect. Don't just get the action stars and plug them into a modern action movie. It doesn't work and it's cheesy in a bad way.
I like seeing new young upandcomers, but they should always be secondary to the old legends, and not persistent characters. Like Scott Adkins being in there for a few seconds before getting diced, or Cyril Raffaeli showing up in Transporter long enough to go down with a single punch. I love that kind of thing.
I think these proposed solutions are feasible, except the shaky cam one. At this point, I believe many of the old school actors you want to see are unfortunately just too old to be shot clearly without cheating with either stunt doubles and VFX or the much cheaper alternative of shaky cam and quick editing. You can get Gareth Evans in here, but you're still not going to get The Raid. There is an economic reality to films like Expendables 4. It's a low/mid-budget action film that's going to make money entirely on international pre-sales and cutting production costs anywhere they can. Crafting a great film takes time and money, and this is just not going to be one of those where an actor spends four months training for the role or Third Floor swoops in with the previz. To be honest, the most feasible solution may just be to reduce the number of recognizable faces to begin with, kill off most of the rest in as few shooting days as possible, keep the plot small and tight, and spend those savings elsewhere.
I would KILL to see a David Leitch (John Wick, Atomic Blonde) directed Expendables. The guy films and choreographs action better than any director working today.
I think Mel Gibson would be a great choice to come back to the franchise and Direct. He's arguably the best Filmmaker in the business when it comes to making Great Justified Action Sequences. Or David Ayer would be solid, he's pretty new, but if you've seen his films he's very big on authenticity in his action scenes, he's all about the blood, the bullets flying, violence realism, etc. and I believe his executions could be a good fit for "The Expendables". Hell if they could get McTerrnen to come back and direct that would be perfect, great choice. I love the Expendables films, they too are my "Avengers" as well.
I've thought a lot about this as well. There a lot of factors going into the next film. So many characters, Jet Li's health issues, and Chinese investors. That and more in mind, I would try and have it take place in or near China, cut out (or kill off) most or all the newer Expendables introduced in the third film, and get Wu Jing involved as he is hot right now for the Chinese market and has a track record in Action. Try once more to get Jackie Chan involved, but then make the film something like The Wild Bunch. As you say, this would be swan song so if characters die, they die bloody. Though I suppose I wouldn't begrudge Statham continuing on the franchise in Sly's stead, but it really should play as a final film.
I never watched these movies because I thought "you cannot get invested into the characters if they are, by titular definitian, expandable"... but I see it's the exact opposite
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
Further to this video, these are the other directors I reckon would work for the fourth film twitter.com/rosspeacock/status/1001455136215052289
Rossatron I think the action in the film should be directed by David Leitch, he's an incredible director with some amazing films behind him, (The John Wick series, Atomic Blonde, *which has one of the greatest action sequences I've ever seen in a film, Charlize Theron is one hell of an actress*, & now Deadpool 2), I think he balanced the insanity of Deadpool with drama and story really well, (still haven't been able to see the film yet, but excited about it). Thnx for another great video, I'm learning so much about the film industry from watching ur vids. 🙂
Lexi Alexander is definitely a contender...
Rossatron you send try and send this to sly or someone who's working on the movie
Rossatron did you like hardcore Henry
Spot-on again with this video. Personally, I do like the third movie the best. More character driven than the others. Gibson makes a great villain. But Banderas steals the movie.
Samuel L. Jackson would make a great villain with Danny Trejo being the second in command
Gustavo Almanza
STOP! MY PENIS CAN ONLY GET SO ERECT!
Wesley Snipes somewhere
Yes.
Fuck no, no more sam jackson!
Agreed.
But they need to Bring in
Kurt Russell as an Expendable.
I know what I would do: make Bruce Campbell one of the lead characters
Ben Wasserman hail to the king baby.
Triple Threat!!
he's not an action hero, did you miss the point of these films?!
Groovy
Aussie Eighties Have you WATCHED Ash vs. Evil Dead? I’d say those splatterstick battles against the Deadites qualify as a form of action scene
The Expendables was a massive missed opportunity. Liked bits of the first one, second one was good, third was horrible. The whole series should have been better.
I recently saw the Japanese film "13 Assassins" and that's how I want this last Expendables film to be, brutally bloody with almost no CGI and that almost no one gets out alive in the end. The big action set piece in 13 Assassins is some of the best I've seen in a long time, probably since The Raid films.
