The Expendables - Posters for Stallone's new action film

Finally we have some posters for the action stars action film.

The Expendables is about a team of mercenaries who head to South America on a mission to overthrow a dictator. It stars Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, and Charisma Carpenter. Stallone both wrote and is directing the film. The film is still in the middle of shooting.

Source: First Showing

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The Expendables - Photo of Stallone hanging from a plane

AICN had this pretty cool photo from Sylvester Stallone's film, The Expendables.

As you can see it shows Stallone hanging from the doorway of a sea plane and I think it looks great. Really looking forward to this 80s style action movie made with today's technology.

The Expendables follows a team of mercenaries who head to South America on a mission to overthrow a dictator. It stars Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, and Charisma Carpenter. Stallone both wrote and is directing the film.

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The Expendables - Behind the scenes footage for Stallone's action film

Trailer Addict managed to get hold of this footage from the official blog of The Expendables. They also mention that a poster should be out very soon.

The Expendables is about a team of mercenaries who head to South America on a mission to overthrow a dictator. It stars Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, and Charisma Carpenter. Stallone both wrote and is directing the film.

It is due out on 3rd April 2010.

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50 Cent to replace Forest Whittaker in Stallone's The Expendables

Filming for The Expendables had to be pushed back a month which meant Forest Whitaker had to bow out to due to scheduling conflicts. Sylvester Stallone sent these letters over to AICN. The first one mentions the various character names and points out that Curtis Jackson (50 Cent) has replaced Forest Whitaker in the film.

Needless to say this caused a whole heap of WTF so Stallone sent the second letter explaining the decision.

Dear Harry,

Below is a letter that I sent to the Stallone Zone that I had also wanted to
send to you because I have the same loyalty to your site as well. Anyway, it
might temper preconceived opinions.

Thank you and best,
Sly

P.S. Also, for clarification:
Hale Caesar is Curtis Jackson
Toll Road (new character) is Randy Couture
Monroe is Eric Roberts
Tool (an ex-Expendable) is Mickey Rourke
Bao is Jet Li
Lee Christmas is Jason Statham
Lacy is Charisma Carpenter
Sandra is Giselle Itie (famous Brazilian actress)
And
Barney 'the schizo' Ross is Yours Truly.

P.S.S. By the way, there's enough testosterone and ego in this film to float
a large continent covered in elephants, but I'm enjoying it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Craig,

I appreciate the incredible amount of work you've done on my behalf. Please
tell the loyal followers to be positive not negative in their feedback. I am
not self-destructive. The anger of the casting of 50 Cent is understandable,
but not fair. A player is only as good as his coach. If a man can
communicate in one medium, he can communicate in another if his strengths
are brought out and he has the support of well-wishers. So, trust me, the
change of Forest Whitaker to 50 Cent AKA Curtis Jackson is a good one. No
one thought Dolph Lundgren was a good choice for ROCKY or Mr. T. Carl
Weathers was an afterthought when Ken Naughton fell out. The same with Talia
Shire and Richard Crenna, who was known as a comedic actor, not a serious
one.

Nobody wanted Eric Roberts over Ben Kingsley, but I believe it's a vastly
improved casting. The point is, you either believe in me and the project,
setting your personal feelings aside, or you take a darker approach, which
really serves no purpose since your insight and suggestions and overall
enthusiasm are a great thrill for me to behold everyday I sign on.

Signing off -

Your friend,
Sly

Oh well, he does stand by his decision. Pity Whitaker can't be in it. I've never seen 50 Cent in one of his acting roles so I'm not really in a position to comment. Do you think he is a good choice for the film or has Stallone dropped the ball on this one?

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Stallone brings Charisma and Stone Cold to the Expendables.

Some more casting news for Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables has hit.

Variety reports that WWE alum "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Joss Whedon veteran, Charisma Carpenter ("Angel", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") have joined the cast of the film, which was written and will be directed by Sly.

