The Expendables

Okay, by now everyone knows what a mess that movie was.  And let's face it, no one really expected Oscar bait, just a fun bunch of nostalgic action-packed goodness.  But it failed on that score as well.  Stallone was simply trying to do too much with too many names in one movie. 
So, what were some of the specific problems?  One - There was little to know background for any of the characters.  Why are thy together?  Why should I care about them at all?  Each character got a little moment of "development" at some point during the movie (Coutre's little thing about his ear and therapist, Ludgren's drug problem, Statham's girlfriend, etc.) but it was always little more than a sound bite.  Two - Too much setup before things really got going.  Three - Too much quick editing during the big finale.  I understand why, there were a lot of big names that needed screen time but it was still somewhat distracting.  Four - Jet Li was done wrong.  He was portrayed largely as a whiny little wimp.  Five - CG blood.  Enough said. 
Now, with all of those problems, I still generally enjoyed the movie.  Part of the reason is that I didn't see it until it was out on Netflix so I was well prepared for its various problems.  Another part is that did enjoy what action there was as well as the humor.  Finally, I also saw and appreciated some of what Stallone was trying to get at with his movie.  What's that?  Stallone, trying to say something?  With this movie?  In a word, yes.
See, if you've watched carefully over the last few years since he has returned to the Catholic Church, he has been trying to say something with his movies.  Rocky Balboa pretty much wore its message(s) on its sleeve and Rambo 4 from what I understand (since I haven't seen it) seems to be at least in part about Rambo finding some sort of peace and redemption.  While beating the snot out of a bunch of thugs. 
With this one, Stallone seems to be largely getting at the importance of relationships.  This is represented by the friendship between the various members of the Expendables as well as between Christmas and his girlfriend.  There were also intimations as to the damage done to a person's psyche by living a self-centered life of violence.  The first hint of this was Gunnar's drug problem and Ross' comment "The life got to him.  It'll get to us all eventually." The real lynch-pin for all of this was Micky Rourke's character of Tool, specifically his speech about turning his back on someone who was about to commit suicide and how that has haunted him ever since.  The moral, if all you see is the pain, the despair, "the blood and the mud" your heart will harden and it will die.  The only cure is to give yourself to some cause outside of yourself, Ross's case the woman they met on the island. 
So, there was some good stuff going on in the Expendables, just not enough.  Hopefully, Stallone fixes a lot of these problems with the second one.  Yes, it's already in the works with likely even more action stars of days gone by.