Introduction

The Expendables is a 2010 American action film directed by Sylvester Stallone, who co-wrote it with David Callaham and also starred in the lead role. The film co-stars an ensemble cast of mostly action film actors consisting of Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Steve Austin, Mickey Rourke, and Bruce Willis. The film was released in the United States on 13 August 2010. It is the first instalment in The Expendables film series. This was Dolph Lundgren’s first theatrically released film since 1995’s cyberpunk film Johnny Mnemonic.

The film is about a team of elite mercenaries tasked with a mission to overthrow a Latin American dictator whom they soon discover to be a mere puppet controlled by a corrupt ex-CIA agent. It pays tribute to the blockbuster action films of the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was distributed by Lionsgate.

The Expendables received mixed reviews with praise towards the action sequences and cast performances. It was commercially successful, opening at number one at the box office in the United States, the United Kingdom, China and India, and grossed a total of $274 million worldwide. The film spawned the sequels The Expendables 2 (2012), The Expendables 3 (2014), and Expend4bles (2023).

Outline

An elite group of mercenaries named The Expendables, who are based in New Orleans deploys to the Gulf of Aden to save hostages on a vessel from Somali pirates. The team consists of leader Barney Ross, blade specialist Lee Christmas, martial artist Yin Yang, military veteran Gunner Jensen, weapons specialist Hale Caesar, and demolitions expert Toll Road. Jensen instigates a firefight, causing casualties for the pirates. He then tries to hang a pirate, but Yang stops him when Ross and the team discourage the idea. Ross reluctantly discharges him from the team. Later, Christmas is upset to discover his girlfriend Lacy has left him for another man. Ross and rival Trench Mauser visit “Mr. Church” for a mission. Trench passes the contract to Ross, which is to overthrow dictator General Garza in Vilena, an island in the Gulf of Mexico.

Ross and Christmas fly to Vilena for undercover reconnaissance and meet their contact, Sandra, but are discovered. It is revealed that ex-CIA officer James Munroe is keeping Garza in power as a figurehead for his own profiteering operations, while Sandra is revealed to be Garza’s daughter. Ross aborts, but Sandra refuses to leave Vilena. Meanwhile, Jensen approaches Munroe to help and Garza is angered further when Sandra is waterboarded for information by Munroe. Meanwhile, Lacy has been physically abused by her new man, so Christmas beats him and his friends, revealing what he does for a living. Ross and the group discover that Church is a CIA operative and the real target is Munroe, who has gone rogue and joined forces with Garza to keep the drug money that funds the CIA to himself, but the CIA cannot afford a mission to kill one of their own directly because of bad publicity.

Ross meets tattoo expert and friend Tool to express his feelings. Tool makes a confession about letting a woman commit suicide instead of saving her. Ross is then motivated to go back for Sandra alone, but Yang accompanies him. Jensen and hired men pursue them on the road, ending in an abandoned warehouse, where Yang and Jensen fight a second time. Ross shoots Jensen when he attempts to impale Yang on a pipe. Jensen makes amends and gives the layout of Garza’s palace. Ross boards the plane with Yang and finds the rest of the team waiting, and they infiltrate Garza’s compound. Thinking Munroe hired the team to kill him, Garza has his soldiers’ faces painted, preparing them for a fight. The team plants explosives throughout the site but Ross, while saving Sandra, is captured by Munroe’s henchmen. The team saves him and kills the Brit, but is pinned down by Garza’s men as Paine wrestles Ross.

Caesar fights back and Paine escapes. Garza finally stands up to Munroe, ordering him out and returning his money. Instead, as Garza rallies his men against the Americans, Munroe kills him and escapes with Paine and Sandra. Garza’s men open fire against the team, who fight their way through, detonating the explosives and destroying the compound. Toll kills Paine by burning him alive while Ross and Caesar manage to destroy the helicopter before Munroe can escape. Ross and Christmas catch up to Munroe, killing him and saving Sandra. Later, Ross gives his mission reward to Sandra to restore Vilena. The team has returned home and are celebrating at Tool’s tattoo parlour with the recovering and now redeemed Jensen. Christmas and Tool play a game of knife throwing, during which Christmas composes a mocking poem about Tool, then throws a bullseye from outside the building.

