The Expendables put together a Blu-ray + DVD combo pack jam packed with special features. You can read our review of the film here, but let’s get into the extras, which offer more than enough insight into the action and on-set camaraderie.

The Expendables: Ultimate Recon Mode

Audio commentary by Stallone mixed with behind the scenes footage. Interesting to see how some of the scenes came together, and perfect if you have A.D.D. At times there are four different things to watch up on the screen. Stallone also controls the action by ordering an off-screen person to stop and rewind footage.

Comic-Con 2010 Panel

Harry Knowles moderates a panel with all of the movie’s actors. Terry Crews kicks it off by taking his shirt off. But like most Comic-Con panels, it’s a lot of ass kissing.

Inferno: The Making of The Expendables

A 90-minute, four-part documentary on the making of the movie. If you didn’t already get you fill watching the Ultimate Recon Mode, then check this out. You’ll know more about The Expendables than you ever thought was possible. Be prepared for a plethora of veiny arms and cigars.

From the Ashes: Post Production Documentary

The most dramatic take on a post production behind the scenes look that I’ve ever witnessed. The way they score it, you’d think the editor had to put together a rough cut before a bomb timer attached to his Avid reached 0:00.  No groundbreaking techniques are revealed, but Sly sounds like he knows what he wants and he usually gets it.

Gag Reel

Actor break character, and Jet Li and Dolph try to not butcher the English language.

Deleted Scene

It’s hard to believe that this was the only deleted scene in the film. Either everything else was gold, or the other deleted scenes are so bad they didn’t want to include them on the Blu-ray.

The last time I interviewed Dolph Lundgren I got him to say “I mus break you.” I was so excited I told my then girlfriend about it, but I got into trouble because she thought it was a sexual remark. Any one of my friends can attest that I’m way too about Ivan Drago to think about sex. Unrelated note, we broke up a week later.

Anyway, I wanted to stay out of trouble this time so I didn’t ask Lundgren to repeat his famous threat for me. I did want to cover a lot though. The Expendables is coming out on DVD and Blu-ray Nov. 23, he’s set to direct another movie, another Universal Soldier is in the works and there’ve got to be some chemical equations I need his PhD smarts to solve.

At 7:45 in the morning, I got the call from Dolph Lundgren. The man’s an early bird and totally worth waking up for. Spoiler alert: This interview assumes you’ve seen The Expendables already, but if you’re waiting for the DVD, maybe skip to the middle questions after we discuss the plot of the movie.

Screen Junkies: Of course we’ve been following you whether your films come out in theaters or on video, but what did having The Expendables be such a phenomenon done for you?

Dolph Lundgren: I think it’s gotten me some exposure worldwide. Not just in this country but in Europe and Japan and all over the world. Also, I think on a personal note, it kind of just taught me that it’s good to be well prepared for a role because once you do your homework it’s always going to pay off. I feel more confident now that I can hold my own on the big screen against anybody really.

SJ: What sort of homework did you do for The Expendables?

DL: Well, I worked on this character a lot. I worked on the scenes and I worked on the backstory and his problems and emotionality. I think that’s what people responded to. It’s not like he’s crying his eyes out in every scene but you feel like there’s something going on on the inside. He’s not just walking around trying to be tough. He’s dealing with a lot of problems and that’s what I dealt with.

SJ: Why do you think Sly still casts you as a traitorous villain?

DL: You know, I’ve played some good villains and I have kind of a dark side of a personality. Unless you have a leading man type play a villain, it’s always very powerful. If you look like a villain and play a villain it’s not as good but if you look a bit more leading man-ish and you play a villain, I think it’s more powerful on screen. Maybe that’s why he did that.

SJ: Was it always intended for Jensen to come back around so he can be in Expendables 2?

DL: No, it wasn’t. In the original, Jensen dies. He gets killed. He’s the one who tells Sly who the bad guys are, but then he dies. It’s kind of a redemption there but then Sly decided to bring him back. In one draft he kind of came back and there was a big deal about it at the end, but then in this version he kind of just comes back and he’s just there. You just go, “Holy sh*t, he’s still alive? How did that happen?” But that’s how it is.

SJ: I was impressed you said both of your Rocky IV lines on “Chuck.” Did Sly not want to use the lines he wrote for you in The Expendables?

DL: No, there was nothing like that at all. Jensen is a bit different. He’s a little bit crazy and his energy is different than Drago I suppose. I think Sly’s had enough. He’s got so many one-liners in his head from other movies, I think he worries more about what’s going on in the new things rather than the old stuff.

SJ: Was it a big deal to say “I must break you” and “If he dies, he dies” on Chuck?

DL: It was kind of fun but you know I say them a lot anyway. Not in my private life but on radio shows and such, they always want me to say those lines so I’m kind of used to doing it. It was kind of fun to say the dramatic version in front of a camera. That was fun.

SJ: Your fight with Jet Li is one of the monumental confrontations of The Expendables. You’ve done a lot of fight scenes but what kind of new experience was that?

