Predictable! The 77-year-old Stallone gave way to Jason Statham, and Hollywood glory returned

Released a week ahead of the North American market, "The Expendables 4: The Final Chapter" has become the most watched film in the Chinese film market in recent times.

The heat is really fierce.

On the first day of release, the proportion of films in the film reached 32.1%, and it ranked first for 4 consecutive days.

This degree of popularity is actually predictable.

As a masterpiece of the Hollywood tough guy series, "The Expendables" has accumulated many fans before.

The first three films landed in the Chinese market, and received 216 million yuan, 331 million yuan, and 452 million yuan at the box office respectively, and the results of each film have improved.

Now that we have come to the "final chapter", the mission of the death squad has also come to an end.

And this IP is also about to come to an end.

Pico also watched the first three parts that year, and this "final chapter" returns after 9 years and adds some fresh blood, which still has a different attraction.

But walking out of the cinema, Pico's feelings are mixed.

First, after the development of the first three films, the cast of this film has changed, 4 big coffees have joined, and Stallone's ambition this time is not small

In 2010, when "The Expendables" was born, special effects blockbusters were popular.

Feeling the gradual demise of traditional action movies, Sylvester Stallone, who is over his age, decided to write and direct himself, gathering the world's classic action movie stars in the 80s and 90s of the 20th century to shoot a popular action blockbuster.

The initial list considered a lot of people, but it was finally decided to star Stallone himself, with British action star Jason Statham and Asian "Kung Fu Emperor" Jet Li joining.

The starring list also includes Duff Rungel, Mickey Rock, Steve Austin, rugby star Terry Cruise, UFC titan Randy Kudrow and Gary Daniels.

Even the two giants of Hollywood action films, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger, were also pulled in to make cameos in the film.

The film was funded by Lionsgate, and its budget was increased from an initial $70 million to $82 million to create the visual effects Stallone wanted.

This sincere work won $274 million at the box office that year, allowing Lionsgate to make a lot of money.

The success of the film not only opened up a new IP, but also determined the production mode of the series: gathering the hottest action star lineup from the East and West to create the hottest action movie.

The next two sequels operated in this way.

"The Expendables 2" added scenes to Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis, who returned to the film industry, and added Chuck Norris, Shange Winton and Scott Akins to the original lineup, making this sequel the best in the series, grossing $314 million worldwide.

"The Expendables 3" Although Bruce Willis withdrew, it added Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, "Blade" Wesley Snipes, Antonio Banderas and "Queen of Cross" Ronda Russi to maintain the production level of the series of movies hardcore, and the global box office also had 214 million US dollars.

Coming to this year's "The Expendables 4", you can see the clues of actor adjustment from the poster of the movie.

Although the lineup of the "death squad" members remained basically the same, the 77-year-old Stallone decided to take a back seat.

Jason Statham's "Christmas" became the male lead, and the main line of the movie also revolved around him.

This is actually a very wise choice.

In fact, in the first three parts of the series, the most exciting fighting scenes were completed by Jason Statham.

The star from London, England, was originally a national diving team athlete, participated in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and learned Wing Chun and karate, with excellent physical coordination, and basically did not use a stand-in for filming.

After entering the film industry in the late 90s, Jason Statham opened up his popularity step by step and is now a representative of Hollywood action stars.

Stallone attaches great importance to the Asian film market, and in the previous trilogy, in addition to Jet Li, actress Yu Nan also participated in "The Expendables 2".

In this film, although Jet Li did not return, he added Tony Jia and Iko Uais, two Southeast Asian action film celebrities, to maintain the level of action scenes in the movie at a high level.

Over the years, with the aging of Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Donnie Yen, in the field of Asian action films, the two who can carry the banner are Tony Jia of Thailand and Iko Uais of Indonesia.

Tony Jia studied under "Thai Jackie Chan" Pana Žitiklay and emerged in 2003 with "Boxer"; In 2005, it became popular all over the world because of "Tom Yum Gong".

Tony Jia's movements combine the characteristics of ancient Muay Thai and taekwondo, and the movements are gorgeous and extremely difficult, which is his exclusive label.