Cast

• Sylvester Stallone as Barney Ross
• Jason Statham as Lee Christmas
• Jet Li as Yin Yang
• Dolph Lundgren as Gunner Jensen
• Eric Roberts as James Munroe
• Randy Couture as Toll Road
• Steve Austin as Paine
• David Zayas as General Garza
• Giselle Itié as Sandra
• Charisma Carpenter as Lacy
• Gary Daniels as The Brit
• Terry Crews as Hale Caesar
• Mickey Rourke as Tool
• Bruce Willis as Mr. Church
• Arnold Schwarzenegger as Trench Mauser (uncredited cameo)

Production

Development

In mid-2005, writer David Callaham submitted the first draft of a mercenary-inspired action film titled “Barrow” to Warner Bros., as part of his “blind commitment” deal with the studio at the time. Callaham revised the script two more times and submitted his third final revision in early 2006. Having expressed interest in doing an ensemble film, Sylvester Stallone reviewed Callaham’s third/final revised draft of Barrow and used it as a “starting point” for The Expendables.

Casting

Jean-Claude Van Damme was personally offered a role by Stallone, but turned it down because he felt there was no substance or development to the character. Stallone said that Van Damme told him that he should “be trying to save people in South Central.” At the premiere of the film, Stallone claimed to have been speaking to Van Damme over the phone and had said, “I told you!”, to which Van Damme concurred and expressed his regret over not participating. Van Damme would later appear as the main antagonist, Jean Vilain, in the film’s sequel.

The role of Hale Caesar was initially conceived as a role for Stallone’s Demolition Man co-star Wesley Snipes. Snipes turned down the role because of his tax issues, and not able to leave the United States without the court’s approval. It was later rewritten for Forest Whitaker. Due to a scheduling conflict prior to filming, Whitaker was replaced by 50 Cent before the part of Hale Caesar finally went to former NFL player Terry Crews.

Steven Seagal was asked to make a cameo appearance, but turned down the offer due to negative experiences with producer Avi Lerner.

Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Ben Kingsley, and Ray Liotta were all considered for the role of James Munroe before Stallone’s The Specialist co-star Eric Roberts was eventually cast in the role.

By May 2009, the script had undergone a number of rewrites. Stallone’s Demolition Man co-star Sandra Bullock was rumored to have a role in the film, but revealed that she did not even know about the project. Despite the news, she did express interest in working in another action film and would have liked to appear in the film, depending on the storyline.[16]

The role of the man who hires the Expendables, Mr. Church, was difficult to cast. Schwarzenegger was offered that role, but instead appeared as fellow mercenary leader Trench. The role was then offered to Stallone’s Tango & Cash co-star Kurt Russell, whose agent replied that he was not interested in “ensemble acting at the moment”. Stallone spent several months after principal photography determined to find a big action name for the part. Rumors suggested that the role had been offered to friend and fellow former Planet Hollywood co-owner Bruce Willis, who was busy filming Cop Out. Willis’ casting as Mr. Church was confirmed by August 2009, as was that he would appear in a scene with both Stallone and Schwarzenegger.

To cast the soldiers, Stallone knew his filming location, Brazil, was home to many mixed martial arts fighters. He called Ultimate Fighting Championship champions Anderson Silva and brothers Rogerio and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira to make casting calls, and had the three cameo as well.

Filming

Film production began on 03 March 2009, with a budget of $82 million.

