EXPENDABLES

[jasper]

Why are these soldiers called "The Expendables".
They are not afraid of death. These soldiers have their own special skills: Gun shooting, Kung-fu, knives and so on. They fight for national security, dignity and personnel responsibility. To finish the mission, the expendables will try their very best.

Who hires them to attack Vilena and why?
A CIA operative, Mr. Church, hires a team of mercenaries to eliminate a Latin dictator and former FBI agent. He offers 5 million dollars to Barney. Their mission is to destroy the powerful drug dealer James Munroe, who is using the island to grow cocaine.

Who is your favorite "tough guy" in this movie?
My favorite “tough guy” is Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone). I think he is the leader of this team. He is well-organized and target-oriented. When the CIA officer asks him to destroy Vilena, he decides to go without hesitation. Barney also does a lot of things for Sandra, even comes back to Vilena to help Sandra survive.


Write a summary/opinion of THE EXPENDABLES.

It was awesome to see these action stars at their best. I liked Stallone, Statham, Li, and Lundgren the best. I got what I expected from this action movie. I got action, explosions, car chases, etc. The only thing I did not like was the lighting. Some scenes I feel too dark, especially underground gun crossfire.

Give it a watch if you are a real man!

Teacher's note: Thanks for writing a great first post. All bases covered, tough guy. I must agree about the lighting. Why on Earth would they make the exciting conclusion so darn dark? Maybe to make the gun-fire and explosions look brighter. Don't know if this film was available in 3-D, but it would have been unwatchable. For being first responder, you are not just a real man, but you are THE man! Glad you liked The Expendables. Now, get ready for Expendables 3!

--mike http://www.moviesgrowenglish.com

[Virak94]

An ironic title precedes the film; could you say that Rambo, Terminator, or the Transporter are expendables? Only if you are James Bond or Machete. They are not expendables, but indestructible; they are legendary.

Why do I call Stallone, Rambo, Statham, the Transporter and Schwarzenegger, Terminator? Consider it, we all think of them as the most iconic actors for the roles they have played. Meet Jet Li or Bruce Willis in the street and within your deepest thoughts you will be expecting a full-of-explosives, spontaneous fight. This action film, uses that as it's essential premise[,] which is a very successful move; using reality, previous films and audience references, to build new (with old and well known) characters.

We are accustomed to watching movies with lovable groups of girl friends; this film shows us how a man with his group of friends could be like (we even think we are that way sometimes). Loyalty, forgiveness, trust; that's what means being Expendable: the only way to prevail, to survive is to do it side by side with your friends.

With amazing special effects, tough fights, exciting gunfire scenes, creative dialogs and wonderful acting, the only Expendable's weakness is the story, weakness that if you are trying to have some fun, you will not notice at all.

Recommend it as a have-fun movie.

Teacher's note: I'll say it again: this author knows how to write. A good writer is a mental tough guy, digs deep, finds the irony, the motif, the magic formula. In just a few words, you have been able to capture lightening in a bottle. One small criticism, tough guy (I know you can take a punch.) . . . you forgot a comma, nonrestrictive adjective clause. I would also suggest placing the clause directly behind "This action film." The sentence might then have to be reworked a bit. But most people will not notice it at all. We're having too much fun here. Thanks for jumping in.

--mike http://www.moviesgrowenglish.com

[HildaL]

The Expendables consists of 9 men, who are all mercenaries. When I was searching information about this film, I read a quote, which I think is very cool: “We are the shadows and the smoke, we rise. We are the ghosts that hide in the night”. I think this indicates why they are named The Expendables.

While watching the film, I failed to remember everyone in the team, except Barney, Lee, Yin Yang, Tool, and Gunner. Even after searching online, I still cannot recognize all of them. That probably is the bad side of a movie with so many leading actors. In fact, the story does emphasize more on Barney, Lee and Yin Yang. Therefore, I think I am not the only one that fails to recognize everyone. My favorite tough guy is Lee [Christmas]. He not only shows the toughness but also has romantic part when facing his girlfriend.

In the film, a man named Church, who works for CIA, hires them to attack an island, Vilena, to free it from merciless dictator. The story begins when Barney and Lee get to know the real situation in the island and meet a local girl called Sandra.