Since leaving the Buddha Statue Company, Tony Jia has been running east and west.

He has participated in domestic films and also joined some Hollywood blockbusters.

In this film, Tony Jia plays Decha, a former agent who believes in Buddhism, and although he has an eccentric personality, he is the best helper around "Christmas".

Ikko U'Ais specializes in Baan Kasira, a traditional Indonesian martial art.

Its actions are fierce and swift, and it was discovered by director Gareth Evans in 2007 and became a blockbuster with the "Raid" series.

Compared to Tony Jia, Iko Uaith is also good and evil, which allows him to seamlessly switch between positive characters and villains.

Therefore, Iko Uais plays the villain Ramat in the film, with a treacherous and cunning image, leaving no room for shooting, and has a wonderful rivalry scene with Jason Statham.

It is these three people who support most of the film's fights.

And the joining of goddess Megan Fox and rapper 50 points also added a lot to the movie.

In 2007, Megan Fox starred in the comic book movie "Transformers" and became a sexy girl because of her hot image.

In this film, Megan gives full play to her sexy "nuclear weapons", playing "Christmas"'s ex-girlfriend and also a member of the death squad Gina.

When he appeared, he used a flowing Jiu-Jitsu uniform "Christmas" to crush him to death, while also conquering the audience in front of the screen.

The rapper 50 points believes that many netizens are not familiar with it, but he is very famous in the United States.

50 Points, formerly known as Curtis James Jackson III, was born in Jackson, Southern Jamaica, Queens, and was exposed to gangsters and violence since he was a child.

His defiant character made Stallone appreciate it very much, so he invited him to join the film.

In addition to these big coffees, the return of Duff Rungel and Randy Kudrow, the addition of stars such as Andy Garcia, Jacob Scipio, Livi Chen, Darren Noop, etc., all guarantee the film's luxurious lineup.

Second, Jason Statham's role has changed a lot, and there are unexpected upgrades on top of cool movies

The consistent positioning of the "Expendables" series is a cool film with a simple story and a focus on action scenes, and the previous trilogy was a protagonist team all the way to the end.

In "The Expendables 4", the screenwriter wanted to add a little suspense to the movie, so he chose to let the main story line revolve around "Christmas" alone.

The film tells the story of Barney Ross (played by Stallone) and "Christmas" (played by Jason Statham) to regroup death squads to Libya to stop the military operations of a group of terrorists.

The criminal leader Ramat (Iko Uaiis) attacks the Libyan government army garrison, obtains a nuclear bomb, and attempts to transport it to Russia on a freighter and detonate it, triggering a world war.

"Christmas" parachuted into Libya with the daredevils, exchanged fire with terrorists, and the transport plane piloted by Barney was bombed, but still failed to prevent Ramat from transporting the nuclear bomb away.

Due to the failure of the mission, Barney dies, "Christmas" is removed from the CIA, and "Christmas"'s ex-girlfriend Gina (played by Megan Fox) becomes the new captain of the death squad.

The CIA quickly found out the location of the freighter that delivered the nuclear bomb at Ramat and sent a death squad to board the freighter and try to intercept it, but fell into the trap of terrorists and was swept up.

It turned out that there was an inner ghost codenamed Oselotte lurking inside the CIA, and it was under the leadership of Ramat and his gang, and every operation of the death squad had been mastered by Oselotte in advance.

The "Christmas" of leaving the death squad has become a variable that Oselott cannot grasp.

With the help of former agent Decha (played by Tony Jia), "Christmas" boards the freighter and fights Ramat and his gang in order to rescue his fellow death squads, prevent the nuclear bomb from detonating, and crush Oselot's plot.

Compared with the previous trilogy of the "The Expendables" series, this film pays more attention to the portrayal of characters.

"Christmas", as the main force of the death squad, was basically responsible for playing handsome in his previous works, and the best action scenes were given to him.

Every time he appears, he kills all sides like an open hanging, but he has little ink in character portrayal and character shaping.

In this film, due to Barney's early exit, "Christmas" has become the focus of the character.

