Expendables spin-off (Yay/Nay)

#1

I’ve (fairly) recently heard that another expendables style movie is in the works with the key selling point being that it will have an all female squad. According to IMDB it will be produced by Adi Shankar (No I’d never heard of him either) with a release date somewhere in 2015 with Gina Carrano (MMA master) and Katee Sackhoff (Kara ‘Starbuck’ Thrace - BSG) have both signed up.

So what does everyone think? Crap/decent, spectacular?

Personally I thought that it was a joke initially; as saying that Hollywood has a tendancy to treat Female led action movies as cheap cash cows is a heck of an understatement (Sucker punch anyone?) but looking at the actors signed up so far and looking at Shankars past work (DREDD 3D, The grey, etc.) I’ve got to say it looks like The producer at least is taking the film seriously.

Just have to wait until 2015…

#2

There was a thread about this before the purge and some actresses were suggested for the ideal cast, so let’s make that list again.

My picks:

  • Lucy Liu
  • Michelle Rodriguez
  • Milla Jovovich
  • Laurie Holden (Andrea from The Walking Dead)
  • Rosario Dawson
#3

Master is a bit of a stretch. But she can sure get a full mount on me if she likes.

Relating to the movie idea, I suppose it could work if it was handled in a light hearted campy but not over the top silly sort of way. What I mean is, if it realizes that it WON’T be a good movie, but that it can still be entertaining. The tone will have to be a bit different than the two Expendables movies, but it can work.

Hell include scantly clad Carrano, and Jovovich ( as suggested above ) and have them kicking some ass…well…I’d pay to see that.

#4

Why would the theme have to change? Seriously neither of the Expendables is particularly based on reality (It’s bunch of overgrown men and a woman smashing things for a laugh), while anyone that believes that they have artistic merit needs their head checked. If your worried about women degrading the movie then look at maggie chan (Nu yan) she certainly wasn’t the odd one out.

The one thing this can’t be is yet another campy half hearted ‘action’ movie, with strippers subbing in for real actors. I still have mental scars from Sucker punch and all I saw was a trailer… Seriously the wonders of Hollywood mean that if this film tanks then odds are no-one will try it again for a decade or more. It’d be nice to see it work.

Sides look at Korra, Starbuck and Roslin, Nikita, Sarah Connor, Mulan and of course Ripley. It’s not like women can’t lead.

P.s. Hell no to Jovovich, crap acting in worse movies does not look good on a resume.
P.s.s. To quote Sam Winchester (Supernatural) “Your confusing reality with porn”

#5

First of all, if you make no theme changes, it would be JUST a rehash of Expendables with women. It would be more difficult for people to relate to characters that are just female versions of the characters in the ‘male’ version. A female version would need unique characterization. You have to make them strong women, not just women who are essentially men.

I said nothing of artistic merit, just not making the formula go stale.

It would HAVE to be a bit campy for it to work. If a movie such as this tries to have a serious tone, the underlying ridiculousness of t he premise would ruin it. These types of movies are meant to be about fun.

PS: You are okay with Gina Carrano, but you think Mila Jovovich has acting skills that would ruin the movie?
PSS: Are you honestly trying to apply realism to a movie franchise like this?

#6

I clearly haven’t explained myself well when it comes to themes, which for the record are undlying ideas which the media is based around e.g. Battlestar galactica (Original), the ‘re-imagined’ and Homeland. All three have overlapping themes (Terrorism, attacks on civilian targets etc.) yet are still wildly different programs certainly not rehashes (Which would indeed be bad).

Believe it or not I agree completely with most of your last comment, you’re right about unique characterization (and the current obsession with ‘strong’ characters who still wear next to nothing). I agree that sillyness is somewhat inevitable (and neccesary) for a movie like this, I’m concerned with how far it goes, Just look at how far Batman sank (Bat nipples…).

If hollywood tries to ‘broaden it’s appeal’ by dressing the cast in catsuits/stripper suits (which it wil probably try) then as far as I’m concerned the movie has failed no matter how ‘good’ it is.

P.s. It’s one thing to be a martial artist with limited acting skills (look at how far Amy Jo Johnson has come since power rangers) it’s another to just be a crap actor.
P.s.s. Realism is a wonderful/terrible buzzword as like all of them it can mean whatever you want it to. A good example of what I mean by ‘realism’ is the dark knight trilogy, most of it would never work in real life but it has a fun way of making you think it would. Hell EXP 2 crashed a plane in a mine without breaking the suspension of disbelief.

#7

yvonne strahovski

#8

^ What he said.

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