The Expendables

As voted for by you, the site visitor, I watched the Blu-Ray of The Expendables and so here's the review...

The Expendables are a group of elite mercenaries led by Ross (Sylvester Stallone) with knifeman Christmas (Jason Statham), martial artist Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) and Toll Road (Randy Couture).
They are hired to overthrow dictator, General Garza (David Zayas), military leader of the South American island of Vilena, who is backed by the shadowy Munroe (Eric Roberts) and his henchmen Paine (Steve Austin) and The Brit (Gary Daniels).

OK, from the off I will admit there are a lot of justifiable criticisms of The Expendables, pretty much all of which I did note, either mentally or actually jot down whilst I was watching. Since they really can't be avoided in a review I'll just dive right in with a few;

• The subplot about Statham and hgis girlfriend (Buffy's Charisma Carpenter) adds nothing really to the main plot
• The reasons for taking and continuing with the mission are slim at best
• The big names Arnie and Bruce Willis are only in the film for about 5 minutes in cameo roles (and aren't even credited)... 

my replies are

• So what, it's a bit of background character and what's not to like when the nice girl gets punched by her new fella and so his arse gets kicked?
• So what, the reasons are slim but that doesn't really detract... you know it's gonna happen anyway. any reason is good enough!
• Annoying if you were expecting more but now you know so you won't be :)

A few small things that did annoy me a bit more were the Hale Caesar and Toll Road characters not really getting enough 'individuality', which shouldn't have been that hard in such a small group. Also there are a few to many coincidences and illogical actions but mostly they were small enough to ignore... and the reveal at the end (you'll know what I mean when you get there) is obviously purely to set up for Expendables 2 and didn't really feel like it worked with what had happened earlier.. but still

To be honest my main pressing criticism is a technical one - the camera work on quite a few of the fight scenes was too close in and fast cut, especially when also cutting between multiple hand-to-hand fights; it all got a bit confusing and hard to see the action. This is a massive shame in a film with so much close-up fighting action (especially disappointing when Jet Li is doing his thing... which doesn't happen often enough IMO) but it isn't the first and won't be the last to make the mistake, and it's still shot a lot better than many others I could mention.

The shooting and knife throwing action (oooh, lots and lots of knife throwing) on the other hand is well shot even though it's still fast, frenetic and very bloody... though some may say they actually overdid the CGI blood (which happened on every wound), especially since it seems to almost glow red even in the dark... but it's just a stylistic touch and works especially well on the victims losing limbs or blown in half!

Not all the good stuff is action-related either; characters on both sides often aren't just ciphers, they have their own agendas and change their minds, their plans and even sides to a certain extent - all pretty logically too! Micky Rourke, as the Expendables' 'fixer/mission planner' is fine as the 'conscience and wisdom' of the group, Eric Roberts is a great cold-as-ice bad guy and Statham stands out in what is practically a leading role, even though Sly is producing, directing and starring (which shows some good grace on his part if nothing else).

Even the very simple plot is fine; a few small twists here and there but nothing that's going to get in the way of the action is really just what the film demands.

And when it comes to the finalé and you think they've already thrown in the kitchen sink they find another even bigger sink... fists, feet, knives, pistols, submachine guns, assault rifles, automatic shotguns (oh, check out what damage those explosive shotgun shells do; awesome), masses of grenades, a rocket launcher or two and more plastic explosives than a grown man should be able to carry... they certainly try to give you your money's worth on this one!

Yes, it's all very 80s macho and "good mates are better than any girl" attitude but did you really read the line-up and the plot and think otherwise... The Expendables is obviously exactly what they intended - an 80s style, over-the-top action film with 80s (and more recent) action stars combined with modern SFX... and that's exactly what they deliver, so sit back, take a deep breath of the testosterone filled air and enjoy the action packed, explosive ride.
I for one will be back for The Expendables 2.

The Blu-Ray (UK, Region B only):
Most important (to my mind) is that the small cut made for the UK cinema to get it a 15 rating has been restored so the Blu-Ray is uncut (and now rated 18)

As you'd expect the high-definition 2.40:1 picture is top notch (some said they had trouble in the night scenes but so long as I avoided strong light reflections on the screen I had no trouble at all).