Karl Thaler yes, 13 Assassins. That is a good comparison. I almost forgot about that movie. 40 minutes of non-stop action that never gets boring. Where the stakes are real because we care about at least half the characters. Thank you for reminding me. I'll watch it again some of these days.
I adore 13 Assassins. Check out Blade of the Immortal too if you liked that. Overlong but stuffed with action and blood.
Rossatron I liked the manga well enough, so I might give it a try. Thx for the recommendation.
Why not just let Goerge Miller do it?
Miike has a track record of terrible anime live-action movies these days. Remember those terrible Japanese anime films? He directed a good number of them.
I think you're a well educated Fan Rossatron. I couldn't figure out what my problem with action was until I saw your videos. It seems silly to say because now it feels so obvious but without you and your passion i'd still be in the dark.
Very kind of you to say
Rossatron it's the truth. Thanks for all of your hard work.
the problem with action in the 80s is over ;)
We just need a Broforce movie
Exactly.
I'd like keanu reeves for villain, or assistant of the villain, or assistant of the expendables... or just there in a corner looking... i just want to see keanu reeves
For some reason I can't explain I don't think he will fit with the rest of them
Keanu Reeves as the hero not the villain.
Get David Leitch Christopher McQuarrie or Drew Pearce to direct Or Antoine Fuqua who could add Denzel
And try to add Keanu Reaves and Liam Neeson
Nic cage and john travolta as villains and mctiernan or john woo directing that would be fking awesome
Adding to what you said about making it old school, another cool but subtle throwback would be to film it on film instead of digitally. That would look amazing!
Two words: Nick Cage
Two more words: Hell Yes!
NIc Cage and Travolta both as villains!
Kirk Moran I just want Nick Cage to play Nick Cage. Fuck I love Bad Lieutenant and the one where he thought he was a vampire. NOT THE BEEEES
Cage and Travolta for the villains if you can't get Jack Nicholson.
I would pick John Woo to direct, but I get wanting McTerrnen
Woo's action style is too operatic for the Expendables. You want a more gratuitous director.
JoanieDoeShadow that's a super good idea man!!! I'd get Nic Cage as a villain
John Woo would be sweet too and bring along Chow Yun-Fat ... I could totally see it being a violent bloodshed movie.
All of his American movies... Aren't very good to put it kindly.
You don't like Face/Off?
~you could totally have scott adkins in Ex.4 . . . it's a B movie so it's gotta be his twin brother wanting revenge on the Stath for killing his brother type thing !!
scott adkins for another guyver series!
I'd watch that
The last film needs to basically be the Raid. Trim plot and lots of action with people dying in heroic situations due to impossible odds.
Only difference is dat spicy humor.
Sometimes a RUclipsr has a better idea of what's needed as compared to a studio with millions of dollars
Van Damme needs to come back as Villan's twin brother. He can be another bad guy or be good guy.
StrawHatLaw13 no
That could be fun. And it would be a reference to the fact that he had played twin brothers in the past a couple of times.
Awesome video,the part where you talked about how you'd do an ending for the Expendables with them kniwing that it is the end,going out in a blaze of glory sounds perfect and I actually teared up a little when I heard it. Thanks for that,this video just made my day.
My problem with the second one is there could have been an amazing fight between Scott Adkins and Jason Statham. Instead it was shaky and lasted 10 seconds.
Top 11 The Expendables 4 Main Villain Choices:
1. Steven Seagal
2. Sigourney Weaver
3. Sean Connery
4. Al Pacino
5. Robert DeNiro
6. James Caan
7. Pierce Brosnan
8. Burt Reynolds
9. Timothy Dalton
10. Liam Neeson
11. Don Johnson
I would love Sean Connery
Sirmongalot They can have him sit in a power wheelchair. Have him stroke a cat. That will up the ante of him being a villain.
TwistedAmoeba Me too, but you know with the political climate and pc feminist bullshit nowadays, Sigourney Weaver would be optimal as the sole female villain.
stellvia hoenheim Umm, that's why he's the villain...
Lyndii Mey Sigourney Weaver lol
‘Thats what my expendables would be” part is absolutely brilliant. Thats my Expendables too.
I want a Shane Black script directed by David Leitch (John Wick). And some female ass kickers (Charlize Therone)
Actually Van Damme still can do great things with action. He's old but he's still got it in him.
