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.

I question its trailerness because the “trailer” itself could use a little spicing up. It’s really just a confusing hodge-podge of sh*t. Plodding, dull, and doesn’t do much to explain or present anything. All we learn from this is that a young guy has to play Russian roulette. And Mickey Rourke is there. And there’s a guy overseeing the game who I swore was Jason Bateman the first time I watched this. Spoiler alert: he isn’t Jason Bateman.

In the film, Statham plays a mechanic, but not the kind of mechanic that fixes cars and stuff. He’s the kind that fixes people’s heads…with bullets. Wait a minute, that’s not a mechanic at all. What an irresponsible title!

There is the right way, the wrong way, and the Jason Statham way to handle life’s problems. To live by the Statham way means kicking as much possible ass with a cool British smokers accent and still no break a sweat. Statham, the former olympic swimming diver, turned mega action star shows that you should never mess with Union Jack in a dark alleyway or street fight. With The Expendables opening this week, Statham shows how a tough guy should act and still keep his cool, remember head butt first and ask questions later, mate.

Highly Debatable Best Role: Chev Chelios in Crank

Weird Fact: Made In The Name Of The King with Uwe Boll at the height of his popularity.

MORE AFTER THE JUMP…

Uncomfortable Interview Question: You and Jet Li have now made three movies together. How much do you f*cking hate that guy?

Best Fatality: Kicks the head off a bad guy into the ocean in Crank 2: High Voltage

All-Encompassing Clip:

Crank 2 ending – Watch more Funny Videos

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-

Man Challenge: Get your ass to the theater the weekend of August 13th to see The Expendables or else Eat, Pray, Love might take the number one spot at the box office. I’m not saying this because Lionsgate bought me the jacuzzi full of Voss that I’m currently working in, I’m saying it because if a movie specifically tailored for guys like us fails to bring in the dough, our future will be grim. So, so grim. In fact, make so much noise through your enthusiasm for The Expendables that the females in the Eat, Pray, Love theater next door turn to either side and disgustedly utter the word, "Men…" You’re goddamned right "men."

Check out the Call to Arms Expendables trailer after the jump.

Fan-Made Man-Made Expendables Trailer – Watch more Funny Videos

(Vulture)

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

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Looks like Tony Scott will finally have the chance to make his passion project Potsdamer Platz after nattering on and on about it for the last decade. Sheesh, we get it. You like movies about trains.

The film, about a New Jersey crime family expanding their business nationally, is expected to undergo a title and locale change as the latest script has the action moving from Germany to Puerto Rico. Mickey Rourke, Jason Statham, and Javier Bardem are all rumored to be circling the project. Though if Bardem drops out, Scott can probably get Jeffrey Dean Morgan at a bargain rate. It’s also being reported that the Crimson Tide director is trying to lure Gene Hackman out of retirement to take part in the film, but inside sources say that isn’t happening. I could have told you that. Dude is way too into taking bong rips and playing Forza Motorsport 3 to waste his time making movies. (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

Two posters for Stallone’s The Expendables were presented at ShoWest and they’ve refortified my testicles after the damage they sustained from watching the Eat, Pray, Love trailer. The first shows a chrome skull adorned with gun/knife wings (and bullet poops?). It can only be accurately described as "visual Pantera." The second isn’t as cool. It’s an Ed Hardyized picture of what Stallone would look like as a back tatt. Sandra Bullock would be wise to lock it away before her husband tries to have sex with it. (Collider)

The trailer for The Mechanic has all the hallmarks of a Jason Statham film — cars, guns, explosions, unintelligle growl-mumbles, and the Cowgirl Position. A remake of the 1972 original, Statham steps into the Charles Bronson role. Except in this version, women aren’t disgusted by the thought of touching the lead actor. Ben Foster co-stars as his ward in the killing people for money game, which appears to be an industry where you don’t want the other gu knowing your trade secrets. Much like blogging (nothing like blogging).

The film opens December 15th and also stars Donald Sutherland and Christa Campbell, who you more than likely know from the very important film, Cool Dog. 

Watch the trailer after the jump….

Professional big British dude Vinnie Jones is interested in opening a chain of British pubs with fellow Redcoat Jason Statham. In fact, they’ve been talking about it for some time but their schedules have never let them a lot of time to dig in. Says Jones with rounded vowels:

Jay has been working so much and so have I. The pubs will happen. We had a great spot right opposite the pier in Santa Monica. They just wanted too much rent. Me and Jay went to look at it and we had three other investors, all Brits.

The mates discussed calling their chain "The Snatch Bar," which would be a decidedly disappointing place to hold a bachelor party. Rather than naked skanks and coeds, the place would be crawling with Australians. **slide whistle sound as erection deflates**

This news will undoubtedly be a let down for 50 Cent, who has approached Jones about opening their own chain of English pubs. Jones however, was not interested. Either he felt it would work better in British hands or he and Fitty couldn’t see eye-to-eye on the name "In Da Pub." (WENN)