Hello faithfull readers, it's everyone's favorite procrastinating writer back to give you the word on what ever topic comes to mind. Today I come to you with a topic that is close to everyone's heart. I want to talk to you about a film series that has not only touched the very soul of every film lover around, but also a film series that will go down, along with The Godfather and The Dollars Trilogy, as the the greatest film series known to man and some animals. This is of course The Expendables series.
I am hoping by now that you understood that most of that top paragraph was sarcasm. While I do enjoy The Expendables series for it's ridiclousness, I by no means think it is up to stand with the two series that I named. If you do not know what the Expendables series is and are a major action junkie, I suggest you do these next few things:
1. Grab a case of your favorite alcholic beverage.
2. Get some take out from your favorite take out place.
3. Find your best movie watching friends.
4. Go to the closest T.V/DVd/Blu Ray system you can.
and finally
6. (because when you are talking about The Expendables there is no time for five.) Watch number one and two in a night that can only be described in an Onomonopia : KA-BLAM.
Ok now down to brass tax. I want everyone to understand before I write anymore; this article is by no means saying anything bad about the people who wrote/directed/acted/anythinged in any Expendables movie. It is extremley hard to get a filmed made, there are at least a hundred obstacles standing in your way at every cornor. It is a miracle that anyone get's anything made in the movie business, let alone anything good. I am not some angry screenwriter trying to make his mark by criticizing the work of others ( I am also an angry author, angry director and angry actor.)
I am simple trying to explain in my opinion what would make the best Expendables 3. This is what I do with my time when I am not chasing after women that I never have a chance with. So without further a do, here is how I would make The Expendables 3 :
1. Cut down on characters : One of things that Slyvester Stallone did with The Expendables series is get all these action heroes together in one movie. Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Stathem, Mickey Rourke; these actors are not no-name guys. These are all men with heavy schedules, men who could work on any project that they wanted to. I am not even naming Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li and Terry Crews.
If you did not know, Slyvester Stallone worked his ass off to not only make sure all of the schedules fit and he got all these actors to come together, he also worked his ass off making that first film in general. If you don't believe me, go watch the documentary Inferno : The Making of 'The Expendables', it highlights everything. I mean the man literally broke his neck to make this film; no matter the ending product, that is vallant thing. At least from the point of view of a film lover such as my self.
With that said, I feel it would be best to cut down on the characters. Both The Expendables ran into the same problems that movies with such large casts do. It seemed that while certain characters were getting a fragment of character development, others were getting nothing at all. And in my opinion, no one character got the right character development they deserve. Look at a movie like the Magnificent Seven as an example. That is an ensemble movie as well and I feel like I understood and cared about all of the seven.
The best way to do this for me would be getting rid of characters, killing off if needed. Keep the actual Expendables down to only a few. If I got my choice of characters to keep it would be Sly, Jason, Terry, and Mickey, you could possible replcae Terry Crews with Jet Li if need be. To me four is a good number for the actual group. Dolph just seemed to be drifting around looking for a role to be in both films and Randy just didn't seem to fit. When you have someone like Jason Statham who could be the figher of the group, I just don't see the point of Randy Couture.
When it comes to Bruce Willis's and Schwarzenegger's characters, I feel that you still need something along the same lines of them. Willis's character especially, Willis's character can be an important character when it comes to the plot of the film. You need someone to establish what The Expendables ( what's left of them at least) need to do, maybe someone to supply them with information and weapons. But with that said, it nowhere needs to be Willis. There has been rumors of who was going to be in this film, Cage and Chan have both been thrown around. I feel like adding a new character into the Willis role would not only be able to bring in a new big time action hero, but also give the orginization that Willis works for a little weight to it. It will make said orginization, a more shaddy orginization. Even give the new actor the same character name, Mr. Church, just to add that extra level of shaddy.
2. After cutting down on characters, add depth to the characters : One of my favorite parts of the first film, wasy Mickey Rourkes monolgue. As a writer and a fan of fiction, I have always been a big fan of characters. The moment in The Expendables 1 were Mickey Rourke delivers his monolgue is possible my favorite film moment of the whole film. It gives his character an actual backstory without having him go into a huge expository mess and also makes you feel the character. It let's the character actually become a character. It kind of questioned the nature of the action heroes that the film portrays throughout, it is a thoughtfull point. After this point though,we are give no character developing moment.
The other movies tried to do this at points; one example that comes to mind in the first film is the storyline with Jason Statem and his girlfriend ( played by the wonderful Charisma Carpenter). This to me was the start of a good character moment, you could explained parts of Jason Statham characters, parts of his past. But after a fight scene with Charisma Carpenter's boyfriend and friends, we are given nothing. Something like this could be a big character moment, Carpenter's character could be more. Carpenter's character could almost be someone who Statham character confides to about his past.
3. Combine the best of both plots : Both plots of The Expendables one and two had their good points. They both equal had their bad points. The Expendables one plot was a small scale plot, but still a plot that seemed to fit the film. At the same time, it was way to easy for the cast you were given. Besides Stone Cold Steve Austin, Stone Colden up the place, there seemed to be no challenge. The second film suffered from this a little bit, but not as much. The second film on the other hand, had a huge plot., a plot that seemed could only be solved by a super group like The Expendables. It seemed that at times the group actually struggled. At other times the plot seemed ridiclous; think of the worst James Bond plot and add it by ten.
What the third plot needs to be is a mixture of both plots. Make something personal, but not so easy that it looks like The Expendables are bulling the opposition. One of the best parts about The Expenables two is the fight between Van Damme and Stallone. This fight seemed personal, charasmatic and important. At times, with my huge window of disbelief, I questioned who would in at the end of the fight. If you kill the rest of the group, have the remaining Expendables go after their killers. Make the leader of their killers an add on, someone who will put up a fight.
To me with this things combined, a dash of good directing and writing, and a little dash of luck, the sky is the limit...... or at least a good action film that is represented by the sky. Again, take my word for what it is worth. I have never directed a film and have never had a piece of work published in anything, but I have been watching movies for a majority of my life. So by that logic..... I am the only person you should be listening to.