Sound is 7.1 DTS-MA and uses all the speakers well for sound effects and musical score, keeping the speech clear through the front channels whilst using the rears for immersion... the sub-woofer gets a pretty good workout too!

No time to watch the extras (as you may have guessed, given my limited solo time on the home kit) but in my 'Bulletproof Edition' (steelbook case) on the Blu-Ray:

• Audio commentary by Sly
• Picture-in-Picture seamless branching expanded video commentary by Sly 
• From the Ashes: Post-Production documentary (27 mins in High Def)
• Gag Reel (5 mins) 
• Deleted Scene
• Theatrical Trailer, 2 TV Spots, Poster Gallery
• BD-Live  
• D-Box

In this set there's also an exclusive "Inferno: The Making of The Expendables" documentary (on a separate Blu-Ray disc) lasting about 88 minutes and the DVD of the film (2.35:1, 5.1 Dolby Surround), however I believe this is the UK cinema version and does have the cut in that the Blu-Ray reinstated. The DVD does have most of the extras from the Blu-Ray disc repeated (not the PiP and Blu-Ray only stuff) and also "Before the Battle" a different, smaller, making of documentary (15 minutes).

Other options are the regular Blu-Ray release (as per the Blu-Ray in this set so you won't get any making of documentaries) and the regular DVD release (the slightly cut 15 version, also as described above).

Some other countries have got some extra extras but the Blu-Ray is region locked in all territories so watch out!

Hint: It took an age to load up on my machine and has an unskippable trailer so I suggest putting it into the machine before you go and make that cup of coffee or pour that drink.

The quick version...

Well, that was explosive-tastic fun all round... full review with a tad more detail and a few criticisms as soon as I have a little time; don't expect it tomorrow though, I have lots of work on and one of the cats may need 'help' visiting the vet (ie. I may have to help catch him!)

Decision Made...

2 votes for The Sorcerer's Apprentice and 2 for The Expendables, but there was also a request not to watch Sorcerer's Apprentice too so the Expendables wins!

Worry not those who asked for a Sorcerer's Apprentice review though, the "No" vote from my wife was so we could watch it when she was home (which happens more often than me getting the Home Cinema to myself) so hopefully that one will be watched and reviewed soon too!

Thanks for voting... keep viewing the site!

What Shall I Watch?

There is an opening this coming Sunday for me to hog my home TV system and watch one of my Blu-Ray discs in all its glory, then follow that up with a review here on the blog (as soon as I can anyway!). However I'm not sure which of the Blu-Rays on 'the pile' to watch so I'm going to ask YOU which you'd prefer me to choose from the list below of films I've never seen!

The list in alphabetical order...

• 14 Blades - Donnie Yen in Ming Dynasty China takes on the evil Jia to return the Emperor to power (subtitled)
• The Expendables - Action heroes Sly, Statham, Li, Lungdgren et al take on a Latin American dictator!
• The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - first in Stig Larsson's thriller trilogy (subtitled or dubbed)
• Green Zone - Matt Damon searches for WMDs in Baghdad and discovers a web of conspiracy and murder!
• Hunt to Kill - "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in a "bone-snapping bullet-blasting, ass-kicking action/thriller" !
• The Sorcerer's Apprentice - Nick Cage as a modern day sorcerer in Manhattan enlists a new, young recruit

It can be because you like/dislike it and want to see what I think of it, because you want to see my review before you consider buying it or even just because you think I'd enjoy it (or hate it and you want me to suffer!). Any reason is fine and you don't even have to tell me why you've made that selection if you don't want to... though of course you can!

Select one, put them in order or even tell me which one(s) you don't want me to see... all input is welcome.

Make your choice by leaving a comment on this post and the most common request wins!!!

Thanks in advance for input... let the comments commence.

The One

A superhuman criminal (Jet Li), once a member of the organisation that polices travel between dimensions, seeks to hunt down and kill variations of himself (Jet Li) in these alternate universes. In doing so he absorbs their 'power' and becomes even stronger and faster, and believes that, if he can become the only surviving version of himself, "The One", he will become a god.

