The Expendables
Lionsgate | Release Date: August 13, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
45
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
22
Negative:
7
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Boxoffice MagazinePete Hammond
A who's who of classic action stars light up the screen for pure combustible entertainment in Sly Stallone's The Expendables, a sort of "Dirty Dozen" meets "Inglourious Basterds"--and then some. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
If you want to see old-fashioned nonstop mayhem with stars so venerable that "The Leathernecks" (and I don't mean Marines) might be an alternative title, reviews are going to be superfluous. If you don't want to go, no review can change your mind. Read full review
60
Village VoiceNick Pinkerton
This is action as timeless as the reptilian brain-and if The Expendables is no classic, for about 20 minutes, it blowed up real good. Read full review
60
EmpireGenevieve Harrison
More The Wild Geese than The Wild Bunch, The Expendables is not a wasted opportunity, but more one not fully exploited. Read full review
50
Tampa Bay TimesSteve Persall
If anyone gets a career boost from The Expendables it will be Dolph Lundgren, playing a drug-addicted loose Howitzer booted from the team and flipping to the bad side. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
The trailers already have given away the "surprise" cameos in The Expendables, so try not to blink when Stallone goes into a church (shades of John Woo) to meet his mystery boss, played by a bald-pated, trademark smirking Bruce Willis. Read full review
50
TimeRichard Corliss
What you will find is both familiar in its contours and unique in its casting: the definitive alterkocker action picture. Call it "The Old Dogs of War," or "Incontinent Basterds." Read full review
50
NPRMark Jenkins
Next to the hopelessly inexpressive Stallone and the English-impaired Li, Statham emerges as the movie's principal wit. But the script furnishes him with only a few deadpan quips. Besides, it's no great accomplishment to be the funniest guy in a Sylvester Stallone flick. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Stephen Cole
Still, what makes Sly's new film fascinating is that, 35 years after he created and starred in the ultimate little-boy fantasy, "Rocky," Stallone remains such a guileless, big-dreaming innocent. Read full review
50
Orlando SentinelRoger Moore
The Expendables feels, well -- disposable, a movie whose nostalgia isn't enough to make this 50. caliber trip down Memory Lane worth the fake napalm. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
And give credit to Stallone: He just leaves the camera on Rourke, in the tightest of close-ups, cutting only once, to himself, for a one-second reaction shot, but keeping the focus on his actor. A great actor. Read full review
50
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
I love a good, brainless action flick as much as the next alpha male, but this time I had a whole lot of trouble laughing along. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
In the final analysis, The Expendables is little more than an ordinary, uninspired action feature. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
At one point Rourke delivers a monologue about his time in Bosnia, and the conviction the actor brings to the occasion throws the movie completely out of whack. What's actual acting doing in a movie like this? Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJoshua Katzman
Stallone directs a bloodbath that borrows liberally from such male-bonding classics as Robert Aldrich's "The Dirty Dozen" and Sam Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch," but offers not a whiff of the tragic fatalism and astute critique of machismo that inform those superior dramas. Read full review
42
Christian Science MonitorAndy Klein
The opening action sequence, unrelated to the main story, is nicely done, but after that it's all downhill. Read full review
42
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Brainless, witless, inept, ugly and crude, Read full review
40
VarietyPeter Debruge
A nearly incoherent all-stars-on-deck actioner that plays like "Grown Ups" on nitro or a brutish, blue-collar "Ocean's Eleven." Read full review
40
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Might more aptly be described as Bad Kurosawa, Bad Peckinpah or Bad Leone. Which might be a way of saying that it's better-than-average Stallone. I can't quite say that it's not bad: it is bad! But not entirely in a bad way. Read full review
40
Time OutKeith Uhlich
The thought behind this body-splattering nostalgia trip is unformed and stagnant. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicBill Goodykoontz
You see this cast, you expect to see a lot of violent action. And in that regard, The Expendables delivers, and then some. In this case, then, the old saying applies: Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
It's big, it's loud, it's dumb, and all things considered, it's not completely un-fun. Read full review
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