Expend4bles (The Expendables 4) [4K Ultra HD]

Director: Scott Waugh

Cast: Jason Statham, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Sylvester Stallone

Release Date: November 21, 2023

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 5/10
Disc Rating: 8/10

Synopsis:

A new generation of stars is added to the adrenaline-fueled adventure of The Expendables as action legends Jason Statham, Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, and Randy Couture are joined for the first time by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Megan Fox, Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, and Andy Garcia. As the highly skilled mercenaries take on an arms dealer and his private army with every weapon they can get their hands on, the new recruits bring daring styles and tactics that give “new blood” a whole new meaning.

Please Note: Lionsgate provided me with a free copy of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

The Movie:

‘Expend4bles’ (or ‘The Expendables 4’) rejoins your favorite team of hired soldiers led by Barney (Stallone) and Lee Christmas (Statham) as the team gets tangled up in a new mission that could have dire ramifications for some of the group’s founding members. With a few of the original teammates still enlisted such as Gunner (Lundgren) and Toll Road (Couture), in addition to a handful of new recruits including Easy Day (50 Cent), Galan (Scipio) and Gina (Fox), the team must venture into deadly territory to take on a hired gun called Rahmat (Uwais) who just may lead them to unravelling a long hidden mystery and confrontation that’s plagued Barney and others for ages.

Directed this time around by Scott Waugh (Need for Speed, Hidden Strike) from a screenplay written by Kurt Wimmer (Street Kings) & Tad Daggerhart (Black Lotus) and Max Adams (TV’s The Terminal List) and a story by Spenser Cohen and Kurt Wimmer & Tad Daggerhart, Waugh does a decent job at the helm of ‘Expend4bles’ guiding along the action-packed new entry, although is unable to breathe any notable life or substance into the long-awaited sequel. The film’s cast this time around features numerous new and returning individuals and includes Jason Statham (Wrath of Man), Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson (Escape Plan), Megan Fox (This is 40), Dolph Lundgren (Creed II), Tony Jaa (Furious 7), Iko Uwais (The Raid: Redemption), Randy Couture (The Row), Jacob Scipio (Bad Boys for Life), Levy Tran (TV’s The Haunting of Hill House), Andy Garcia (Book Club: The Next Chapter), and Sylvester Stallone (TV’s Tulsa King) who each offer generally capable performances for the most part in their respective roles.

‘Expend4bles’ brings back the ragtag team of hard hitting hired mercenaries approximately 8 years after the third film was released and brings back a few of the original cast members as well such as Stallone, Statham, Couture and Lundgren, then fills out the remainder of the roster with various newcomers, some of which fit into the mix better than others. The fourth installment in the action franchise returns to the hard R-rating and bloody violence that fans desire, but unfortunately seems to have lost much of the charm in the process. Make no mistake, there’s still a great deal of fun to be had throughout and there’s no shortage of hard hitting and blood-spraying action to enjoy along the way, but a sloppy story, a painfully predictable set of twists and some CGI that’s so bad you can’t help but be turned off by it don’t do the latest entry any favors and ‘Expend4bles’ quickly proves itself to be the weakest installment in the series to date.

‘Expend4bles’ does feature some notable new stars that are well deserving of being included such as talented martial artists Tony Jaa and Iko Uwais who are always a joy to behold, although the film never really manages to utilize their full abilities, especially Uwais who barely has a chance to show off his talents prior to the climax. Fans of the series will surely still want to make a point of checking out the new entry for the familiar faces and bloody violence that shouldn’t have any trouble keeping you adequately entertained for its duration, but if you can go in with your expectations in check it certainly won’t hurt.

Overall:

‘Expend4bles’ has its moments and delivers plenty of bloody violence and no shortage of exciting action sequences, although its inability to balance the action with the sense of charm the previous three installments delivered in spades, paired with some painfully bad CGI and a few other issues quickly prove the new film to be the weakest of the series (at least to date). It’s not entirely horrid by any means and it has plenty of fun and thrilling fight sequences to keep fans more than entertained along the way, but it never quite manages to reach the level of its predecessors in the process. ‘Expend4bles’ is still recommended for action movie fans and especially fans of ‘The Expendables’ franchise who are sure to still find plenty to appreciate within, but it probably won’t be the installment to bring in new fans or reinsert any new life into the series either.

VIDEO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Expend4bles’ features a full 2160p Ultra High Definition presentation with Dolby Vision and HDR-10, presented in its original 2.39:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks fantastic as a whole and delivers a clean, sharp and richly detailed presentation from start to finish that never suffers from any noticeable faults to be uncovered along the way. Character faces, clothing and the various backgrounds all look impressively sharp and pristine, although the crispness also helps to showcase just how terrible some of the CGI elements truly are at times. The Dolby Vision HDR only further complements the stellar video presentation by contributing a cleaner, rich color palette that’s repeatedly noticeable throughout and nicely boosted by deep, clean black levels. Overall, this is a wonderful Ultra High Definition video presentation that holds up tremendously every step of the way and shouldn’t disappoint fans in the slightest.

AUDIO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release features a Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 channel compatible) soundtrack. Please note that this review pertains solely to the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio presentation. This multichannel soundtrack is quite the treat in its own right and it provides a crisp, clean and wildly aggressive audio presentation throughout. It repeatedly utilizes all seven available channels throughout in order to send gunfire, explosions, plus debris and vehicle activity along with a great deal more consistently whipping throughout the various speakers at every feasible opportunity, all the while still ensuring that any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously remain clean and fully audible. Overall, this is a marvelous Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible) soundtrack that more than delivers every step of the way and it should thrill fans as well as audiophiles.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Expend4bles’ includes a few notable extras that fans of the film and franchise should enjoy. Included on the release is an ‘Audio Commentary with Director Scott Waugh’, in addition to a couple Behind the Scenes Featurettes that feature interviews/comments with the cast and crew, plus behind the scenes footage and more. The included Featurettes are ‘Bigger, Bolder, Badder: The Expendables in Action’ (running approximately 17 minutes in length) and ‘More Than a Team: New Blood Meets Old Blood’ (running approximately 19 minutes). The film’s ‘Theatrical Trailer’ (approximately 2 minutes) is also included.

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray disc included in the 4K UHD Combo Pack and resized. They do not represent the quality of the 4K Ultra HD disc itself and will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on the 4K UHD & Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Film Rating: 5/10
Disc Rating: 8/10

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‘Expend4bles’ is Now Available to Own on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from Lionsgate