In a couple of hours my childhood dream will be fulfilled as the wait of THE EXPENDABLES 2 will hit theaters across the country. No doubt the film will be a box office smash, probably doing better than the first film over 300 million worldwide; I thought I share my FAVORITE FILMS from each EXPENDABLE in the group.
OK on the real, Terry Crews don't count and no I will not share a clip of him dancing on WHITE CHICKS. I don't care for Jason Straham as well but there is a clip for him. Hemmsworth was a toddler so he doesn't count.
So...HERE IT GOES
OF COURSE SLYVESTER STALLONE'S MASTERPIECE IS ROCKY. Second is RAMBO, that's a given. It will be on his tombstone. But my ultimate favorite of Stallone?
YES I was about 5 years old when my Dad took us to see this in a run down theatre in Times Square (what was he thinking?) but this underrated urban drama set in Regan-era NYC about detectives hunting a Terrorist (An Excellent Rutger Hauer who scares me to this day), not only is excellent but its the best and ONLY look where Stallone actually looked like he was from the hood. Why isn't this film on blu-ray is beyond me. The clip below is one of the best scenes in the film. HIDDEN FACT: Stallone directed the chase scene
ARNOLD SCHWARTZENEGGER
COMMANDO (1983)
YES I KNOW, THE TERMINATOR IS HIS BEST, THATS AN EASY ROUTE; So why the hell did I pick this cheesy, action packed, muscle bound, Hot Steam pipe tossing to the villian's stomach that features a very hot pre teen who would grow up into a very hot woman, film named COMMANDO? Because its a cheesy, action packed, muscle bound, hot steam...you get the rest. ITS THE 80'S-DECADE OF THE CHEESE...AND I LOVED IT. You couldn't tell a 9 year old kid like me that you cant survive a jump from a plane at 50 feet and survive to kick ass. HIDDEN FACT: When Arnold picks up Sully with one arm upside down (SMH) you can see the wire hanging on his foot. And here I thought this dude was STRONG.
JEAN CLAUDE VAN DAMME
BLOODSPORT (1985)
I really wanted to pick LIONHEART or DOUBLE IMPACT, especially LIONHEART but nothing just doesn't compare to Van Damme (my fav of the Expendables) first film BLOODSPORT. This movie, basically our first introduction into what would become MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) tells the true story (was it really true?) of Frank Dux who escapes the Army to fight in the tournament and also beat the legend BOLO YEUNG. Also Van Damme looked DAMN GOOD physically. I picked this film because though it was released in the late 80's, its NOT OUTDATED. The film continues to have a successful run on cable and in every generation. My son watched this recently and loved it. That's what you call a true classic. I haven't see Lionheart in years and people forget Academy Award winning actor Forrest Whitaker is in this. HIDDEN FACT: Van Damme was the first choice to play PREDATOR but dropped out (some say fired) because he was offered this film. GREAT CHOICE BRO.
CHUCK NORRIS
THE OCTOGAN (1980)
Talk about UNDERRATED. I think this was Chuck's Darkest film besides LONE WOLF McQUADE or ACT OF VENGENCE. I really wanted to pick DELTA FORCE but this movie gets pushed to the side. The tone and fight scenes alone is worth the watch.
JET LI
FEARLESS (2006)
OK let me get this out of the way, I'm not much of a fan of JET LI. The monotone acting alone kills me, along with the stupid wires he uses for his unbelievable fight scenes; however I TRULY LOVED HIM IN THIS FILM based on a true story about a master in the 20th century. The performance, fight scenes and especially the music gave me the utmost respect for him as an actor. I didn't see this as a typical Martial Arts film but a man with a dream that was ruined by hate.
DOLPH LUNDGREN
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE/ HE-MAN
...
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? JOKING
UNIVERSAL SOLIDER (1992)
Besides his breakout role in ROCKY 4 and even THE EXPENDABLES, this was by far Dolph's BEST with Van Damme's best (hes good when he doesn't have to say much) about Vietnam soldiers frozen in time to become SUPER SOLDERS in the future. Dolph showed his range as an actor by not being such a mean badass but a likeable mean badass. HIDDEN FACT: My man Michael Jai White plays a solider in the first one, then played the villian in the second film.
BRUCE WILLIS
DIE HARD (1988)
THIS WAS EASY. C'mon, you thought I was gonna say "UNBREAKABLE"? Puhleese. People have to remember Bruce was doing MOONLIGHTING when this came out. For us to believe this pretty boy with hair at the time, SHOOTING TERRORIST, it was far fetched but he pulled it off like a mug. One of the most entertaining films of the 80's that set a high trend of the unassumed hero genre of films that would follow, along with its sequels. HIDDEN FACT: Richard Gere was considered for the role of JOHN MCCLAINE...can you believe that crap?
JASON STRAHAM
...THE EXPENDABLES...LOL (2010)
yeah I'm gonna get a lot of flack for this but I'm sorry, he has not done anything in my opinion that wowed me. Those Transporter movies are like watching Woody Woodpecker, I'm not even gonna mention the crap he did with Jet Li called THE ONE. CRANK was an OCD trip but...I really liked him for the first time in The Expendables. I thought he finally had a little bit of depth and range in the character he portrayed. The knife thingy worked for me. I know, he has time for me to grow on him.
So there you have it. My favs of all the actors in the film and I'm sure you'll disagree with me which is what I want so please share your thoughts, curse me out, I don't care. All I know is when I was a kid, I yearned to see these guys, my heros in one film. I used to mimick this when I played with my G.I. JOES and now I get to see it on the screen. Too bad Bruce Lee is not alive to be a part of it.
BUT WHAT THE HELL HAPPEN TO CARL WEATHERS????
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