I hated the second one and thought it was worse than the first. The first was very mediocre and didn't live up to the promise, but at least it had some structure, actual scenes leading from one to the other. The second one is just a complete shitshow where they throw a dozen famous faces on the screen and call it a day. It reminded me of those godawful Nostalgia Critic crossover feature films, that's how inept it was. The action was just horrible, as if the shakycam wasn't enough, now they solve every shootout by cutting from a guy holding a gun to some rando falling down, and it often doesn't even look like they're in the same room. The setting was incredibly dull and obviously chosen just to save money, attempts at humor were very cringeworthy, the CGI was some of the worst I've seen in the last 10 years, the bad guy is literally called Vilain yet they try to portray him seriously. Nothing about that movie made me feel like those crazy, colorful 80's action flicks it allegedly tried to bring back, it just felt like a marketing ploy to sell a terrible movie.
no mention of Jet Li,. I think he was underutilized, if there's such a word
AGREED!!!!
who's missing? aside from Jackie Chan and Donnie Yen,
maybe . . . Michael Jai White, sigourney weaver, and Chow Yun Fat . . . and yah, Michelle Yeoh
Kurt Russel, Steven Seagal, Clint Eastwood, John Travolta, Nic Cage.
Antonio's "oh shit" is the best part of 3
I kinda agree with bringing John McTiernan out of retirement to get him to direct the final Expendables and make the film more tongue in cheek like Commando or Road House, but if I could make a suggestion, I'd probably get Shane Black to help polish up the script with some witty dialogue and decent chemistry with the characters.
Sure, Shane hasn't been in a good place since The Predator movie, but this could be a chance to redeem himself. This man gave us Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys, and my personal favorite, The Last Boy Scout. He writes characters who feel more human and relatable rather than just superhero caricatures, plus his film noir inspired style is both intelligent and easy to follow. Plus I think it would be appropriate to set the Expendables 4 at Christmas. It just works.
I was rolling my eyes at the beginning of this video. By the end of it, I'm convinced that this is the thing in life we need most.
James Cameron makes a bad ass action movie he'd be my pick
With Al Pacino as the bad guy
"say good night to the bad guy"
I agree 100% with everything Rossatron said in this video.HARD R rating,no cgi blood or explosions,great villains and one liners and most importantly...a lot of the Expendables must die in the final battle! There has to be stakes! Also dont bring that young team from EX3,better yet have them ALL killed off in the opening scene!
I actually really liked the Expendables 3. The movies aren't perfect. But each one has one scene that absolutely geeks me out
I think Tom Cruise as a Les Grosman-esque villain could be great
Needs Michael Jai white, damnit!
seriously!
Almost certainly. Even as a villain perhaps, as he's such an underrated action. He was small but very memorable in The Dark Knight, and absolutely killed it as Black Dynamite.
Exactly, all I wanted this series to be is "Commando: Matrix & Buddies" with well shot action, blood and fun writing that has a lot of dark humor and one-liners, the only drama being some of them getting hurt or die (WE would feel sorry because we love these actors) to give a sense of stakes despite the craziness.
Instead I got poorly shot and edited forgettable borefests with little (crappy) or no blood. What a waste.
DeepEye1994 i don't even think that it even needs steak just some stupid action with those other thing pointed out in the video
John McTiernan, will never see the light of day on the Director's chair. With a state appointed administrator taking over every aspect of his money, Studios don't want to be bothered. He's a liability.
Scott Adkins in expendables 2 was the biggest missed opportunity in action movie history
Four words: Directed by PAUL VERHOVEN! After assaulting and destroying a cocaine factory but failing to kill the Baron (Stephen Bauer, Danny Trejo?) The Expendables are targeted in revenge by an equally experienced team of killers (including Jesse Ventura or GTFO!), some even battling each other to the death. A large chunk of L.A. is destroyed in the fighting. Desperate, Barney Ross turns to Drummer (Harrison Ford) and the CIA and in exchange for not exposing that the L.A. attacks were blowback from their operation asks for help and an army of expendable soldiers (see what I did there?) to take on the Baron at his secret base in an epic final showdown.
You should do a video on how many cuts a fight scene has
imo they just have to lower the stakes or scale. It's too big and grandiose. make it a crazy 80's over the top action crossover but dont give it these huge stakes, and pull the camera back, like holy shit. Make someone else fight the bad guy. I don't remember most of these films but im pretty sure Stallone gets in a fistfight with the bad guy every time. give Arnie or literally anyone else a shot. Dip into global action cinema - get guys from old school martial arts films for variety.
The ending of Expendables 4 should be the end of The wild bunch but with the action and insanity crancked up to eleven!