The two join a growing cast which includes Sylvester Stallone, Forest Whitaker, Eric Roberts, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Randy Couture, Dolph Lungdren, Mickey Rourke and a cameo by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Stallone seems to be being rather clever with his casting and going for actors who cover a multitude of genres. This should hopefully bring in the viewers when the film is released.

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Mickey Rourke is one of The Expendables

It was mentioned the other day that Sir Ben Kinglsey was cast in Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables and today comes the great news (via /film who also put together that cool photo I think) that Mickey Rourke will join the crew of Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Randy Couture, Dolph Lundgren, and Forest Whitaker.

The team is sent to infiltrate a South American country to overthrow the ruthless dictator and liberate the country. According to Variety, Rourke will play “an unscrupulous arms dealer who becomes the go-to guy for the group of mercenaries”. Principal photography is set to begin in Brazil and Louisiana in March.

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The Expendables - Script review for Stallone's action movie

Vern over at AICN has had a chance to look at Sylvester Stallone's script for The Expendables and it sounds like it could be a good old fashioned action movie. As Vern says, "This is a movie where a team of 5 can take on an army of 100, where armed men still sometimes engage in martial arts and fisticuffs, where many, many things blow up, where occasionally a character might have something sarcastic to say during combat. In other words, a good old fashioned action movie. An endangered species."

There is nothing definite as to who is playing what character in the film but is possible, and highly likely that Stallone may play the leader of the group called Barney.

"Barney is a very different character from Rambo. For one thing, his name is Barney. For another he talks in more than one sentence sometimes. He's almost a father figure to the team and finds himself always listening to other people's problems and trying to be supportive. The other character who gets the most screen time is the lovelorn Lee Christmas. He's supposed to be American but calls a guy "mate" at one point, which means he's played by Jason Statham. There's also Kong Kao, who will be played by Jet Li. He does a lot of kicking, but is much more of a supporting character than Li usually plays. I do think it's a pretty good character for Li, though, because he gets some funny lines. He's an unhappy smartass, not the usual Li type of character."

As well as those three we all know now that Dolph Lundgren is going to be in the action epic. Unfortunately he may only be in the film for a couple of scenes which is a shame. It's a small but crucial role as an Expendable named Gunnar who comes into conflict with Kong.

Vern also goes onto explain the roles that Forest Whitaker and Sandra Bullock may be playing and he has this to say about some roles that have yet to be cast.

"There's Richard, who is the gay Expendable. It's a plot point that he's gay, but they don't make any dumb jokes about it, he's just a member of the team. I'm proud of Stallone for that one. On the other hand, the black Expendable isn't much more than a benign Black Dude stereotype. He doesn't get enough characterization, but on the positive side he owns a restaurant, is zealous about tacos and has a name even more cartoonish than Lee Christmas: his name is Hale Caesar. I approve of that."
It's not clear if this is going to be the final script as many of the fight scenes and characters are a bit sketchy at the moment especially the last big battle that Stallone describes as

"THE BATTLE IS ON!! WHAT ENSUES IS A REMARKABLY SAVAGE EBB AND FLOW BATTLE. TO DESCRIBE THE ACTION DESIGNED FOR THIS SCENE WOULD TAKE MANY PAGES, SO TRUST ME, IT'LL BE LIKE NOTHING SEEN BEFORE."

I have got a good feeling about this film though. Make sure you have a read of the rest of the script review. Will this be a great action movie or should it be a direct to DVD one?
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The Expendales - Sandra Bullock may be in it and some character descriptions.

JoBlo has heard that Sylvester Stallone is after Sandra Bullock to star in his movie, The Expendables.

It hasn't been signed off yet but Stallone is trying his best to work with his old Demolition Man partner again. Bullock would play a government agent (paired up with Whitaker) on the hunt for Stallone's crew of hired guns.

Moviehole had these character descriptions.

Agent Diane Lickson – C.I.A agent, based out of Langley. She’s determined to find out the identities of the hired-contractors (Stallone, Statham, Lundgren etc) but the only video footage they have of the guys is grainy and unwatchable so the facial recognition software is useless. Her colleague, agent Will ‘Willy’ Sands (Forest Whitaker), whose been out of the field for about seven years, is called in to assist her. He’s convinced the team of mercenaries is lead by someone he’s had a previous run-in with.

