Wednesday
26Nov2008
Stallone Buries Hatchet with Ivan Drago for 'The Expendables'
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 at 6:12AM
We were
pretty harsh on
Sylvester
Stallone and company when it was announced that he'd be making a
tres-80s action flick about mercenaries in South America called
The Expendables. We love the title, but putting
Stallone,
Jason Statham, and
Jet Li in the same movie is a bit like eating
fast food for every meal of the day.
- You can get away with it when you're in college and don't know any better
- As long as don't order the exact same items every time, it probably won't be that bad
- Once your tastes have matured a little bit, you can only do that once every couple of years or you risk at attack of Irritable Bowel Syndrome
We took some shots from people defending this casting, even though I firmly believe that action films have had the greatest learning curve of any genre in the past five to seven years. Things have changed since Stallone had the second biggest hit of 1985 with the second Rambo movie. We've been Bourne again, if you will.
Action movies are smarter, there's not as much nonsensical machine gun bullshit, and the stunts are better. The villains have some form and structure and the heroes aren't afraid of words. It's a bold new world, and frankly, there's no going back. Why have dumb when smart is better?
Still, some people are excited by the prospect of Stallone, Statham, and Jet Li in a movie together. Of course, there are probably people who sleep outside the state fairgrounds so they don't miss their chance to get a good seat to see Dokken. But what if we add Dolph Lundgren to the mix? Now, in all fairness, I like Dolph. He's not a great actor, but he has embraced the career he's been given. His movies are nearly all atrocious, but nobody pretends otherwise, even him.
Well, Stallone told a red carpet interviewer at the Transporter 3 premiere that the man who killed Apollo Creed might be invaluable to The Expendables.
"It'll be him [Statham], Jet Li. We're getting close to getting Dolph Lundgren," Sly said. "It's going to be a homecoming of tough guys."
What I love about that quote is that Sly is making progress towards securing the services of Dolph Lundgren. The tension is palpable, isn't it? The film is expected to begin shooting next spring, by which point it will only be outdated by about 16 years.
Reader Comments (7)
If they can secure arnie aswell it's a go...... lol
you're a dumbass
You're saying you don't like Junk food, you're just sad mate, as a film fan, I will be looking forward to this simply cause it will touch the fan-boy inside of me.
Ridiculous article. Looking forward to this, although annoyed that JCVD turned down Dolphs role. BTW, the author is citing Dolphs involvement as fact - it isn't yet. More good journalism...
Hey Jordan -
Perhaps you should read the article again to illustrate where I report Dolph's involvement as fact. I said:
"What if we add Dolph Lundgren to the mix?"
" the man who killed Apollo Creed might be invaluable"
Stallone's own quote, which isn't definitive
And "Sly is making progress towards securing the services of Dolph Lundgren"
Please explain how any of those statements are touting Lundgren's involvement as a done deal. Sounds to me like you're angry that someone believes differently than you do and you're assuming you read something you didn't read.
You can disagree with me all you want; I voice my opinions here and not everyone is going to agree with me. That's why we allow comments. But if you're trying to make your own point, then you should be able to substantiate it. Give it a shot sometime.
While newer action movies may be going toward the ultra smart, unsteady camera type approach to film making, that doesn't take anything away from 80's style action movies. The reason people watch action movies is above all to be entertained, and movies like First Blood: Part II and others in the genre are extremely good at just that, entertainment. I enjoy newer action movies as well, but they are two different types and there's absolutely no problem with earlier style action movies.
Agreed. But how much of that can be said for War, Chaos, Cradle 2 the Grave, Driven, D-Tox or In the Name of the King: A Dungeoun Siege Tale?
I mean, even this new Transporter movie failed to make a lot of money, and it's certainly not designed to outsmart you. I go back to my original point on this subject, which is that audiences respond to a different type of action movie and a different type of action star now. Even Schwarzengger started losing his drawing power by the time Collateral Damage was out.
It only means that while Stallone might have meant big business once, he doesn't now, and aligning him with two guys who are proven box office poison probably won't help.