Special feature of 1905 film network "This is my last day in the crew of The Expendables, and it’s time to say goodbye to this series!" In the behind-the-scenes tidbits, 77-year-old Stallone tearfully bid farewell to the "Death Squad" series that has been with him for 13 years.
This video has won more than one million praises, and netizens have cherished the lost youth in the comment area and paid tribute to the former action superstars.
However, in sharp contrast to this massive "sentimental killing", the box office and word-of-mouth of "The Expendables 4: The Final Chapter" are far below expectations.
After five days of release, the box office failed to break through 100 million yuan, and the Douban score was only 5.0 points. No accident will create a new low in the series.Netizen commented: "The former superstars are really old!" "100 minutes of muscle bombing, some aesthetic fatigue" and "the so-called final chapter is just a dog’s tail harvesting the box office."
In 13 years and 4 movies, why is this classic tough guy action series that attracts global action superstars no longer popular? Time has passed, will you pay for this wave of feelings?
The death squads 4Why can’t it be sold?
Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, randy couture … The super lineup assembled by global action stars has always been the biggest selling point of the "Expendables" series.
However, in the past nine years since the third part, with the growth of age and the change of situation, it is no longer easy to assemble the original team. Schwarzenegger and Jet Li announced their withdrawal, and Stallone once gave up his intention, and finally struggled to play, but only Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren and randy couture were left among his comrades who fought from the first film.
Although the newly-joined 50 cents and Southeast Asian stars such as Tony Jaa and iko uwais have a certain reputation, their appeal is obviously worse than a grade, which makes this "The Expendables 4" not star-studded enough in the lineup. Jet Li’s withdrawal, in particular, undoubtedly greatly reduced the expectations of China fans.
Let’s look at this series of housekeeping skills — — Action play. Without special effects body double, the hormone-bursting action drama has always been a magic weapon for the "death squads". This film also invited a family class to act as an action guide, and directly played the slogan "Men want to fight", which can be described as simple and rude.
However, from the whole film, the action design is indeed the biggest highlight, but it can’t completely satisfy the fans. First of all, Stallone, the "soul figure", was seriously short of playing time. After the opening fierce battle, he hurried off the production line, making the second half of the film a solo show of Jason Statham.
Several brand-new members of the death squad lack the signature movements and personal characteristics of their predecessors, and even the performance space of Tony Jaa, the champion of boxing, is very limited, which fails to fully display his skills.
Close combat, which is essential in the first three movies, is also pitiful in this one. Only Jason finally fought iko uwais’s cold weapon, which was regarded as the highlight of the whole play, and found the familiar taste. In the rest of the time, you can never use a gun, so the excitement of boxing to meat and blood is naturally greatly reduced.
In addition, although there are many necessary action elements in Hollywood commercial films, such as gun battle, racing and explosion, and the design of motorcycle gun battle and freighter drift has also been innovated, the repeated bombing of gatling, grenades, rocket launchers and nuclear bombs has brought more aesthetic fatigue.
In addition, the special effects of the film are relatively rough. Under the limited budget, most of the scenes are filmed in the shed, which naturally lacks the real texture and is difficult to satisfy the aesthetics and tastes of the current audience.
If there is any merit in action drama, the plot logic can’t stand scrutiny at all. It can be said that fighting for fighting and bombing for bombing, villains are bluffing, decency will never die, and women are still vase characters, full of routines.
Generally speaking, "The Expendables 4" is a sequel to the sequel, without the climax of the final chapter of the series, only the self-repetition of the dog’s tail and the mink. And China audience has already passed the stage of not watching the plot, only paying for the stars and big scenes, so the box office is naturally cold.
What are the feelings of the "Death Squad" series?
From birth to ending, from in-play to out-of-play, Stallone is undoubtedly the soul of the "death squad".All this stems from an idea of Stallone when he was filming the Indian film "Unbelievable Love": he wanted to shoot a film dominated by guns, starring tough guys from all walks of life.
He made a list of more than 20 people and contacted them one by one. I didn’t expect most of them to agree to play soon, which gave the "big brother" enough face.
Among them, the most important thing is undoubtedly Schwarzenegger’s joining. At that time, he had not received the drama for many years because of his political career. This was also his first cooperation with Stallone. "I think we must remove all obstacles to fulfill this wish. After all, we can spend less and less time on the screen. This movie is a gift that Stallone and I brought to the fans."
Jet Li once recalled the participation process: Stallone wanted to cooperate with him as early as 1994, but he never made it. It was not until 2009 that he saw the script of "The Expendables" that he agreed to play. "It is good to put everyone in the 70s and 80s together to make a movie!"
Indeed, paying tribute to the action movies and action superstars in the 1980s is exactly the original intention of Stallone in preparing this series.He once said that he hated computer special effects and wanted to make a movie with his brain and muscles. "I want to find a group of real action actors, not fake gestures."
Stallone also tailored the iconic moves for these tough guys, such as Long Geer is karate, Stanson is flying knife, and Jet Li is close combat. Schwarzenegger recreated the shape and lines of the shotgun in Terminator, and he himself was a revolver.
In this way, "top lineup+hardcore action" has become a magic weapon for the death squad IP. Whether it is the classic action scene of superstar confrontation or the firearms and equipment at the arsenal level, action fans are relished.
The series has also launched new works at the rate of "strike while the iron is hot" every two years. From 2010 to 2014, three films were released in succession, and the global box office reached 800 million US dollars.
Among them, the performance of China market is particularly eye-catching: the first one is 216 million, the second one is 331 million, and the third one is 452 million, totaling 1 billion RMB. The third one accounts for one third of the global box office, making it the largest ticket warehouse.
Presumably, this is also an important reason why The Expendables 4 chose mainland China to be released in North America one week ahead of schedule.
For the China audience who grew up watching Hollywood classic action movies such as The First Blood, The Terminator and Rocky, behind the same frame of these actors is a golden age. At the same time, they finally got the movie ticket that they owed for a long time.
However, as the sequel is repeated, the audience is gradually tired of aesthetics. "The Expendables 3" has already shown signs of decline, with a box office of only 39.32 million in North America, which also makes it difficult to advance the fourth film.
Now nine years later, Stallone is 77 years old, Long Geer is 66, randy couture is 60, and even Jason Statham is 56.
The former audience is no longer young, and the post-80 s who love them are no longer the main force of watching movies.
Tough guys will eventually get old, and youth will always disappear. The Expendables 4 seems to prove that some classics are destined to stay in memory.