In principle I felt the multiverse idea was innovative and interesting, and the premise of 'gaining power' by killing your 'other selves' was fine, but the script totally failed to tackle the huge questions and plot holes that this basic premise really demanded they at least tried to address.

On the upside Jet Li in the martial arts action scenes was great - I especially liked his use of different fighting styles when he fights 'himself' and he's a good enough actor to carry off the amount he needs to do in this type of action film.
The supporting cast (including Jason Statham), too, did a fair job and I was pleased that the script didn't use the "confuse the audience by mistaking the good Jet Li for the bad one" shtick too often.

However, add to the huge logic problems some occasional, far too convenient changes in the amount of power the Jet Li characters have which seems to depend on what the writer wants the set up or outcome of a scene to be (rather than keeping them internally consistent) and all the 'surprise twists' at the climax of the film being very predictable (not only predictable but, as implemented, you just know it wouldn't work) the film just doesn't live up to its potential.

I really wanted to like The One more than I did but despite some good action set pieces and the SFX being pretty impressive, though a little outdated in style now, the logic of the plot (or rather the lack of it) just kept rearing its ugly head too often for me to ever really just sit back and enjoy the martial arts eye-candy.

The DVD (UK, Regions 2 & 4)
The image is a full widescreen anamorphic 2.40:1 (so the image will be letter-boxed on any TV) and the sound is Dolby Digital 5.1 in English and French.
Subtitles are available in separate English and English for Hard-of-Hearing tracks plus French Arabic and Hindi.

Though I had a rental disc and didn't watch he extras there are quite a few on there including a commentary (by director James Wong and his production designer, editor and cinematographer), four featurettes (including ones concentrating on Jet Li, the Multiverse idea, and the 'Many faces of the same person' sequence in the film) and and animatic comparison plus trailers and filmographies.

Final Summary:
Overall a decent package of extras and though, as I describe above, the film itself was a bit of a disappointment you can now pick it up for less than the price of a pint... add a couple more beers and some mates and I dare say it would be fine as cheap Saturday night entertainment if you like a bit of Jet Li action and can drink enough to ignore, or not care about, the plot holes.

Reason for the Hiatus

Apologies for the break in transmission over the last couple of weeks. I haven't been reviewing any DVDs because, pretty much, I haven't been watching any due to the fact I was on a "rather intensive" Cisco networking course involving two qualification exams which rather took up my time.

However, the course is all over now so expect to see more reviews soon!

Sanctuary: Season 2 Summary and DVD set

Sanctuary is an organisation designed to protect "abnormals" (any weird sentient beastie... some benign, some nasty ones that need locking up for everyone's good) and humans from each other, run by Dr Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping of Stargate fame) who is over 150 but never ages.
Helping her out there's Will (who's human but has a Sherlock Holmsian deductive ability from visual clues), Henry (tech expert and part time werewolf), Kate (tough girl) and Bigfoot (thankfully looking more like the Beast from Beauty and the Beast than from Bigfoot and the Hendersons!) and occasionally John Druitt  (Magnus' ex possessing nifty teleporting abilities... who went through a 'bad patch' as Jack the Ripper)

Season Summary:

There are some good episodes in this season (mostly at the beginning and end), and overall I think it does succeed in what it sets out to do which is expand on the characters and the whole Sanctuary idea. However, there are also some rather 'lacklustre' episodes too, with too much of the character expansion done in an obvious or exposited way, rather than using the visual medium which its being recorded on.

Technically the CGI can be quite weak at times (and once you notice the CGI backgrounds its hard to ignore them) but, to temper that opinion somewhat, it's because of the large amount of green screen CGI that the programme can afford to be made at all, by (for example) avoiding expensive sets, so I try to cut it some slack.
The 'multi-picture' screen (á la 24) is a feature which does occasionally get overused in some episodes (then totally forgotten for others) but most of the time it's used quite effectively so I hope they've now got used to their 'new toy' and its incorporation settles down from now on.