I've only saw expandables 1 in the cinema when it came Out. I can only remember 4 Things: the Fight Scene between Jet Li and Dolph lundgreen being edited Like Shit, Jet Lis rant on why He deserves more Money because He is smaller than the Rest of the Team, the Fake as hell looking fire effects and that weird slowmo Part where Terry Crews planted those Explosives that Just went on and on forever. It was the Most incompetent Action Film I ever paid Money for to See.
Bro if they got John to do this film id actually spend my money at a theater to see this...thatd be amazing.
I pretty much agree with everything you said.
Are you going to talk about Face/Off sometime?
Yes
Rossatron yes? Yesssss
I used to love Broken Arrow. I wish I had a dvd so I could find out if it holds up.
Oh gosh that movie was bad.
It was good. What are you complaining about?
Yess bro yess.
I also enjoyed Snipes cameo at the beginning of the 3rd one it was funny.
Billy Drago. Best villain from 80s
Man. All the points you make, that movie a want to see.
It would be an epic and heart wrenching final fight if we all these characters made one last stand
Jet Li' s scenes always leave me wanting more. So much potential besides just broken English convos with sly
Maybe David Leitch or Chad Stahelski as director(s)?
TBH I kinda want them to use directors that aren't busy on other stuff. Leitch and Stahelski have such interesting projects coming up. They'd be a dream pairing with the material, but other guys are available that could do it. Just don't go for like a Colin Trevorrow or someone!
Good point. Better to bring back a director who hasn't gotten much attention and isn't as preoccupied with other work.
The tongue-in-cheek references and humour would have worked better if these actors were playing fictionalised versions of themselves ala 'This is The End'. That would make for an amazing movie, if Stallone, Statham, Norris, Willis, Schwartzenegger, etc were all playing themselves caught in this crazy action movie plot.
6:59- The trick here is to cast Walton Goggins as either the lead villain or his second in command. That man has stolen every scene he's ever been in
You nailed it perfectly, bravo!
What I'd do: wait till time travel is possible and reboot the Expendables with Lee Marvin, Robert Mitchum, Warren Oates, Oliver Reed, Richard Roundtree, Bruce Lee, Jack Palance, Robert Shaw and Charles Bronson. The budget will be eaten up by the time travel and at least half the cast will be drunk on set, but it'll show audiences today what tough motherf#%kers used to be like. Oh... and Kurtwood Smith, Ronny Cox and Alan Rickman can be the trio of villains.
After the genius of Rambo 4, The Expendables was a disappointment from the get go.
Awesome analysis, 100% agree
Nothing more needs to be added... I wish someone heard you in Holywood, Rossatron...
Gregory Poirier was also the writer of The Stranger, starring Kathy Long and Andrew Divoff. Pretty decent 90s DTV flick.
He's definitely done some more mature fare, including Rosewood which is a solid John Singleton directed flick. That's why I didn't go too hard on him, but I doubt he was hired by Millenium due to those flicks, and more due to the money his family friendly fare has made.
Rossatron I agree. I'm just holding onto any hope there is that this doesn't turn out bad.
Soo... The Suicide Squad sort of followed this formula
I think the next thing they should do for expendables in the future is to bring action star who also have martial arts background from 2000s-2010s like slyvester stallone try to cast action actors from 80s-90s
I would love John McTiernan to return but imagine Shane Black writing and directing the movie
I got chills listening to this, man. If The Expendables 4 is half as good as your thoughts on it, it would be one of my favorite movies of all time.
From what I read, Terry Crews' character was supposed to be killed off in the third film, but Crews didn't want that and they decided to have him survive.
You are absolutely correct, great vid.
what I would do - Have the Expendables get into an argument created by the main villain so that they fight each other. Now that would be badass
Justin Shalu Expendables : Civil War
Not sure if serious....?
Wow, that's never been done, definitely not twice in the last 2 years.
I don’t get how a bunch of people who made the 80’s films seemed to not understand how to make them today. Especially the witty banter it’s like pay a script doctor who can come in and write the those lines. I honestly think the best one liner is Terry Crews saying “remember this shit at Christmas” and the way it’s cut feels like an improv.
The shaky cam is strange because if you look at the directors cut of the first it’s feels like it was intentional and yet when removed it I don’t think the action worked as well because it isn’t how how it was possibly shot
I'd like to see some more smaller stars, like Scott Adkins and Gary Daniels, even though they were really underused in the first movies.
Now that Dudikoff is working again, he should absolutely be in it, as should Rockworth! And throw in Billy Blanks. And David Bradley, if he's still around.