The Expendables is a typical action film. It is a very good film and I enjoyed it. However, in fact, it is my least favorite one among the four we watched. For this kind of movie, you know how the story will go for most of the part and the heroes will definitely win. It is so different from the one we watched last time, The Descendants. After all, it is a good film for enjoying popcorns.

Teacher's note: A well-rounded and professionally written report. Thanks to this author for paying attention to GPS --- narry an error within. Even the time frame is consistent. Great job. I also appreciate the author's assessment of what an action film is, and what its limitations are. For the astute movie viewer, as fun as it is to help wash down the popcorn with good action romp, it can't measure up to the depths of a movie like The Descendants. Still, I like to throw at least one good actioneer into the mix just for fun, and just because action is probably the most commercial genre. And let's not forget that action has its own way of helping language learners to "grow English." thanks for a cool post!

--mike http://www.moviesgrowenglish.com

[Parksukchom]

They are super soldiers. They have many skills for fighting and protect[ing] themselves. They have to do a secret mission that normal soldiers cannot do it. They don't give up and always complete their missions.

Mr.Church hires them and their mission is "destroy American dealer who want to take over people on this island". They have to make this island to be a peaceful place.

For me, I like Yin Yang (Jet Li). He is a short guy[,] but he knows how to fight with the guy who is bigger than him. His style is a kind of Kung Fu, it is a good combination.

In my opinion, I like this movie because this is an action movie and I love action movie. However, this movie in some scene has too much effect and it looks not good.

Anyway, I like this movie and i want to watch "The Expendables 3" that is coming on this Fall.
Thank you for good movie.

Teacher's note: I'm glad we didn't forget to watch one action movie this session because it gives the ones who love action a chance to enjoy their favorite genre while learning English -- so easy, so painless,tough guy. This report is straightforward, clear, and relatively free of GPS errors. Good job, author, and thanks for posting.

--mike www.moviesgrowenglish.com

[Amberlovesfilm]

We have been accustomed to the setting that the super heroes in action movies are always cool, strong, and above all, for sequel’s sake, they never really die, which makes a typical super hero the fanciest job in the world. And in this movie, we have 9 of them. But the name of the film, Expandables, hints the audience that this time, a different angle may be used in depicting its heroes.

The story goes on and it proves the speculation of the audience. Instead of creating perfect heroes always fighting against the evil, it introduces a group of middle-aged men, struggling with their own problems, willing to lose lives simply for money. Since they are a troop drew together by money rather than common faith or loyalty, they are more of tools to their employers. Their lives therefore are expandable since they are considered to be merchandise. But later on we would find out that this bunch of seemingly numb and reckless guys are actually sincere, deep and lovable people. Like anyone else, they are loyal to friends, and they pursue the righteous path in the end.

Of all the tough guys, my favorite character is Lee, also known as Christmas. I like him since there is such a strong contrast between his toughness while working and his gentleness when he is around his girlfriend. It is so sweet and hilarious to see a tough killer got heart-broken, and keeps talking about it to his even tougher guy.

Overall, I quite enjoyed the film, and I think it is a good choice for fun.

[ningshuangchao]

These soldiers called “The Expendables” because they are not afraid of death and always ready to sacrifice. Each of them is strong enough to win a battle. I have to say that the knife enthusiast Lee Christmas, the youngest in the team, is my favorite.

I believe I am one of few female audiences who still love muscle guys. It seems that “pretty faces” instead of “tough guys” has became a new trend. Robert Pattinson, Orlando Bloom, and even Justin Bieber are more popular than these guys in the movie. In my perspective, however, tough guys are more attractive to me since they give people a sense of feeling safe. Like Christmas, he can walk away when he finds out his girlfriend has someone new, he also can paunch the rival on the face and stab a basketball to warn him. That is the guy girls really need.

But on the other hand, it is disputable to say that The Expendables is a guy’s movie. In that case, as a girl, I really don’t understand why Sandra, the girl on the island, plays such an important role in the movie. Barney goes back to the island, with all his fellows, to rescue her. They finally succeed after many setbacks but at last he does not even kiss her.

Maybe guys don’t need romantic or story, all they care about are explosions, gunfights, violence, heart rate rising and blood pumping.

[Heidi Yin]

THE EXPENDABLES (2010), a typical action movie with lots of explosions, shootings, killings and fighting scenes.