Church – The man that hires the ‘Expendables’ (run by ‘Barney’ and ‘Christmas’, assumingly the characters played by Stallone and Statham, respectively) to go after General Garza (who essentially runs his own island – described as a human rights graveyard). He’s an older bloke, and has a connection to the young man who Garza has apparently assassinated. This is personal, in other words. He wants Garza killed and his island burnt down. Five million dollars does the trick. (The rumour is, the role was written with Arnold Schwarzenegger in mind).

B.W Monroe – The Female chief intelligence officer, also determined to find out the identities of the ‘Expendables’ – largely Barney and Christmas. Her main interest is keeping The Expendables away from classified company operations that are already underway in the [Garza’s] area. She’s not that fond of ‘Willy’ Sands – considering he once [Johnny Utah-esque] let one of the Mercenaries escape.

Karen – a beautiful Raven-haired waitress; one of Christmas’s many past conquests. He doesn’t remember her – but she remembers him (he even gave her a ring).

Emanuel – a seedy contact of The Expendables. He, 45, doesn’t like to say things twice. They meet him at a club to do business. Seems a little bit shady.

Dan Paine – the head of General Garza’s security detail. His orders are to take the Expendables out. He eventually snags one of the mercenaries and tries to siphon details out of him. (This could be the part Randy Couture recently snagged; unconfirmed).

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The Expendables cast expands - Forrest Whitaker and Randy Couture

Sylvester Stallone spoke to AICN and let them know of some more casting for his old school action flick, The Expendables.

Looks as if UFC champ, Randy Couture (The Scorpion King: The Akkadian), is joining Jason Statham, Jet Li, and Dolph Lundgren.

Forrest Whitaker has also been cast in the film and rumour has it Lundgren and Li will have a bit of a barney in the film which should be cool.

I must admit that the more I hear about this film the more I want to see it.
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Dolph Lundgren to be one of The Expendables with Statham, Li and Stallone

The good chaps over at Filmstalker have the news that Dolph Lundgren could be starring in Sylvester Stallone's upcoming film The Expendables, along with the already signed Jason Statham and Jet Li.

This could well bring Lundgren back in from the cold that is direct to DVD. It all sounds a bit like the old school action heroes getting back together for an Ocean's 11 get together in blowing stuff up. All it needs now is Bruce Willis, Kurt Russell and Carl "Action Jackson" Weathers to get signed up.

The Expendables will see a group of mercenaries pulled together for a mission in South America that involves overthrowing a dictator which has a first half of Predator type vibe.

We already heard that Jason Statham and Jet Li would be returning to their film partnership, and it seems fitting that the other casting brings back another strong action partnership, that of Stallone and Dolph Lundgren.

The news story comes from Dolph Ultimate through AITH.

What do you think of Rocky and Drago getting back together again? Are you looking forward to Stallone putting the band back together?
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The Expendables - Stallone, Statham and Jet Li Action Flick

Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham are to star in The Expendables, an action film about a team of mercenaries.

The Hollywood Reporter says they could be joined by Jet Li, who is in final negotiations for The Nu Image/Millennium Films project. Stallone has written the screenplay and will also direct.

He said: "Making films with Nu Image/Millennium gives me as the director the opportunity to make the films I envision. I am happy to be partnering with them again and am looking forward to working with Jason and Jet."

The story follows a team of "expendables" sent to a South American country to overthrow a dictator and liberate its people. Filming will take place in Costa Rica and Louisiana from February.

What do you think of that?
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The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - Movie Review

Director: Rob Cohen
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello, John Hannah
Running Time: 112 minutes

Score: 6/10

This review from Billy Bob

Surprisingly, "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" isn't as bad as both its marketing and the long period without an installment suggested.

