With the action genre being a little bit hit and miss over the last decade, the film Expendables will remind everyone what a true action movie is all about. We have all recently grown accustom to the more psychological action hero like Jason Bourne with his more laid back incognito type attitude, or the more over the top impossible traits of fantasy superhero or magical protagonists. The Expendables however takes us back to the bare essentials of what is possible, with minimal CGI aid, whilst still being in your face with violence, bloody gore and the non stop adrenaline fuelled action you would hope for from this all star cast.

The screenplay was written by David Callaham and Sylvester Stallone. Stallone also directed the film, adding to his tally of unforgettable titles. He had the plan early on of using minimal CGI technology and relying on the capability of what they as action stars could accomplish, helping to show that even though the veteran action stars aren't as young as they used to be, they are definitely still capable.

The film opens with the mercenary team of The Expendables arriving on a ship to rescue hostages. The team comprises of Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), Toll Road (Randy Couture) and Hail Caeser (Terry Crews). During this first encounter we witness Gunner being a bit of a loose cannon who has issues with Ying. After this mission the team has to let him go. From word one we witness each of the other team members specialty skill sets and get to enjoy the classic trait of a kill count competition between them.

Back home we meet the teams Tattooist and ex-member Tool (Mickey Rourke), who is a bit of a ladies man with no wish of ever fighting alongside the team again, though he clearly still has the skills.

When The Expendables meet up with the shady Mr Church (Bruce Willis), who has a cameo alongside the character Trench (Arnold Schwarzenegger), they begin their mission of hunting down the tyrannical South American dictator General Garza (David Zayas). Barney And Christmas get on the job, though whilst there they meet up with their contact Sandra (Giselle Itié) and discover that their actual target is James Monroe (Eric Roberts), a former CIA agent gone rogue. When having to leave in a hurry, Sandra refuses to go with them. Barney knowing that she is destined for a brutal death and with his commitment to finishing a job, he rounds up his crew for what is bound to be an all out war. Though it won't be easy with Gunner now an enemy of the crew and Monroe's right hand man Paine (Steve Austin) being a force to be reckoned with.

In my opinion this is the best action film since the new Rambo, which was also Stallone's. There's nothing that can beat this cast of original action heroes. Though it does (Like with all great films) have a few flaws. My main peeve with the movie was the lack of character to everyone. With such a large cast of stars it would be impossible to build on everyone's character, though it tended to avoid building on anyone. Christmas and Yin had small character traits and Christmas even has a subplot, but Barney and Tool are the only others with a background that is touched on in the film, though it is just that, only touched. Though this factor doesn't have a huge effect on a movie that is intended to be for the fan of an action epic, I personally would have preferred a little more of a story.

At one stage Rourke delivers another beautifully executed monologue when telling Stallone the story that forces the adventure along. Being a huge fan of Rourke I believe he does yet another great job in this film. Though again I believe a few more characters should have reached such depths within their personalities. Mostly we receive very cheesy one-liners after somebody's head is blown up or launched across the room, but it does work very well in this film.

Even though I had some small issues with dialogue and character building, the movie does go in all the right directions and delivers a stunning display of action, which showcases the talents of everybody involved. This film is definitely going to be one of the summer hits never to be forgotten.