The unwillingness and loss after losing his comrades, and the confusion after being expelled, all made this man fall into trouble for a while.

In order to live, he even became a personal bodyguard for showing off his wealth and Internet celebrities, and these detailed character descriptions were not found in previous trilogies.

In terms of action scenes, the film no longer focuses on stacking explosion scenes, but focuses on the choreography of team battle scenes.

Death squads parachuted into Libya and fought a "barracks battle" with terrorists; "Christmas" boarded the freighter to rescue the daredevils, and the "freighter battle" with Ramat are the two action scenes highlighted in the movie.

Director Scott Waugh has directed "Need for Speed" and "Raging Sandstorm", and has a lot of experience in shooting speeding car chase scenes.

Both the "Barracks War" and the "Freighter War" scenes used Locomotive Alley.

The former "Christmas" chases Rammet's van in an armored vehicle;

The latter is on a freighter, and "Christmas" drives a motorcycle on a rampage, which makes the audience adrenaline-pumping.

In addition to these "regular" action scenes, Ramat hits an aircraft with a surface-to-air rocket, and "Christmas" maneuvers the freighter to stop and steer in an emergency; The scene where Barney blows up the freighter and detonates the nuclear bomb in the sea at the end of the film is a big scene that has not been seen in the previous trilogy, and these are impressive.

Third, Jackie Chan participates in another form, or it depends on the "old guys"

"Rocky" was born in 1976, while "First Blood" was released in 1982.

These two films ushered in an era of tough-guy action movies, and even on the other side of the ocean, Chinese who had just opened the door was deeply influenced by it.

In the 80s, Stallone's posters were plastered all over the rooms of countless young men, which also caused a wave of fitness fever.

In the 90s, the blockbuster "True Lies" starring Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared on the mainland big screen, allowing the Chinese people to appreciate the strong shock of "Hollywood blockbusters".

The muscular men Stallone and Schwarzenegger, have completely changed Hollywood's definition of "tough guy" and influenced the aesthetics of the post-70s, post-80s and post-90s generations.

Fast forward more than 40 years, and those classic action movies that we treasure have become dusty memories.

And our favorite action stars are getting older.

These people can also get together and make a fierce film with a "classical" temperament, which is a rare gift for us fans.

Since its birth, traditional action movies have carried a simple realistic temperament.

However, with the advancement of science and technology, computer special effects have been widely used in the field of film and television, and those stunt shots in the past have gradually been replaced by more shocking CG special effects shots that do not require actors to take risks, and action films based on real shooting have less and less room for development.

With the end of the "The Expendables" series, Stallone, who is nearly eighty-year-old, handed over the banner of "action movies" to Jason Statham in the form of a handover ring in the film.

There is no shortage of details in the movie that the "old guys" joke about themselves.

Stallone wrenched his wrist and lost the ring on his hand, and fans familiar with Stallone's movies will naturally think of his "Over the Top".

That movie was based on the theme of the wrench race, and now Stallone is using "losing the wrench race" to hint at his weakness.

When Statham dealt with a few minions in the bar, he was not sure without wearing a finger tiger;

The old and dizzy Rungel couldn't see the scope clearly after quitting smoking; 50 minutes drag racing hit; The death squad went out on a mission but all the members were caught, and all kinds of unfortunate things showed that this group of people was no longer able to do so, and it was time to say goodbye.

We still miss the shock of seeing a group of veterans on the screen fighting to kill enemies more than a decade ago.

When Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis carried machine gun fire, how many people could not help but stand up and cheer, and this scene was deeply remembered.

It is worth mentioning that "The Expendables 4" officially revealed that Jackie Chan's family class is the action director of this film.

It has been rumored that Jackie Chan and Stallone want to work together, and in this movie, the two can be regarded as really working together once.

The "The Expendables" series brings us too many unforgettable famous scenes.

It's not easy to bring together this group of veteran superstars, especially 77-year-old Stallone.

As long as I see that he is still acting in movies, many fans are very satisfied.

This is a sentiment that fans who have experienced the glorious era of action movies understand.

Text/Pippi Film Editorial Department: Blood Dan Xin

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