Guns, Guts and Glory: Sly’s Expendables are back with a bang!

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Rating: 9/10

Yes. The gang is back one more time to rack up a humongous body count, one liners and some bad-ass butt kicking on cinema screens. Who better to assemble the crew than the great Sylvester Stallone as Barney Ross? Sly brings the boys back for yet another dangerous mission. Only this time it’s personal!

Well this time, we get a series of new recruits from the 80s and 90s. Bruce Willis is gone but Harrison Ford (Drummer) and Kelsey Grammar (Bonaparte) make their debuts. Arnold Schwarzenegger returns as Trench. Jet Li also makes a comeback and quite a good one I must add. The best addition perhaps is Wesley Snipes. He was an action film staple for most of the 90s and my personal favorite was ‘Passenger 57’. Stallone and Snipes were together in 90s smash ‘Demolition Man’. Another former co-star of Stallone, Antonio Banderas, joins in and provides comic relief as Galgo.

The rest of the team is still there: Dolph Lundgren (Gunner), Terry Crews (Ceasar), Jason Statham (Christmas) and Randy Couture (Toll Road). They are joined by a fresh and young crew assembled by Ross such as Luna (MMA star Ronda Rousey) and Smilee (Kellan Lutz) to go up against Mel Gibson who is the antagonist in the film. He does an excellent job as the villain but I did like Jean-Claude Van Damme better in ‘Expendables 2’. The tension between Ross and Gibson’s character Conrad Stonebanks is very real as both were one of the founders of the Expendables. The spoilers stop here.

The film is a straight-up action film that is not aiming for Oscars but just pure vintage entertainment. Everyone looks in great physical condition despite the age. We have lot of quips that are a throwback to lines from famous films back in the day. One of my favorite is ‘I am the Hague’ spoken by Stallone- throwback to Judge Dredd’s famous line…see that film to find out!

The action scenes are well choreographed and ultimately Stallone shows his expertise in every scene he is in. It is a slam, bang action flick that just keeps getting better and better with every minute. It is non-stop action with some feeling. At the same time, Snipes is a delight and has some of the best dialog in the film. He is also given a decent amount of screen time.

By far, I feel it is the best of the three films. The second one was a superb follow-up to the first, but this one just takes the cake. It is one that even warrants a second viewing. For action film junkies who just want good ole fashioned ass-kicking, better get in line for Expendables 3!

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Child's Play

(Image credit: Batman Forever)

A friend of mine once told me liking superhero films is chidish especially those  that have received critical acclaim, like the 1989 dark and brilliant film by Tim Burton, Batman and the 1978 Richard Donner epic Superman starring Christopher Reeve. Well apparently this friend was 6 years younger to me, and when he got to the movie watching age, superman and batman were probably just kids stuff to him. He wasn’t there to witness the great movies which people of all ages love. 

Superman especially is a character the whole world loves. He is someone that has touched the hearts of everyone for being a hero for the people. A savior from another planet, who lives among us as us, and his sole reason for living is to save our behinds. From a movie perspective, the character was brilliantly portrayed and Christopher Reeve was crystallized forever as the boy in blue. He made us love the character so much and for generations to come, he is the benchmark for future superman actors. Richard Donner directed the most amazing superman film to date, with a very memorable score, brilliant acting and a classic plot that is right out of the comic books. It is no doubt that this movie made superman the most loveable superhero for all generations. 

Coming to Tim Burton’s 1989 dark and morose epic, Batman, one can never think on first view, that it’s a kid’s movie. Actually, I could never watch Batman as a kid. The Joker scared the jeepers out of me. However, when I recently watched it as an adult, I realized what I missed out as a young kid. Tim Burton directed a masterpiece, a dark opera, where two people of opposite sides of the coin collide. The psychology behind the characters was portrayed very well. Jack Nicholson played the most wicked and psychotic villain every portrayed in a movie and was brilliantly acted. No doubt he got first billing. 

Michael Keaton played a confused and depressed Bruce Wayne, who is haunted by a past that he fights. He plays a very complicated character and its easy to feel sorry for him. When Kim Basinger plays the damsel in distress, she becomes the comfort that Bruce Wayne is looking for in his life, but he comes to reality that he is Batman inside and his public life is his mask. He finds in Joker a wicked version of himself. The connection is superbly depicted. Tim Burton sets the mood right, and gives Batman the treatment it so rightly deserved. No doubt it was the biggest movie of 1989, and gave batman fans the movie they have been waiting for a long time. A movie that is so complicated for even adults to comprehend, because of the dark and complex characters in this neo- gothic opera, that Burton made it his own and depicted the opera of our own lives. 