Despite a seven-year hiatus and the loss of one of its leads, the 'Mummy' franchise jumps right back into the action without many problems. It's willing to change up the story a bit, giving us a new Mummy character and setting as opposed to one featuring that Egyptian guy from the first two, but it also manages to retain all the things about the earlier films that made them popular - that is, a proper mix of action-adventure and a light-hearted tone.

Brendan Fraser is back as Rick O'Connell, the Indiana Jones-inspired hero from the original films, and by this point, he really has his character down. In fact, I think he was much more comfortable here than he was in the original films, maybe because he has improved as an actor over the past seven years, or maybe because he doesn't try to make his character any more than it should be, and it's a refreshing thing to see. Returning to the role of Jonathan Carnahan, Rick's brother-in-law, John Hannah is just as strong a source of humor (and in reality, that's all that his character is supposed to bring to the table) as he was in the past.

Which leads us to the big third member of the party: Rick's wife, Evelyn. As you may know, Rachel Weisz was the actor who portrayed her in the old films, but because she was unwilling to make a third film, they had to replace her, something that often has awkward results in movie franchises. However, I must say that Mario Bello truly rose to the occasion, capturing a nearly identical voice to Weisz's, and playing the part like she isn't new to it at all. And when we first see her character, a clever joke about feeling 'like a completely different person' eases the change. There is nothing about this trio that I could find any real faults in, and this helped make the film very enjoyable.

Another bonus to waiting seven years in between installments in our digital age brings another advantage to the film: much better special effects and action sequences. And believe me: this film definitely capitalizes on this, as both a chase sequence in China early on in the film (sorta reminiscent of the Shangahi sequence in 'The Temple of Doom') as well as the final battle at the Great Wall blow away any action sequences you saw in the first two movies. So in terms of action, you'll definitely get your fair dose of awesome effects. They definitely put that reported $175 million to good use.

Sadly, everything else about this movie doesn't begin to compare to the returning stars and the action sequences (luckily, these two components make up much of the film). The Mummy in this movie is played by Jet Li, who isn't at all as cool as one might hope he'd be (he's basically Jet Li's usual martial arts master, with some occasional superpowers thrown into the mix). The film crafts his story so similarly to the background story in the first 'Mummy' movie that there's even a point where the dialogue overlaps ('Nobody is to touch her'). It was disappointingly obvious that his story existed purely to create conflict for the protagonists and to set up some awesome action moments.

But the disappointments don't end there. Joining Rick, Evelyn, and Jonathan on their quest to stop the Mummy are Rick and Evelyn's son, Alex (Luke Ford), and an immortal woman named Lin (Isabella Leong) whose job is to protect the contents of the very tomb that Alex inadvertently helped bring back to life. These two characters form a romance along the way, setting up some great moments for both Fraser and Bello as their son's curious parents. The only problem is that these two lovers are played by some very weak actors, especially Lin. Alex comes across as more of a playboy than an adventurer (which doesn't make sense when characters comment on how much he reminds them of his father), and every time Lin spoke, my friend and I had a bit of trouble holding back the laughs.

Another problem the film faces is that some of the time, things just don't make sense. I won't get into details, but there is a scene where Lin calls upon some yeti-esquire creatures to help them fight the Mummy (who conveniently come in handy later on in ways that she couldn't have foretold), Lin speaks of giving away her immortality for Alex's love even though they have known each other for a day or two, and the characters continue to think that simply shooting a mummy with a gun will destroy him, even though past experience has been evidence enough that there's no use.

So while on one end we have a film bringing back three very enjoyable characters and upgrading the action sequences to fit modern-day standards, we also have a movie with a boring general plot, weak supporting characters, and a few too many 'WTF' moments. However, this is mindless summer entertainment, and you ultimately have to forgive such problems to an extent, as long as it delivers on the right levels, which this film does. It's much better than 'The Mummy Returns,' and just as enjoyable as the original. Even though there are a lot of things I would have changed, I can't say I was expecting it to turn out as well as it did.

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The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

I am really looking forward to his. Jet Li, car chases, action, adventure and a big Yeti. Looks a damn site better than the second Mummy film.

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