Skip to content
Expend4bles… aka, The Expendables 4, sees most of the original crew back, but with such a dumb plot, beginning with Barney (Sylvester Stallone – The Family Stallone) wanting his finger ring back, after losing it in a bar bet. Of course, he’ll get it back, but it’ll involve a big punch-up, first. However, what grown straight man starts wearing rings on his fingers? Deserves everything he gets for losing it.
Still, after Sly admitted Expendables 3 was a bad move to make as a 12-cert (or PG13 in the US), this time round, they’re back to a 15, with lots of decent punching, shooting and grenades.
The trailer rather distorts the scene of Barney and Lee meeting up at the start. Lee Christmas (Jason Statham – Meg 2: The Trench) is having a bit of “how’s your father” with Gina (Megan Fox), then gets interrupted by Barney telling him he needs Lee’s help, who goes with him, moaning, “I need better friends(!)”
However, the HYF part comes later in the film, and when Barney comes to Lee’s house at the start, it omits the last line heard in the trailer. A shame, as it was pretty good.
But anyway, things shouldn’t be that complicated with this franchise, as Rahmat (Iko Uwais – Mile 22) is the main baddie, stealing nuclear warhheads and looking for a particular big boss general.
Things go wrong, when our heroes turn up to deal with it all, in an operation known as Ocelot, and circumstances lead to Lee taking the blame when they can’t stop Rahmat, leading to Lee being kicked out, and doing a bobbins security job for some idiot social media influencer (that’s most of them, then).
There are some really dumb things in this film, such as when Lee shoots the driver of a car, but then when he jumps over the roof to deal with the man on the gun placement, he takes time to punch him! Just shoot! Plus, when he’s out of the picture, his other half, Gina, now leads the mission, even though she wasn’t originally involved. How stupid. Didn’t he know her at all?! How else did she explain her line of work to him?! D’oh!
Oh, and when the pair do the do, back at home, once finished, yet still she keeps her full basque on, showing nothing! Huh?!
Then again, she does have the most ridiculous fake tits. Why do women do this? And the same goes for the botox in her lips. Good Lord! Stay natural!
Plus, this time round, Andy Garcia (Ghostbusters 2016), as Marsh, is the one to give them the mission details, even though he ends up in the field… Huh?!?!? (again)
On the plus side, Expend4bles is quick to start with no waffle to slow things down, there’s lots of one-liners and wisecracks, and just forget about the plot, and enjoy the action. Plus… Vietnamese model Levy Tran (above) – seen last year in Secret Headquarters – as Lash! Ooh, more of her, please!
Then again, aside from Lee – who will obviously get back in the gang eventually, otherwise it would be a short film – there’s not a huge amount of action for the others to get involved in, as he hogs that side of things. They really should’ve spread the load out better.
Given that the first three film ran through 2010, 2012 and 2014, and this one is released in 2023, I can see this starting a new trilogy, even though Sly said he’ll only make 4 in total.
So, I’ll see you in 2025 for Expendable5, then?
Expend4bles is in cinemas now, and is available to pre-order on 4K Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 103 minutes
Release date: September 22nd 2023
Studio: Lionsgate Movies
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 7.5/10
Director: Scott Waugh
Producers: Yariv Lerner, Jason Statham, Kevin King Templeton, Les Weldon
Screenplay: Kurt Wimmer, Tad Daggerhart, Max Adams
Music: Guillaume Roussel
Cast:
Barney: Sylvester Stallone
Lee Christmas: Jason Statham
Easy Day: Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson
Gina: Megan Fox
Gunner: Dolph Lundgren
Decha: Tony Jaa
Rahmat: Iko Uwais
Marsh: Andy Garcia
Toll Road: Randy Couture
Galan: Jacob Scipio
Lash: Levy Tran
Russo: Lucy Newman Williams
Bok: Daren Nop
Anton: Kenny ‘Cowboy’ Bartram
Pavel: Cody Mackie
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.