My other personal favorite in the same series was Batman Forever, arguably the last great film of the Burton era, had Batman deal with more complex personal demons as well as a complex love life. Add to that, he had to deal with two villains who were causing trouble in Gotham City. He, as Bruce Wayne, also had to help a young adult who recently lost his family at the hands of one of the film villains, and was dealing with the same demons that Bruce himself had to deal and reconcile with. Ultimately, he joins hands with him as Robin, to aid the cause of delivering justice to the city's criminals and to make sure no one suffers the fate which both these heroes have. 

Christopher Nolan revived the dark world of the Batman with the Dark Knight Trilogy that did exceptionally well at the box office as well as with critics, joining Nolan to the great list of superhero film makers mentioned above. The Iron Man, Sam Raimi and Marc Webb Spider Man films also are great films that remind us of the hero inside all of us, and the choice that all of us have: to do the right thing. 

What my point is that superheroes, like science fiction is not child’s play. Some of these characters are very complex and live in worlds that we can connect to. We can see inside a man that has a dual personality. We all carry some hurt inside; there is a side of us always hidden in the shadows, and one that is displayed in the public. 

We are all Batman in a way. We carry some guilt, some fear, hidden demons inside us, and we fight it every day just to survive. At the end of the dark tunnel, there is always light, and we are all looking to find the end of that tunnel in our lives. Also there is a superman inside all of us, someone who cares for the needy and less fortunate, someone wanting to be a hero for ourselves and other people in our life. Someone who can reach out and touch the sky, he is one person that continues to elude and fascinate us. And then there are some people who call it child’s play. Go figure?

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Infamous Second Son: With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility!

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Sucker Punch Productions brings the Infamous series on to Sony’s latest tech toy PlayStation 4 (PS4) in the form of ‘Infamous: Second Son’. Infamous 1 and 2 were both runaway hits on the PlayStation 3 (PS3). Cole McGrath’s electric powers were a blast to play with even though the storylines were a mixed bag.

Without going into spoiler territory, ‘Infamous: Second Son’ puts you in control of Delsin Rowe. Your enemies this time are the Department of Unified Protection (DUP) that clearly does not have a liking for your kind. They want to wipe out conduits who they call bio-terrorists. Since you become one of them, you are their enemy. However, your agenda against the DUP is rather personal.

Unlike McGrath, Rowe’s powers are purely smoke-based as opposed to electricity. Initially, you have a limited set of powers and as the story progresses you earn new moves and skills.

Rowe has the ability to self-heal but if you are stuck in heavy combat situation, you will eventually die and re-spawn at the last checkpoint. If you take cover you can regain health.

New moves can also be earned by defeating certain tough enemies and absorbing their powers. Mobile command centers are scattered throughout the maps that allow you to gain blast shards and reduce enemy control by destroying them.

At the same time, you need to replenish yourself with smoke otherwise you will be powerless against tougher enemies that definitely pack a punch. Melee moves will not work against larger enemies which mean you will need to take cover and attack from distance. You have the ability to move into buildings or using open vents to get to higher areas with smoke dash.

Smoke can be replenished quite easily from cars or wherever you see fumes. Another power-up item is glass shards. These are small flying saucers that you can take down with your ‘smoke attacks’ and go near them to earn blast shards. Blast shards also allow you to buy new powers and skills.  

Like its predecessors, it is an open-world game with a main storyline and side-quests. Maps are divided into zones with varying levels of enemy control. You can abandon missions if it gets too hot for you. The one thing that has stayed in all three games is the karma feature. Basically, you decide to be a Good Samaritan or a bad boy.

The decisions you make in the story affect later missions. For example, you can either kill or subdue your enemies. I actually enjoyed doing both depending on the situation. By filling your karma meter, you can use an explosive attack in one go.

The touchpad on the Dual Shock 4 comes in handy several times especially when absorbing elements and opening doors. The controller also gives out certain sound effects which are really cool. Delsin Rowe can be a bit annoying at times, but that does not take much from the game. The graphics look brilliant and are a massive step-up from previous titles. It is one of the games to get if you have just bought a new PS4. 

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