Recently, I boasted about The Expendables panel at Comic-Con. How cool it was. And how certain I was this movie was gonna kick ass! Alas, that panel was considerably better than the film. This isn't to say that The Expendables is a complete pile of crap, but it certainly doesn't live up to its manly star power. The Expendables is even more disheartening when taking into consideration that Sylvester Stallone was in top form with his last two films; Rocky Balboa and Rambo. The Expendables aspires to be a throwback to the action films of the 80's but with its quick cutting style, muddled fight sequences, and CG blood splatter, it completely misses the mark.

The big hook here is clearly the cast. Featuring an all star roster of action star talent (including; Stallone, C, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, and Jason Statham), The Expendables weaves its tale around a rag tag team of mercenaries who are called in to take out the trash. Their latest mission has our fearless heroes traveling to South America where they hope to take down an evil dictator. If you've seen the coming attraction trailer, then you know that in addition to the previous list of stars, the film also features Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger, but what you might find particularly lame, is that if you've seen the trailer then you've pretty much seen all that Willis and Schwarzenegger have to offer, because they're only in the film for about five minutes. The charismatic Mickey Rourke is also short changed, playing an ex-mercenary/tattoo artist. With about ten minutes of screen time, at least Rourke makes it a worthy ten minutes.

He doesn't go out on the mission with the rest of the team, but he does deliver the film's strongest bit of dialogue. In fact, Rourke's key scene is so good, it feels like it belongs in an entirely different movie. Stallone can be a terrific actor (check out his stellar work in the under appreciated Copland), but he's on cruise control here. This is all about stuff that goes boom which would be fine if the proceedings were a little more exciting. There certainly are a few noteworthy moments in the picture (the mere sight of seeing Stallone face to face with Lundgren again after all these years, is almost worth the price of admission alone, and a sequence in which Statham pops up out of an airplane hatch--mid flight, guns a blazing--to take out the bad guys, is a keeper too ), but overall, The Expendables is surprisingly dull.

Furthermore, rather than sticking to its guns and remaining a big, silly, over the top action film, The Expendables dares to have a conscious. Rip on A-Team as much as you want. It emerges as the stronger entertainment because it maintains a consistent tone throughout. It knows exactly what it is and refuses to waver. I wish The Expendables would have done the same. I doubt that the involvement of a few extra action heroes (i.e. Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, Jackie Chan, etc.) would have made this a better movie, because if The Expendables proves anything, its that having a bunch of kick ass action icons on screen together isn't nearly enough. Each character has to serve a distinct purpose. In The Expendables, the casting is more of a gimmick than a coup.

Still, I welcome the idea of a sequel so that Stallone can redeem himself a bit and deliver a film worthy of the talent involved. His Expendables almost plays like a straight to DVD movie. Here's to hoping that a potential sequel plays like a bonafide theatrical release.

Grade: C