McTiernan would be sweet or John Milius ... or even Paul Verhoeven. I love your videos, you speak right out of my heart.
How about Jean Claude Van damme's twin brother returns to ask Sly for Help. Because he worked at DOE , under project manager(Steven Segal's character) who stole 5 Nukes from Sandia National Laboratories Albuquerque,NM. Who has gone rogue, but JC knows where he's at. Leading to the fight that everyone's been waiting for, since the Alleged incident at Sly's house For Expendables I. But tell everyone just before the movie comes out that the fight in this movie was real. And Van damme & Segal really tried to beat each other up. But Sly, Staham & Lundgren while trying to break them up, ended up in a free for all with Segal's Posse. And it was all on film & in the movie.
I would pull Steven De Souza out of where ever he's been to write the script, get John Woo to direct and WILD BUNCH the damn thing.
How cool would it be if bruce lee was still alive and he would play in this
While that would be sick, Bruce would have been 80 by now. Maybe Brandon.
Incredible. Spot on.
What i would do is honestly just have fun with it. And i would bring in actors like Keanu Reaves, Dave Bautista, Henry Cavil, Matt Damon, Nicholas Cage, Sam Worthington, and as a cameo, because why the hell not, SGT Slaughter. Also I love the Expendables trilogy, i remember seeing the 2nd one back in 2012 with my Dad and it was like Christmas for me, and it was the first R rated movie i saw in a theatre! That and the Avengers were like my 2 favorite movies of the year, until Skyfall beat them both out.
So the ideal ending for you is The Wild Bunch ending? I could go for that.
Basically
I feel with a name like the Expendables, that should have been the scenario the whole time. Like I get Stallone and maybe Statham should have been reoccurring, but everyone else could have been...uh...expendable and perished over the course of the movies. If Jet Li wasn't interested in a sequel...kill him in the opening act, don't have him just "Peace out. See you all later, maybe"
You should do a video on Tom Cruise like you did with with Arnold, also subscribed, this channel is great
is that Keegan-Michael Key in the Ghost Recon short???
Thumbs up for the Cynthia Rothrock idea.
Would love if they went out with a purposeful bang. Expendables dying, an over the top villain like Travolta and lots of 80s style action. I want Chan to be part of it.
What I would do: Full Villain Squad, Keith David as the Charismatic Leader, Danny Trejo dual wielding flamethrowers, Jackie Chan ( or Lee Byung-hun) as ethnic martial arts guy, Ron Pearlman with a pet alligator, and Tommy Flanagan as a creepy torture technician. These guys and their mercenary army have taken over a small Central American Country bordering Panama and are using their crime assets to smuggle weapons and make contacts all over the world. The Expendables are sent in to fight them. Having been chased out of a city they find the local resistance and their Free World Allies: Arnold Schwartzenager, Carl Weathers, the presumed dead Bruce Willis and veteran actor Timothy Dalton. During the night the villains attack, and here we get our First expendables deaths: Randy Cature and Dolph Lungren, Randy was injured previously and makes them let him stay behind and Dolph goes back to save a little girl in a fire.
The Next day, bloodied and full of Rage, they launch another attack, and it goes much as you said, I have in my mind Terry Crews with fist fulls of grenades leaping through Danny Trejo's flame to take him out. Martial arts fight with Jet-li and Jackie Chan, Ron Pearlman fed to his own alligator, Arnold has to lift heavy things and dies once its done. Laser sights with visible beams, light machine guns with bottomless belts (maybe a guy dies when Jackie throws a shuriken into one).
And for some reason Cynthia Rothrock and Ming-na-wen have a limited clothing fight to the death but I wasn't sure which team to put either on.
Would to seeing the previous directors from the TV series Strike Back like Daniel Percival or Paul Wilmshurst at the helm. Love to see you what think of Cinemax's Strike Back or in the UK Sky One which is just known as Strike Back
Michael Ironside, Keith David, John Travolta and John Malkovich are good choices for the villain rossatron.
Great video, whole-heartedly agree. McTiernan, Woo, both Hyams’s, Hill... these guys are still around. Wonder why Hollywood isn’t giving them jobs.
At least Chad Stahelski is still keeping the old guard up with the John Wick films, but both of S. Craig Zahler’s films (“Bone Tomahawk”, “Brawl in Cell Block 99”) were brilliant ultra-violent pulp, I’m curious to hear what your thoughts are on Zahler and his approach to cinematic violence.