DL: The experience was most guys you fight in a movie aren’t movie stars. They’re extras or doubles or stunt men. It’s very rare you fight someone like Stallone or Van Damme if you’re a name actor. That’s always a highlight. Last time I fought somebody like that I guess would have been Van Damme in Universal Soldier, where the actor can fight so you’re actually with the actor. That was not new but I hadn’t done it in a while. In this case, things have changed a bit since I did Universal Soldier. There are more people involved. Jet has his stunt team and Stallone has his stunt coordinator and then I had a little bit of say, so you’ve got a lot of people involved. They end up doing reshoots because Stallone changes it 100 times. His signature is that he wants to try every possibility there is to do something. So it was fun. I’ve done it before but it was a good experience anyway.

SJ: Have you heard any talk of The Expendables 2?

DL: Well, I’ve heard plenty from Sly, various ideas. I think from what I can gather, they want to do something next summer. I don’t know if I’m in it 100% but there’s a certain risk of that I guess. I don’t know what the plot is yet but I think some of the old team are coming back and some aren’t. Some will probably get killed and some will survive and he’ll bring in some new blood I’m sure too.

SJ: Will you be in Universal Soldier: A New Dimension?

DL: I don’t know yet. I haven’t seen the script. I know it’s all on IMDB and all that but no, I don’t know. Hopefully there’s a way to work that into my schedule.

SJ: Are you surprised where that story has gone?

DL: I’ve never done any sequels so it’s kind of new to me. It was weird throwing Van Damme around after 18 years, wearing more or less the same outfit. It felt kind of strange but I suppose that’s where the business has gone now. It’s just so hard to get something released that anything that has a built in audience, any kind of name trademark value you keep doing them.

SJ: When was the last time you practiced your chemical engineering degree?

DL: Boy, apart from mixing drinks you mean? Well, let’s see. That’s a long time. Look, I’ve got some supplements and stuff I’m working on right now with my brother, who’s a biochemist. I’m working a little bit with him so I’m sort of a little bit involved but really the last time I did that kind of stuff was 20-25 years ago.

SJ: Are you doing In the Name of the King 2?

DL: Yeah, that’s right. I play an ex-middle ages war veteran who gets f*cked up but he gets pulled into some sort of medieval power struggle, kind of gets a bit of a redemption for all his pains in service. It’s a role I just wanted to [play.] It’s fun to exercise my acting chops once in a while. I’ve got to get ready for Expendables 2.

SJ: What are your thoughts on Uwe Boll’s reputation?

DL: Somebody just said he’s the evil genius of directing or something. I guess we’ll see.

We certainly will…

The Expendables
R, 103m., 2010
Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Giselle Itie, Charisma Carpenter, David Zayas with Terry Crews, Eric Roberts and Mickey Rourke
Directed by Sylvester Stallone
Screenplay by David Callaham and Sylvester Stallone

There was this large plastic bin that I had growing up filled with action figures and their variou weapon accessories. From Duke Nuk’em to The Terminator, the original 90s Batman series, metal figure G.I Joes, Aliens, X-Men, Biker Mice from Mars, Ghostbusters, Toxic Crusaders and others that I have now forgot. They traveled with me wherever I moved during those years. They were my friends, enemies, and characters to create.

More after the jump…

Much like Andy in the Toy Story series, I didn’t want to keep them in the box like other kids in the neighborhood. They were action toys and they were meant to fight, team up, travel around the world in my room’s shag carpet, blow up Lego castles, use my brother’s model airplanes to crash fortresses, and go mano e mano. They never had time for girls or dolls, they had a mission and they stuck to it. At the end of the day, my Mom of course told me to pick up the battle of plastic that laid before her, while I was fighting most of the time to have five more minutes to do just one more rescue or bomb diffusion. But at the end of the day all those plastic warriors would go back into the bind, waiting for their next mission.

Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables is pretty much those toys coming back out of the box for another day’s deadly mission. Abided that they are played now by the real deal of aging 80s action stars and those that can still act or at least give a good line reading, getting some juicy monologues in between the action.
   
With thousands of pounds in sweat, blood, muscle, bullets, and explosives, Stallone leads the wolf pack of mercenaries called ‘The Expendables’ as Barney Ross. Following him are his wingman Jason Statham as Lee Christmas, lightning quick Jet Li as Yin Yang, psycho redneck Randy Couture as Toll Road, big machine Terry Crews as Hail Caesar, strung out Dolph Lundgren as Gunner Jensen, and wise old biker friend Mickey Rourke as Tool.  They are usually funded by a guy named Mr. Church (Bruce Willis, owning the entire movie in his one scene) and a mysteriously lumpy old politician, we Californians know all too well.

When the gang isn’t blowing up half of South America or any other third world country from the grip of rogue CIA agents (Eric Roberts and Steve Austin) and cartoon military dictators (David Zayas from TV’s Dexter), they hang out  at a biker bar next to Tool’s place where they shoot the shit, drink beer, and compare each other’s knives. It’s the ultimate man caves of caves, where no one else but this cast of aging action characters seem to be hanging around.

Stallone delivers the movie with such breeze. There are, of course, wall-to-wall action sequences, but through all of its rocky rubble and bloodshed, it’s just another Saturday morning cartoon.

