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The Top 10 Indispensable Expendables Action Star Film List
by Christopher D. Childs
In 2010, 63-year-old Sylvester Stallone had a brilliant idea: throw a bunch of veteran action stars all into one movie and then crank up the testosterone. Thus The Expendables was born. The film pulled in more than $220 million worldwide and spawned a sequel, The Expendables 2, which allows the franchise to pull in even more action stars. Some of these guys are heading into senior citizen territory but so far none is using a walker to kick some ass. So here's a list of the most indispensable films representing each of these iconic Expendables action stars.
Sylvester Stallone - First Blood (1982)
Rocky may be Sylvester Stallone's best film - and it's what put him on the Hollywood map by proving he could both act and write - but First Blood is the Stallone film that you have to see alongside The Expendables. First Blood gives us the character of Rambo, but in his first appearance he's very different from the character that appears later on. In First Blood, Stallone's Rambo does everything he can to outsmart his opponents and NOT kill them. It's a solid actioner with a more interesting protagonist than we usually get. Another indispensable and early Stallone film is the Roger Corman B-movie Death Race 2000.
Jason Statham - The Transporter (2002)
Jason Statham plays Stallone's buddy in The Expendables and this former high-diver has become a dependable action star. His films are mostly formulaic but the one that stands out as the most fun is The Transporter, co-directed by Hong Kong's Corey Yuen. The two things that lift this above stale formula are Yuen's vigorous, inventive fight choreography, and François Berléand's friendly French cop. Also indispensable is Statham's Chev Chelios created in Crank, but better in Crank: High Voltage.
Jet Li - Fist of Legend (1994)
While some of The Expendables stars have only a few quality films to choose from, Jet Li has an embarrassment of riches. The Chinese-born Li was a Wushu national champion who performed as a youngster in front of President Nixon. He rose to fame in Hong Kong cinema in the 1980s and 1990s. His action films frequently rely on spectacular wire work (Swordsman, Once Upon a Time in China, Fong Sai Yuk) but Fist of Legendgives him a chance to dazzle with more down to earth fighting, courtesy of Yuen Woo-Ping's action choreography. The film is a variation on the Bruce Lee film The Chinese Connection. Li plays Chen Zhen, a student of Huo Yuanjia, a character Li himself would later play in Fearless. Li's work in Hollywood films has never come close to the work he does in Asia.
Dolph Lundgren - Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991)
Off screen, Dolph Lundgren may be the most impressive of The Expendables Team. Boasting a reported IQ of 160, he received a Master's Degree in Chemical Engineering from University of Sydney in Australia (as part of an exchange program through The Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm) and then was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to MIT. He also speaks multiple languages and has a black belt in karate. Lundgren gained attention playing ruthless boxer Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, but his best leading man role is as Sgt. Chris Kenner opposite Brandon Lee's Johnny Murata in Showdown in Little Tokyo.
Terry Crews - Idiocracy (2006)
Former NFL player Terry Crews came to acting in 2000. He's done mostly supporting roles in comedy and action films, but hands down his most memorable role is as the intellectually challenged President Camacho in the dumbed-down U.S. society of 500 years in the future in Mike Judge's Idiocracy. Idiocracy was unceremoniously dumped on the market by Fox and, without a publicity campaign to support it, the film went largely unnoticed. But Judge (of Beavis and Butthead fame) delivers a wickedly funny satire about the survival of the dumbest, and Crews nearly steals the show as the crazy Prez.
Randy Couture - Redbelt (2008)
Randy Couture is the weakest acting link in The Expendables. The MMA fighter has very few film roles to his credit but can claim a pair of UFC Light-Heavyweight champion titles and three UFC Heavyweight championships. As his best role I'll cite the best film he happened to appear in: David Mamet's anti-action film Redbelt. This film cleverly mixes the world of filmmaking, con men, and fight promotion.
Bruce Willis - Die Hard (1988)
Bruce Willis had only a cameo appearance in The Expendables but he's back for more in The Expendables 2. He has an extensive list of action hero starring roles but the one that's a must-have is Die Hard. It kicked off a highly lucrative franchise and gave us the wise-cracking New York cop John McClane. Willis was still playing McClane nearly two decades later in Live Free or Die Hard.
Arnold Schwarzenegger - The Terminator (1984)
Arnold had an even smaller cameo than Willis in the first Expendables, probably because he was still Governor of California, but he too is back for the sequel. His most iconic role has to be as the single-minded cyborg in The Terminator. After playing the baddie here, Arnold made a point of playing good guys in a string of mostly formulaic action films. Another Arnie signature film is John Milius' Conan the Barbarian. With Terminator and Conan, you have Arnold at his best and beefiest.
Jean-Claude Van Damme - JCVD (2008)
The Muscles from Brussels! Kickboxing champion Jean-Claude Van Damme found action hero stardom in the late 1980s. He also recognized early on the talent of Hong Kong's New Wave. He managed to bring over some of Hong Kong's best action directors for their first English language films: John Woo (Hard Target), Ringo Lam (Maximum Risk), and Tsui Hark (Double Team). Most of his action films are standard but fun B-movie fare but no one expected the clever oddity of JCVD. In the film Van Damme plays himself, an aging action star struggling to get roles. So while Hard Target, Double Impact, and Universal Soldier might be more representative of his action career, JCVD is a must-see for any Van Damme fan.
Chuck Norris - Return of the Dragon (1972)
Okay, why Chuck Norris got recruited for The Expendables 2 before the likes of The Rock and Vin Diesel or even Steven Seagal is a mystery. He's never been a kick-ass action star but more like a right-wing goodie-two-shoes with martial arts skills. He found popular success in the '80s with a string of films (Lone Wolf McQuade, Missing in Action, Delta Force) in which he played bland, self-righteous heroes. He's not helped by the fact that he has an unimpressively mousy little voice. So the film that puts him in perspective is Return of the Dragon where he gets his butt kicked by Bruce Lee.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christopher D. Childs works as a review writer for ResumeWriterReviews. It gives him an opportunity to improve his critical and creative thinking skills. Moreover, he keeps up with modern tendencies of employee engagement, motivation and management.
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