They should get Shane Black. The guy worked in the environment of 80s action films and knows how to write a good action script that's both fun and gives the characters something to do. Not to mention that he can give genuine surprises and prefers a more colorful cinematography than these films have had.
Ohh boy...i wanted to sleep early tonight.
Man, I remember when I first heard about the Expendables...I was full with joy. Like a kid on Christmas day.
I even went to see it twice the day it came out. Ohh, good times.
Didn't know they were making a fourth one...I hope it doesn't suck....I mean, I'll like it...it'll basically be my childhood right there. But I just really really want to like it as much as I like Predator for example.
Very well said brother.
I want to see blood. I want it to be visceral. I want it to be brutal.
I want to feel like I'm in 1985 in the movie theater.
McTiernan and Stallone need to see this video.
2010's A-Team movie was a better expendables movie than the actual expendables movie.
Change my mind
JM is a great call for this franchise. Your version could be great. Let's hope somebody listens.....
if you want nostalgia then tarantino is what you're looking for
Expendables was entertaining because it was the first time we finally saw them together...but it still wasn't great.
Thought they would get it right with 2 but what a huge disappointment that was.
Then 3 happened and I couldn't wait until that movie was finished. It gave me a huge headache.
All these movies suffer from the stupid idea of putting MMA fighters in them like it would give it some bad ass credential. The point is to have the original action cinema bad asses together not people who have never been an Action star like the fighters or even Terry crews. I think Jason Statham doesn't fit either or Antonio banderas...
Just have every one from the 80s and have an 80s tone to the film. Make the villains nostalgic 80s villains....communists jihadists or Spanish drug lords. Just pay homage to the long gone genre in every aspect. Don't just get the action stars and plug them into a modern action movie. It doesn't work and it's cheesy in a bad way.
I like seeing new young upandcomers, but they should always be secondary to the old legends, and not persistent characters. Like Scott Adkins being in there for a few seconds before getting diced, or Cyril Raffaeli showing up in Transporter long enough to go down with a single punch. I love that kind of thing.
I LOVED Antonio Banderas en TE3. And they should have Danny Trejo as a henchman and Kurt Russell as the main villain.
I think these proposed solutions are feasible, except the shaky cam one. At this point, I believe many of the old school actors you want to see are unfortunately just too old to be shot clearly without cheating with either stunt doubles and VFX or the much cheaper alternative of shaky cam and quick editing. You can get Gareth Evans in here, but you're still not going to get The Raid. There is an economic reality to films like Expendables 4. It's a low/mid-budget action film that's going to make money entirely on international pre-sales and cutting production costs anywhere they can. Crafting a great film takes time and money, and this is just not going to be one of those where an actor spends four months training for the role or Third Floor swoops in with the previz. To be honest, the most feasible solution may just be to reduce the number of recognizable faces to begin with, kill off most of the rest in as few shooting days as possible, keep the plot small and tight, and spend those savings elsewhere.
I would KILL to see a David Leitch (John Wick, Atomic Blonde) directed Expendables. The guy films and choreographs action better than any director working today.
I think Mel Gibson would be a great choice to come back to the franchise and Direct. He's arguably the best Filmmaker in the business when it comes to making Great Justified Action Sequences. Or David Ayer would be solid, he's pretty new, but if you've seen his films he's very big on authenticity in his action scenes, he's all about the blood, the bullets flying, violence realism, etc. and I believe his executions could be a good fit for "The Expendables". Hell if they could get McTerrnen to come back and direct that would be perfect, great choice. I love the Expendables films, they too are my "Avengers" as well.
Michael Ironside as a villain and McTiernan directing...I'm on!
And add some Bruce Campbell and Kurt Russell too somewhere in there.
I dunno, I kinda liked Expendables 2. I felt like it was the movie the first one tried to be.
I've thought a lot about this as well. There a lot of factors going into the next film. So many characters, Jet Li's health issues, and Chinese investors. That and more in mind, I would try and have it take place in or near China, cut out (or kill off) most or all the newer Expendables introduced in the third film, and get Wu Jing involved as he is hot right now for the Chinese market and has a track record in Action.
Try once more to get Jackie Chan involved, but then make the film something like The Wild Bunch. As you say, this would be swan song so if characters die, they die bloody. Though I suppose I wouldn't begrudge Statham continuing on the franchise in Sly's stead, but it really should play as a final film.
I never watched these movies because I thought "you cannot get invested into the characters if they are, by titular definitian, expandable"... but I see it's the exact opposite