Film Preview: The Expendables 3 (2014)

Poster

Poster #1

Additional posters can be found below.

Trailer Link

Release Date:

August 15, 2014

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “The third installment of the action-adventure franchise that follows the exploits of Barney Ross, Lee Christmas, and their associates.”

Poster: C / B / C+ / C (16) / D (17)

Review: (#1-#3) This is almost a screen-grab of the teaser trailer, likely taken at the same time. It’s quite boring for a film as stuffed with action stars as this one is. The second poster’s a little more inventive and focuses on three of the film’s primary talents, which might not sell the film to those looking for the others, but effectively establishes itself as a successor. The third is a slightly more colorful, obliquely-angled version of the first design, which might bolster the film’s potential reception, but doesn’t excite visually.

(#4-#19) The first set of 16 character posters is a generic laundry list of nearly identical designs, each using the satisfactory, but underwhelming black-and-white style. The edges vary slightly between each, suggesting some effort was put in, just not enough.

(#20-#37) The next 17 designs are a bizarre blend of patchwork colors that don’t make any sense and seem to try to hearken back to the 1960’s and 1970’s when action films were niche affairs that titillated, but didn’t do much else. The first of the seventeen is a combination of all the other designs, which just isn’t that interesting.

Trailer: C+ / C+ / B- / B-

Review: (#1) I’ll give the producers credit for creating an interesting teaser, but the rapid-fire display of names and the too-short timeframe to see the names and identify the suspects in the array of bodies on screen makes for easy disappointment.

(#2-#4) There’s some light variance between the three post-teaser trailers. The second trailer is still a bit of a teaser, barely glossing over the action at play with a soundtrack that’s fitting, but forgettable. The third trailer extends the second trailer by about a minute, adding more action, revealing more of the plot and thereby establishing why anyone should care. The soundtrack for the third trailer isn’t very fitting at all. The fourth trailer takes out some of the plot reveals of the third trailer, but eliminates the corny music track, which keeps the two on par with one another.