My big complaint about the season as a whole, however, is how much it de-constructed and rejected, rather than building on, the first season with the (far too quick and easy) removal of the Cabal 'big bad organisation' arc and then the changes made with regards to "The Five" which was the core of the set up in season one. Not that moving on from the initial season is such a bad thing in and of itself but, in this case, it seems a lot of it isn't being replaced by something else, it's just being thrown away. I'm hoping that this is because they have used this season to tweak the set-up to one they find more usable in future so they will build on the changes made here in season three (and beyond) rather than changing the ground rules again.
I would also prefer it if they made the tone a little darker throughout rather than sporadically... a bit more grey rather than pure black and white... but for that I may just have to watch something else as it seem that a lighter, less "hard core" attitude is one they are deliberately trying for and I have to accept my preferences aren't always those of the wider audience they're aiming at!

Those negative points made, the closing few episodes (especially) and the nicely put together finalé cliffhanger, plus the generally engaging characters, will get me back for season three to see how they continue the story and see if my hopes for the show's future come about.

The DVDs:

Technical stuff first; the image is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio fitting widescreen TVs and is as good as you'd expect from a modern TV programme shot on HD RED cameras (barring the CGI usage mentioned already).
Audio is a choice of 5.1 Dolby or 2.0 stereo and subtitles are available but only in English.
The episodes are spread over 4 discs (all DVD9s) at 4 episodes per disc except the fourth disc which contains the final episode and the extras.

So, on to those extras for this set and they are quite extensive;

Commentaries: I've not checked these out but there's one on every episode, which is a pleasant change from the 'selected episodes' attitude of a lot of releases, which normally translates as "the first and the last episode of the season if you're lucky". There are, sensibly, a wide range of participants too, to keep the ideas as fresh as possible, including Amanda Tapping (actor, executive producer, director), Damian Kindler (creator and writer) and Martin Wood (director) amongst others.

Sanctuary at Comic Con: A quick hand-held intro of the arrival at Comic Con then a set of questions from the Q&A panel. The Q&A itself is interesting enough to make it worth watching but nothing mind blowing. The sound is annoyingly poor (obviously taken from the camera position in the hall rather than from a direct feed of the microphones) but at least there are subtitles if you miss anything.

As a personal aside, Amanda Tapping seems to look just as attractive here in 'real-life' as when made up on set for filming…

8 minutes

Will Vision - Behind the scenes: Robin Dunn's video diary/video blog where he does a lightning tour of the studio, sets, offices and the people behind the scenes. Not heavy on content but a fun piece with Robin coming across as a likeable guide.

13 minutes

Will Vision - Sanctuary Goes to Japan: Robin's video blog of the trip to Japan including location scouting, shooting days and press days. Again it is quite fun and easy to watch but also quite interesting.

11 minutes

Dancing in Mumbai: A look at the Indian set (the largest ever built for the series) and then onto the preparations and practice for Will's Bollywood dance number with hows, whys and the problems of Robin being a rather uncoordinated person! Interesting and amusing with a nice use of the 'multi-screen' technique to demonstrate what it actually looked like pre and post production... dancing on the hottest day of a Vancouver heatwave!

12 ½ minutes

International Sanctuary: An explanation of the expansion from the single Sanctuary institution (with occasional mentions of others around the world) as seen in season one to the global network seen in season two.

3 ½ minutes

Amanda Tapping Directs Veritas: Comments from various cast and crew on Amanda Tapping's first 'solo' effort at directing an episode, and her reasons for wanting to do so.

4 minutes

Anatomy of an Episode (Next Tuesday): Insights into the making of a single episode (not watched)

17 minutes

Behind the scenes Slideshow: What it says; a series of stills in an automated slideshow, some from the show and some from behind the scenes. The images are good quality but the lack of music to accompany them or any introduction makes it seem a bit 'cheap'

4 minutes

Bloopers & Outtakes; goofing around and corpsing; OK as far as it goes but nothing memorable.

5 minutes

Sanctuary for Kids: A promo by Amanda Tapping for a charitable foundation set up by the show. More info at www.sanctuaryforkids.com

1 minute

Sanctuary: Season 2, Episodes 10-13 (complete)

Episode 10 Sleepers - Young, rich people are apparently dying and then coming back to life; a strange Mexican drug clinic seems to hold the answers and it all starts to tie together when the Sanctuary team discover that their 'old friend' Tesla is running the clinic.