The whole story happens after a successful assignment to save hostages from pirates in Somalia, Barney and his team of eight mercenaries. The “expendables” are invited by Mr. Church to kill the corrupt General Garza, who is the dictator of the Vilena Island in the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Church offers as much as five million dollars and Barney travels with his partner Lee and Christmas in their plane to Vilena to meet their local contact, a girl called Sandra. They have an incident with one troop makes them flee from the island, but Sandra refuses to leave her country. They investigate and discover that Church is actually from CIA, that wants them to do the dirty work to destroy the powerful drug dealer and rogue FBI agent James Munroe, who is actually using this island for drug-grow business. However, Barney also feels divided between staying sage in USA or risky his life to save Sandra and his own soul. Finally, Barney with this team are going for a rescue mission, and save Sandra for the happy ending.

Expendables, literally means people who are not fear to lose their life in a mission, battle or war. The reason why the movie named Expendables, is because the team of mercenaries are very brave, and they accept the mission no else can do and the mission might kill their life. At the first half of the movie, Barney and Christmas nearly lost their life in the island, however, in order to save their local contact, Sandra, the team back again to the island with their brave and well-planned tactics.

My favorite “tough guy” in this movie, is Christmas. He is very cool and specialized in knife-throwing. He is also Barney’s right hand worthy man and close friend ever since he joined the team. Later on, Christmas accompanies and helps Barney to perform reconnaissance on General Garza. And another reason i like this role is nothing to do with the movie itself, because Jason Statham is so handsome, especially when he has his military uniform on.

p.s I saw the trailer of The Expendables3 in the movie theater, i am going to watch it!

[Faisal0300]

They do not have a fear of death. They are men without hearts,so they allow their unique power to guide them.

My favorite "tough guy" in this movie is Sylvester Stallone. He has a great power that makes him manage any difficult situation. He knows how to define any problem and decides what is the best way to deal with it. He uses both his physical and mental powers that makes solving any problem is easy for him. At the same time, he is very emotional and has a space for love in his heart.

I really like this kind of movies, so I enjoyed watching it so much. Therefore, I strongly recommend anyone to watch this movie.

[coco]

The guy’s fake name is “Church”, who is actually from C.I.A., hired these soldiers to attack Vilena. Because Vilena is controlled by an evil South American dictator and an American ex-C.I.A. agent. The bad American guy uses the evil dictator and his people to make and sell drugs. On Vilena, people live in poverty and fear.

My favorite “tough guys” are Christmas and Barney. Personally, I really love Jason Statham. He is really charming and masculine. He has a good personality and every action he presents are amazing. In “The Expendables”, Christmas has been betrayed by his girlfriend. The moment he saw his girlfriend’s boyfriend is really heartbreaking. The expression in his eyes is full of sadness. But after he is aware of his ex-girlfriend has been hurt by that guy. He rides his really cool motorcycle to the basketball court and beat the shit out of that guy. It is really handsome when he sticks the knife into the basketball on that man. The reason why I love Barney is that he is really responsible, considerate and mature. The decision he made is decisive and right.

Actually, this is the second time I watch this movie. All in all, I think it’s a really great action movie. However, my personal opinion is that action movie like this could only be seen once. Because once you know the end and the chapters, you may lose interest very fast and cannot really concentrate on this movie.

Teacher's note: I agree that action films "could be seen only once". However, we are reminded that we watch films, all genre of films, for reasons beyond the entertainment value, which is great in itself. We watch them to "grow English". This is our primary purpose. And for this purpose, a student of English could watch The Expendables many times (especially if it's a favorite movie) and learn tons of English.

I say this knowing that the above author is already aware of this fact. I say this for those who may read this post later and not have the academic context within which the author makes this comment. Thank you, author, for an excellent post.

--mike www.moviesgrowenglish.com

[mira_cle]

The reason why they called the expendable I think is because these guys don't afraid to die and they will achieve the jobs by all means.
The guy who called Mr.Church hired them to attack Vilena.The reason is Mr.Church is a CIA agent if he directly assassinated the bad guys who are in Vilena,it may erupt a scandal,so Mr.Church decided to hire a band of mercenaries to finish the job.
I think Christmas is my favorite one.He is the guy who have mean mouth and kind heart.This is really attractive.
I don't like action movies,because it always end in same way.The good guys defeat the bad one and the main actor always hard to die something like this.However, it's good to watch action movies sometimes because always can find some attractive guys in the movie.

Thank you.