Principal photography commenced 25 days later in Rio de Janeiro and other locations in Brazil, including Mangaratiba, Niteroi, Guanabara Bay, Colônia Juliano Moreira and Parque Lage. Filming originally ended on April 25 but was continued on 11 May, in Elmwood and New Orleans, Louisiana, including the French Quarter, South Peters Street, Fort Macomb, Claiborne Avenue and the Interstate 10 overpass. Filming officially ended on 01 July, but on 27 October there was a pick-up scene at a church in Los Angeles, California featuring Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Willis (the latter two doing the scene without compensation, according to Stallone in the Blu-ray Disc director commentary). On 02 June, West Coast Customs Street Customs built three customised 1955 Ford F100s for Sylvester Stallone for the film. One was built for a crash scene, the second for green screen, and the third for Stallone to keep. “The Expendables has a seventy million dollar budget,” Stallone’s Rocky IV co-star Dolph Lundgren says: “It’s an old-school, kick-ass action movie where people are fighting with knives and shooting at each other.” The flying boat used for filming is a Grumman HU-16 Albatross and the ship used as a setting in the opening scene was a Russian SA-15 type Arctic cargo ship Igarka.

In Summer 2010, Brazilian company O2 Filmes released a statement saying it was still owed more than US$2 million for its work on the film.

Music

Composer Brian Tyler announced on his official website that he had been hired to write original music for the film. Tyler previously worked with Stallone on Rambo in 2008.

Godsmack vocalist Sully Erna was approached by Stallone himself to write a song for the film. Erna showed him a potential unfinished piece of “Sinners Prayer”; Stallone liked it and wanted to use it in the film. However, during the film’s post-production, the scene that “Sinner’s Prayer” was originally meant to be used in was reworked and the song was taken off the film and its soundtrack. The American hard rock band Shinedown contributed a brand new track, “Diamond Eyes (Boom-Lay Boom-Lay Boom)”, recorded specifically for the film, but the song does not appear in the film nor its official soundtrack. The song was used in the theatrical trailer and the finished piece was released on 15 June 2010. Both songs were finally used for the Extended Director’s Cut. One of the alternate trailers uses the song “Paradise City” by Guns N’ Roses. The song “The Boys Are Back in Town” by Thin Lizzy (live version featured on Still Dangerous) played in TV spots and is played over the credits.

The score for the film was released on 10 August.

Release

Theatrical

The film had an original scheduled release date set at 23 April 2010, but was later pushed back four months until 13 August, to extend production time. On 17 March 2010, the official international poster for the film was released. A promo trailer (aimed at industry professionals) was leaked online in August 2009. Sometime in October, nearly two months after the promo trailer was leaked, it was officially released online. The promo trailer was edited by Stallone and it was shown at the Venice Film Festival. On 01 April 2010, the official theatrical trailer for the film was released. The film had its red carpet Hollywood premiere on 03 August 2010. The grand premiere of the film was held at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada on 10 August 2010.

Home Media

The theatrical cut of The Expendables was released on DVD/Blu-ray Disc on 23 November 2010. The Blu-ray Disc is a 3-disc combo pack.

An Extended Director’s Cut of the film was meant to be out for an early 2011 DVD/Blu-ray Disc release, but was first released on cable television instead. The Extended Director’s Cut was released on Blu-ray Disc on 13 December 2011. A 90-minute documentary called Inferno: The Making of The Expendables was released exclusively to the theatrical cut’s Blu-ray release.

Extended Director’s Cut

The Extended Director’s Cut premiered on Epix on 30 May 2011, for the Memorial Day weekend. The Extended Cut contains roughly 11 minutes of additional footage and reintroduces the Shinedown song “Diamond Eyes” to the soundtrack, both during the climactic shootout and again over the end credits, and the song “Sinners Prayer” by Sully Erna in the new opening credits.

Box Office

The film made its US debut at 3,270 theatres with approximately 4,300 screens, which earned it the #10 spot on the list of the “Biggest Independent Releases of All Time” at Box Office Mojo and the #16 spot on their list of top opening weekends for August. It earned $34.8 million in its opening weekend and took the #1 position in the US box office. On the day of its release, the film earned $13.3 million in sales, exceeding the $9.7 million sum from the debut of the last previous summer action film The A-Team.