The movie only dapples at the crumbling and harsh aging world these men of war find themselves in. Stallone as we can see here is no Sam Peckenpah or Robert Aldrich in dealing action goods with a real sense of tragic undercurrent, though he does very wisely use the best dramatic actor in the bunch, Rourke, to give a few classic monologues of regret and the violent past him and his team led. Rourke can make a lot of tough guys cry if he wants to.

But then again, no real tough guy really wants to hear about their tragically violent self-worth when coming to see The Expendables. They just want action, wisecracks, and surprise cameos galore.

The action for the most part is delivered especially when the younger dudes Statham, Li, and Crews are on screen, because they aren’t quite so lumpy and old like the rest of the cast. Stallone’s scenes look especially thrown together by quick cuts and close-ups.

The Expendables, like my childhood action figures at the end of the day were all picked up, cleaned off and sent back into their bind for another day’s play, eventually forgotten and thrown away, but wait… that’s another summer movie.

Grade: B-

Dolph Lundgren has always been known as Rocky Balboa’s greatest foe in Rocky IV aka Rocky Fights The Communists. Yet this Swedish-born old school action star has shown to be quite the opposite as he was once a chemical engineer with a Fulbright scholarship to MIT. Dolph has both brains and muscle, which means don’t eff with this guy or he’ll bust out a can of whoop ass and the periodic table chart on your ass.

Highly Debatable Best Role: Captain Ivan Drago in Rocky IV

Weird Fact: Said to have an I.Q. of 160, but according to himself this is untrue.

MORE AFTER THE JUMP…

Uncomfortable Interview Question: Since you lived with Grace Jones in the 80s, I take it she is not a man after all?

Best Fatality: Killing Apollo Creed in Rocky IV

All-Encompasing Clip:

_{I’ve got cinematography skillz.}

While at Comic-Con, I attended a party for The Expendables where Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, and Steve Austin presented an Action Hero Hall of Fame Award to Sylvester Stallone. He’s the first recipient, so I’m not sure how prestigious it is. Guess it all depends on who receives it next year. If it’s Luke Wilson for his work in Blue Streak then I’ll know it’s legit.

Check out the shakey, blurry video after the jump…

Sylvester Stallone at Comic-Con The Expendables Party – Watch more Funny Videos

On paper The Expendables is terrible. In execution it is the most fun I’ve had in a movie theater for quite some time. This movie almost has it all; explosions, gratuitous violence, badasses, unnecessary motorcycle-riding montages, bad guys getting their heads kicked off, and awkward stabs at banter delivered by foreign tongues. And this new one minute cutdown of the trailer highlights all those elements. Especially the banter. Somebody in Internet add a laugh-track to this movie immediately. Somebody not me.

CHECK OUT THE COMEDIC STYLINGS OF JET "SHECKY" LI AFTER THE JUMP…

_{One of these men has an enlarged prostate.}

No you’re not looking at a pharmaceutical campaign, that’s the new Legends Poster for The Expendables. It’s about a bunch of men who do mercenary work in between trips to the bathroom for wee wee. I kid, I kid, don’t stroke out.

In fact, in the new sneak peak of the movie, the guys are bruising more ass than whippersnappers one-third their age. "The Boys Are Back in Town" by Thin Lizzy also helps with the playful tone of the footage. If they used Linkin’ Park for the backing track, then we’d know shit is about to get real.

Check out the sneak peak after the jump. The Expendables works its way into theaters August 13, 2010.

The Expendables Sneak Peak – Watch more Funny Videos

^{Swallow your peas, Dolph!}

This one’s for all the fellas out there that love bulging muscles up in their grill. Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren will once again reignite their centuries old rivalry for Universal Soldier 4: 3D. John Hyams, who directed the previous film in the series, will return to show these guys which angles to punch one another at are best for camera.

I would assume the project would go straight to DVD, but if that’s the case why spend the money on 3D? Are they going to inflate DVD costs next? Or tax our eyeballs when this inevitably ends up on Spike TV?? Well, we won’t stand for that. ATTICA! ATTICA!!! (Deadline)

The trailer for the powerhouse action film The Expendables has hammer-punched its way on to the Internetz. It stars Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Terry Crews, Bruce Willis, Randy Couture, Dolph Lundgren, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Governator himself. Until now I was unaware that celluloid could contain that much raw power. Add a theme song by the guy from Godsmack and the package is complete. I don’t know about you, but I feel like wrestling a Minotaur!

Check out the trailer below. The Expendables busts into theaters August 13, 2010. ROAAAAR!!!!

The Expendables Trailer – Watch more Movie Trailers

Who knew Captain Ivan Drago was such a showman? Not only does Dolph Lundgren dance rigidly while lip-syncing to his own voice singing Elvis, but he plays drums, breaks wooden boards, and smashes ice all within a couple of minutes. Hello Hollywood, let’s get this man back in the pictures! He could give Hugh Jackman a run for his money. I smell this year’s Tony hosts. It’s exactly what that awards show needs. More karate! (BuzzFeed)