The Expendables 3 (2014), PG-13, ★★

Some of the newly assembled Expendables.

The testosterone level has increased again with a new Expendables film. Any fan of the robust hard-core action genre will be looking forward to this latest installment to the franchise. However, this hard-core action genre does not concentrate on logic or story. It concentrates on style and action sequences that will entertain the audience with surprise and sometimes laughs due to the cheesy action lines or the sometimes-silly fighting. But, many people, men mostly, look up and be entertained by the action heroes that can stop the villains from destroying the world or something like that. The first movie was a guilty pleasure, the second one was a good action flick, but, third time is not the charm due to the endless violence with no explanation and the predictable and dull affection for our heroes.

The movie begins as The Expendables crew as Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), and Toll Road (Randy Couture) are on a mission to save one of the former Expendables, Doctor Death (Wesley Snipes). As Dr. Death is saved, he plans to finish his own mission as he kills every army guard in his path on the train. He steers the train into the direction of the prison where all the guards and the general are killed. We learned why Doc was imprisoned and it's allusion to Snipes' real life as he was arrested for tax evasion. Haha! How hilariously ironic!

As they arrive in Somalia, the Expendables meet up with Caesar Hale (Terry Crews) and together, they hide in the docks to find their target. As they see a helicopter descending onto the pad, Barney and Doc are surprised to see a man named Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson), who believed that he was dead. And, they open fire without warning with all explosions and ammunition wasted during this irrelevant action sequence.

As tragedy strikes, Barney decides to leave his friends behind at a bar as he heads to Las Vegas to meet with an old friend, Bonaparte (Kelsey Grammer), to recruit some new members for the Expendables. And they do consist of: Thorn (Glen Powell), a hacker, Luna (Ronda Rousey), a nightclub owner with a very particular set of skills that will cause men to flee, Mars (Victor Ortiz), a man who is good with weapons, and Smilee (Kellan Lutz), a hothead. Although, he is not a fresh face, Galgo (Antonio Banderas), wants to fight with the Expendables showing his ability to Barney and the crew, but he gets denied because Barney tells him that his last team let him go. He fights with them, anyway. What do you expect? The millenials and the old-timers meet and even though, they do not get along instantly. They agree they have to stop Stonebanks by committing more war crimes and art dealing. Huh?

Statham vs. Snipes in a friendly bout of knife-throwing.

Even I got confused by typing the plot synopsis of the movie because the problem with the film is that when they go on their missions, they either contradict the villain's foils or the way that the film has been sloppily edited, it gets convoluted as to why the good guys are fighting the bad guys. It seems that the filmmakers forgot to focus on the plot. They rather make time focusing on the explosions and the legendary action actors and millennials kick ass. Therefore, it wasn't entirely a pleasant experience the third time around because although the sequences are fun, there is no point.

Stallone looks a little tired in the film even on the film poster when all the actors are photoshopped smiling and laughing. All the other actors do what they can delivering cheesy dialogue or hard-core dialogue. The new cast of Expendables are kind of dull not matching the charm and entertainment with the original Expendables. It's good to see Snipes have fun agains. I underestimated Antonio Banderas being in the film, but he actually gives a funny performance being the guy who wants to continue being a bad-ass to prove what he has got. Gibson chews the scenery with fun offering the entertainment to the audience. Harrison Ford takes over as a CIA field operations officer and pilot which is suitable for the film and he's all right.

Granted, the original cast is action aficionados that can deliver but due to the predictable and convoluted screenplay, the film does not work. The action sequences are fine but when it gets hammered down to a PG-13 rating, well, the fun dials down a notch. I understand the motive to get younger audiences into the mood of seeing this movie, but, I think the movie will be kind of a modest success. The younger audiences deserve better. There's a bunch of PG-13 movies out this year that are better than this, so, they still have options.

**