The Expendables

"Choose your weapon."

2010 1h 43m EN

😐

6.3

MID

★6.3TMDB · 8,509

ThrillerAdventureAction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Barney Ross leads a band of highly skilled mercenaries including knife enthusiast Lee Christmas, a martial arts expert Yin Yang, heavy weapons specialist Hale Caesar, demolitionist Toll Road, and a loose-cannon sniper Gunner Jensen. When the group is commissioned by the mysterious Mr. Church to assassinate the dictator of a small South American island, Barney and Lee visit the remote locale to scout out their opposition and discover the true nature of the conflict engulfing the city.

“Choose your weapon.”

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Cast

Sylvester Stallone
Barney Ross
Jason Statham
Lee Christmas
Jet Li
Yin Yang
Dolph Lundgren
Gunner Jensen
Eric Roberts
James Monroe
Randy Couture
Toll Road
Steve Austin
Paine
David Zayas
General Garza

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Sylvester Stallone
Writers: David Callaham, David Callaham, Sylvester Stallone
Languages: English, Spanish
Countries: United States of America, Bulgaria, Germany

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $80M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.4× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 16 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 3 countries: United States of America, Bulgaria, Germany.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "The Expendables Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

247+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Sylvester Stallone, shot by Jeffrey L. Kimball. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Sylvester Stallone directs. Jeffrey L. Kimball behind the camera. Brian Tyler scores. Ken Blackwell cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America, Bulgaria, Germany. Dialogue in English, Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $80M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
2Made its money back 3.4× over at the box office.
3Released 16 years ago.
4Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.
5International production across 3 countries: United States of America, Bulgaria, Germany.
6Part of the "The Expendables Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
7247+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
8Directed by Sylvester Stallone, shot by Jeffrey L. Kimball. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
9Original score by Brian Tyler. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
10Editor Ken Blackwell shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
11Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham and Jet Li carry the top of the cast.
12Marketing tagline: "Choose your weapon.".
13IMDB entry: tt1320253 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
14Classified under 12 themes, including "rescue", "sniper", "island", "martial arts".
15Released under 12 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Jeffrey L. Kimball
Original score: Brian Tyler
Editing: Ken Blackwell
Production design: Franco-Giacomo Carbone
Costume design: Lizz Wolf
Makeup / hair: Scott H. Eddo
VFX supervisor: Wes C. Caefer
Sound: Gabriel J. Serrano
Stunt coordinator: Noon Orsatti
Runtime: 103 min · 1h 43m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $80,000,000
Box office: $274,470,394
Return: 343% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Expendables (2010)

Part of

The Expendables Collection

An ensemble action film series about a group of elite mercenaries. This series pays tribute to the blockbuster action films of the 1980s and early 1990s, starring an array of action veterans from those decades.

Also by

Sylvester Stallone

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Community reviews

What people are saying

swagner8882017-02-21
★ 8/10
Very Good Action Movie Warning - reviewer is over 50. If you don't like action movies, you will not like this movie. If you like action movies, you will like this one. If you like 80's style action movies, you will love it. Great/funny one liners and action heroes who look like they can actually punch and take a punch. It also features a poor plot with many holes. But who cares?
Manuel São Bento2023-09-18
★ 5/10
Rewatch in preparation for EXPEND4BLES. "THE EXPENDABLES isn't as fun as I hoped for. The testosterone-filled cast tries hard to make a forgettable, formulaic story borderline enjoyable, but the action set pieces are mostly an incomprehensibly choppy, badly lit mess, despite a couple of admittedly cool, violent stunts. Nice score, though." Rating: C