By Jason Apuzzo. I’m going to keep harping on this point until people get the message: namely, that Sylvester Stallone has not revitalized the action genre, but merely his own career (sort of), with The Expendables.
As the entertainment media continues to harp on Stallone’s Expendables being #1 at the box office this past weekend (although more honest types like the UK’s Guardian are admitting Stallone’s doing it against no serious competition), it’s worth pointing out that in head-to-head comparison Stallone & Co. still aren’t faring as well as Angelina Jolie’s Salt.
In its second weekend The Expendables has currently taken in $65 million, which is less than the $71 million Jolie’s Salt had by its second weekend – when that film was playing against Christopher Nolan’s box office juggernaut, Inception.
In fact, as Box Office Mojo notes today, even the Brad Pitt/Quentin Tarantino/men-on-a-mission Inglorious Basterds (which didn’t feature the CIA as an enemy) had taken in $73 million by its second weekend.
So sorry, Sly, we’re still not buying your film’s sham ‘patriotism,’ its ‘re-invention’ of the male action genre, or its box office prowess. And you and your action buddies are still getting your clocks cleaned by a girl.
Posted on August 23rd, 2010 at 3:56pm.
Both Salt and Basterds had stronger filmmaking chops than The Expendables, I’m sorry to say.
To me, along with having a stronger sense of moral clarity and greater conflict, they were just better films … plain and simple.
Agreed.
You suck. Expendables was very good movie and no shit sherlock! About sylvester and his career, people need money!. Ramboo was a sick movie and salt is just plain dumb,period! Id love to see a skinny fat lipped girl kick my as.
Actually, ‘your face,’ I do not suck. Not even close. Next time you throw that kind of rhetoric around, by the way, try posting using your own name so I don’t get the impression you’re a little girl.
As far as Sly needing money, that’s what justifies him throwing the CIA under the bus? If you believe that, then I think maybe it’s you who suck. And I’m sure Jolie would have no trouble busting your balls, the way I just did.
Jason,
I have yet to see Salt, but based off your recommendation, I will head out and go see it. I do think you are being a little harsh on The Expendables though. I am not sure I buy that Stallone has any other reasoning behind making that movie other than trying to capitalize on 80’s action nostalgia and making a ton of cash. In a way, I think giving him credit for an underlying political message is a stretch. No offense, just a different opinion.
Shane, thanks for your comments. No offense taken at all.
Here’s the issue as far as I’m concerned: Stallone wrote, directed and starred in this film – so he’s responsible for what’s in it. And I’m not reading something esoteric into the project. The primary villain of the film is a druglord/ex-CIA operative who collaborates with the brutal regime of a South American country, in order to exploit that country’s cheap labor and resources. It’s an ugly caricature of the CIA, at a time when the CIA is trying to suppress the drug trade in Afghanistan – and begging people on the ground there to help them. This kind of stuff doesn’t help.
What actually bothers me more, though, is that people in the right wing media are shilling for Stallone as if he’s some kind of patriot, when he’s really just in this to make a buck, as you say. In effect, Stallone is getting credit for an ‘underlying political message’ of patriotism … while his film in reality takes pot shots at our intelligence services.
I see your point.
Keep posting the babes in your updates and you will have a reader for life.
Hell, Shane, what do you think the point of those updates is? 🙂
You’re getting Christina Hendricks in just a minute.
Man, I am loving her and I haven’t even seen Mad Men yet (it’s on Netflix.) Way to go, sir.