Old is gold, is a mantra which sounds good, though means little to me. But someone who gave it a fresh meaning quite resoundingly is the action star of Hollywood, Sylvester Stallone. He literally would have googled for something like 'action stars of 70s and 80s' or 'old action heroes looking for jobs', compiled a list, approached them with a movie role offer which they must have gleefully accepted and then sat behind the director's chair and went brutal on them, making them pump up the action their bodies were no longer geared for. He even got a ruling USA Governor to enact a scene in all this mayhem. He called this carnage The Expendables and had Lionsgate distribute it for a theatrical release. At least he tried, is what most would have said. He made an attempt. My thoughts too were on similar lines then. I never gave it a shot of achieving anything worthwhile, there was no reason too. Stallone had been still doing fairly well on the box office but when Jason Statham is one of the 'young guys' in the crew for an action movie, it just made your bones creak.
I was wrong. Many were wrong. Heck, even Stallone would never have seen this coming. The Expendables topped the $100 million mark in USA and earned $268 million worldwide on a production budget said to be around $80 million. It turned out to be one of the biggest hits in Lionsgate's history. Then what, there was no stopping a pumped-up Stallone. He knew he had hit the right nerve with a large section of the audience, bringing back action of the old ages which seemed to be disappearing in this period of automatic guns and flying missiles and sleek looking gadgetry. The fists were back, the raw energy, the thrill of a gladiatorial fight! He got Arnie and Bruce for bigger roles, tweaked around with the roster a little, fitting in a genuinely 'young' fellow Liam Hemsworth, raised the laughs by bringing in Chuck Norris in Chuck Norris style but kept the heart of the movie the same. The Expendables 2 released in 2012 and swept in $312 million worldwide! Not bad, eh, for some old guys who should have been sitting in comfy chairs with Cuban cigars and remembering the days gone by?
It should be of no surprise then that The Expendables 3 is on track. Stallone did not direct the sequel and would not be doing it for the third one as well. Stallone has taken to twitter to announce that Patrick Hughes would be handling the director's duties. And the action star sounds really geared for ramping up the action tempo for the third movie of the series.
EX3 Needs freshness, class, and much badass....Found it... Blood Sweat and Fears, coming soon...
My best PURE ACTION FILM - The last RAMBO - I want this one too top it and I believe it will with NEW BLOOD.
If you have infact seen 2008's Rambo, the last Rambo movie which Stallone is talking of, you would know how much more violence and killing Stallone is dreaming of for The Expendables 3. A bit too much, maybe! Patrick Hughes himself does not have much of a resume when it comes to directing full length feature films, with his only directorial work being Red Hill (has an Imdb rating of 6.4 as of now). Stallone is though urging his twitter followers to watch Signs, a short film by Hughes, on youtube.
But the excitement really is in the cast that Stallone is boasting of being in talks with. They may fit the basic requirement for this movie, that of being old, but these aren't forgotten names by any lengths. Clint Eastwood (gotta be kidding! wicked cool if he signs in!), Jackie Chan, Nicholas Cage, Harisson Ford and bringing back Mickey Rourke. Wow! That is heavy duty stuff. How many would be serious talks and how many would be just an informal chat which ends in a 'No', remains to be seen. But irrespective of whoever comes aboard, The Expendables 3 may well be a bloody carnage to enjoy! Old indeed is gold...
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