This review was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the film being covered here wouldn’t exist.At the end of Ted Kotcheff’s 1982 film, First Blood — about a traumatized Vietnam War veteran named John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) who returns home to find there is nothing left for him and active hostility towards his existence as a reminder of the disastrous campaign — the central conflict comes to a close without gunfire and instead via a more unexpectedly impactful moment of reflection. After an entire film spent battling the corrupt local sheriff and his cronies in the woods who tried to drive him away, Rambo gave himself up after breaking down in tears at all that had happened to him. It was a potent way in which to close and elevated an already well-crafted action film into something more resonant. What a shame they don’t make them like that anymore and instead just coast off their legacies.
Scott Waugh’s Expend4bles, starring Jason Statham and Megan Fox, is a dire action sequel that is the worst in the series. Read on for our review.