The Expendables 3

Movies in this series: “The Expendables” (2010), The Expendables 2 (2012), The Expendables 3 (2014)

If you’re assuming that this third installment in the Expendables series is just another worthless cuss-fest with graphic violence, as an excuse for a popular action movie, I’m glad to inform you of the contrary. Don’t jump to conclusions from that statement, though, I’m not necessarily saying it’s a good movie. Compared to the previous two Expendables movies, yes, it’s good, but how much is that really saying? Let’s take a look.

The plot is simple and easy to follow. Barney (Sylvester Stallone) is back with a new mission. It turns out that the evil Stonebanks (Mel Gibson) is not actually dead, as was believed. Now his orders from CIA agent Max Drummer (Harrison Ford) are to bring Stonebanks to the law alive to be tried for war crimes. Barney doesn’t want to see his aging companions get killed, so he retires them from the group and hires new, younger team members—a collection of other action heroes. But after his original companions reason with him, Barney agrees to accept their help, too. So the original team and the new team now make up The Expendables, doubling the size of the team. They must now spy on, evade, and overpower Stonebanks. Action time!

This is the first Expendables movie not to be rated R, and its PG-13 rating is very fair. There’s plenty of violence, but it’s not brutally extreme or graphic. No severed limbs or anything like that, toned way down from the previous two films. But it’s still filled with shootings, explosions, hand-to-hand combat, etc.—high body count. The opening intro is pure action, and the last half hour of the film is basically a big long action sequence (except for the ending). There’s exciting suspense and mission steps throughout the rest—all kinds of wild peril and stunts, too.

There is still quite a load of bad language in this film, but it’s not as harsh as the last two. The blasphemies and crass terminologies are fewer. There is an f-word (if there are any more, they are barely heard over the chaos). The sexual content is very minimal; just a few crude references, the heroine’s clothes reveal a bit of cleavage, occasional passive flirting, a few shirtless men, and a barely noticeable immodest painting.

So the violence is less disturbing. But is it appropriate? Is this the kind of film Jesus would encourage us to be entertained by? Action movies are supposed to be fun, and there are a lot of stunts and such in this one that do make it fun. But the copious amount of killings prevent it from being fun, overall. It is true that The Expendables are doing what they’re doing under the authority of the law, but it’s clear that they’re excited about getting to kill people. A prime example is when Drummer tells Barney to turn in Stonebanks alive, and Barney actually resents this because he wants to kill him himself. Also, in many circumstances, the team could have obeyed orders by other means than killing.

Genesis 9:6 says that there are times when killing another man is right—if he is responsible for a murder. However, killing should never bring pleasure. It sends unrepentant sinners to Hell, and it’s a terribly tragic thing, even if it is right. The Expendables may be doing right by killing (though others may disagree, which I respect), but they relish it. Killing, killing, killing—that’s the norm for them. They’re also hungry for revenge.

Summed up, the film is desensitizing. It’s good that the team is committed to justice, but there’s not a shred of mercy. (I will acknowledge that it hurts Barney emotionally to have to kill an old friend turned bad, but this actually drives him to get the killing over with even more.)

If you want an inspiring story of justice and good-winning-over-evil, with a pack of fun action and adventure, this movie does a poor job of that. Go watch “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” and skip this. If you like something a little darker and more intense, even “Temple of Doom” will do. The Indiana Jones franchise is the most famous action series, and there are always strong lines drawn between good guys and bad guys. But this movie doesn’t show much more than both good guys and bad guys doing the same thing in cold blood—killing. I wouldn’t strongly caution you to avoid it as something horrible, but I do not recommend it. If you asked me to give you the simple advice of “yes” or “no,” it would be an immediate “no.”

Violence: Heavy to extreme / Profanity: Heavy—“Jesus” (2), “G*d-d*mn” (3), OMG (1), “God” (1), “Oh G*d” (1), “damn” (9), “hell” (12), f-word (1), s-words (25+), “*ss” (11), SOB (1), etc. / Sex/Nudity: Mild

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.

• Positive
• Critics