The returning Tesla character puts the spark (pun intended) back into the show that the previous few episodes were missing; though he has been shown to help out in times of crisis he always has his own proper (vampire based) agenda and, as such, avoids the "all the good guys are far too nice" trap that has blighted some episodes for me.
The plot is nicely thought out and the pace of the episode is good as the problem Tesla has created gets more out of his control until the cleverly worked out tracking down of the answer and twist ending. Add to this a lot of great humour deriving from Tesla's persona and one-liners and his new 'creations' learning what they are  and it adds up to a very enjoyable episode (plus there's a very nice in-joke about where Bigfoot has gone, given the extras on the disc).
My only problem with it overall is that the twist at the end makes it seem yet again that the series is rejecting what it cleverly set up in the first season but, in this case, at least it looks like they have a plan for something to replace the element they lose; evolving rather than abandoning.

Episode 11 Haunted - John Druitt returns, rescuing some Zula empatchs from a stricken ship. Soon afterwards he seems to be returning to his old 'Jack the Ripper' ways but then the Sanctuary seems to suffer from an even more serious problem.

Before I started watching I noticed that this episode was written by the same two writers (one of whom, Damian Kindler, also created the show) who wrote Pavor Nocturnus, which I regard as having a much stronger edge than a lot of the episodes have shown. Given this, and the welcome return of Tesla helping the last episode, I was hoping this one would push things up a notch before the two-part finale and I wasn’t let down... much.
After an action-packed start and a very threatening and a vicious opening scenes performance by Christopher Heyerdahl as Druitt the plot builds well, though occasionally a little slowly, adding tension throughout as what is behind the threat to the Sanctuary is investigated and unravelled.
One clever touch is that the viewer is 'clued in' by the Zulu empaths but the main characters (most of whom obviously don’t understand Zulu) are not, and have to learn the hard way. This does get a little overused but is effective in keeping the viewer on board and building the threat up as you join with the Zulus in a 'trying to tell characters "No, don’t go round the corner!"' type of way.
Again the finalé is well handled and there's a fair twist in the resolution but again this season seems to be abandoning (at least temporarily) some of the season one back story, which is a shame. Overall however it's another good episode in preparation for the big season ender… and I really liked the Die Hard gag too.

Episodes 12-13 Kali Parts 1 & 2 - Worldwide, normally peaceful abnormals are going psychotic and it all seems to be related to a small spider in India… and some mercenaries who are after it.

There is a slow build up as befits a two-parter but it's progressive and logical with all the different Sanctuary groups dealing with the problem separately but in an integrated way.
There are plenty of good elements during that build-up too; the bad guy mercenary leader is suitably smart and (for once) ruthless enough to be believed as a threat... and he has some good lines. Magnus having not only to deal with the threat of the creature but also the internal politics of the Sanctuary network as they start to question her decisions, works well as a change of perspective, making sure the main plot doesn’t race away too early… and it's done with a good reference back to episode 7, Veritas.
Visually the Indian sets are very good (one of the extras shows they are actually set up in the car park in Canada unlike the vast majority of the large sets which are CGI) with the on-set realism helped in its look by record high temperatures during the shoot, and the CGI for big-bad abnormal is above average for the series, especially underwater, which is an area that has let the series down on more than one occasion (especially biologics).
The mysticism aspect actually works this time because it has a 'psychic link' logical explanation (unlike in episode 3 Eulogy's dream walk sequences when it didn't) and is interestingly and quite cleverly realised and even Will's Bollywood dance scene fits with the story enough for it to actually work... and it’s fun to watch too.
Okay, so you have a good suspicion of where all this is going to end up on the principle, like season one, this one will end on a cliffhanger too, but the set up is well handled as one element is resolved only to have another bigger problem take over and overall the first two parts of Kali are a worthy finish to the season, keeping up the higher standard of the previous two episodes into the ending... and the show didn't finish on a cliffhanger then get cancelled!