Brandon Gray of Box Office Mojo stated that the film “took a commanding lead in its debut”, compared to competing films Eat Pray Love and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Ben Fritz of the Los Angeles Times stated that the “over-the-top shoot-’em-up” opened to a “very strong” reception. As well, he described it as “a crowd-pleaser even if critics didn’t take to it.” Research by Lionsgate found that between 38% and 40% of the film’s viewers were female. The results were unexpected, for a film thought to have limited appeal to female filmgoers.

The Expendables remained at the top position in the US box office during its second weekend, earning a weekend total of nearly $17 million.

The film went on to gross $103.1 million in the United States, and $171.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide gross to $274.5 million.

Trivia

• Sylvester Stallone sustained fourteen injuries making this movie, including breaking a tooth, rupturing his ankle, and getting a hairline fracture in his neck that required the surgical insertion of a metal plate.
  • He also had bronchitis and shingles during the shoot.
• Mickey Rourke said he did this film as a favor to Sylvester Stallone, who years earlier, when Rourke was in a career slump, offered him a major role in Get Carter (2000) and helped to pay part of Rourke’s salary himself.
• Sylvester Stallone states on the commentary that Church’s line, “You guys aren’t gonna start sucking each other’s dicks are ya,” was ad-libbed by Bruce Willis.
  • He at first had reservations about the line but decided keep it in the movie.
• In the audio commentary Sylvester Stallone reveals that in the final battle, Steve Austin almost lost his leg due to an explosion that went off next to his foot.
  • What saved him was the bag he was holding took the bulk of the blast. The bag acted as a shield when the explosion happened.
  • You can see this happen at the 1:24:05 mark in the movie.
• Mickey Rourke split filming his scenes with his appearance in Iron Man 2 (2010).
  • He was only available for 48 hours.
• This is the first time that Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bruce Willis have appeared in a film together, in any combination.
  • The three action mega-stars are long-time friends, even working together (with Willis’ ex-wife Demi Moore) as original venture capitalists and promoters for the “Planet Hollywood” restaurant and casino chain.

Production & Filming Details

• Director(s):
  • Sylvester Stallone
• Producer(s):
  • Guymon Casady … executive producer
  • Jason Constantine … executive producer
  • Boaz Davidson … executive producer
  • Danny Dimbort … executive producer
  • Robert Earl … co-producer
  • Jon Feltheimer … executive producer
  • Basil Iwanyk … executive producer
  • Eda Kowan … executive producer
  • Avi Lerner … producer
  • Matthew O’Toole … co-producer (as Matt O’Toole)
  • Edu Sallouti … assistant line producer: Brazil
  • J. Celeste Salzer … associate producer
  • Trevor Short … executive producer
  • Ivan Teixeira … line producer: Brazil
  • Kevin King Templeton … producer (as Kevin King-Templeton)
  • John Thompson … producer
• Writer(s):
  • Dave Callaham … (screenplay) (as David Callaham) and
  • Sylvester Stallone … (screenplay)
  • Dave Callaham … (story) (as David Callaham)
• Music:
  • Brian Tyler
• Cinematography:
  • Jeffrey L. Kimball … director of photography (as Jeffrey Kimball)
• Editor(s):
  • Ken Blackwell
  • Paul Harb
• Production:
  • Millennium Films (presents)
  • Millennium Films (Nu Image)
  • Nu Image Entertainment GmbH (Nu Image)
  • Nimar Studios
  • Rogue Marble
  • Splendid Film
  • Wide Pictures
• Distributor(s):
  • Lionsgate
• Release Date: 13 August 2010.
• Running time: 103 minutes.
• Rating: 18.
• Country: US.
• Language: English.

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