Jackass 3-D/The Expendables

Jackass 3-D

I don't think I need to get into the 'plot' such that it is. At this point you're either on board with Jackass or you're not, and I sort of am. I won't deny that I get a sort of warped sense of joy from seeing people attempt and fail ridiculous stunts, and the way its presented in the Jackass universe the carnage comes off more as slapstick than actual masochism.

Anyway Jackass 3-d hues closely to the format established by its predecessors. With the exception of the opening and closing sequences, the stunts all have the charmingly low key DIY visual aesthetic of youtube videos, and there's more than enough carnage to keep fans happy. The unique this about the entry to the canon is that for the first time you see a real sense of fear on the faces of the participants (as well as more time being spent on the physical toll the stunts take). You could argue that before they were too young to know any better, and while age definitely plays a role, I think the bigger factor is that the majority of the film was shot with the cast being sober (due to some addiction issues of Steve-O). Therefore its understandable that they might actually have visible reservations about say, getting kicked in the nads by a donkey or running through a maze of tazers and cattle prods, and as a result the film has a somber undertone that I haven't seen before. Anyway the closing credits make it look like that this is probably the last entry and for the sake of everyone involved long term health I hope that's really the case.

The Expendables

I really wanted to like this reunion of great eighties action stars (plus Crank 2's own Jason Statham) but I just can't. On the whole the Expendables tries way to hard to be over the top and testosterone filled, and you can practically feel the mechanics of the plot groaning at all times. I never would have thought that an action film starring Sly Stallone, Dolph Lungren, Jason Statham, etc would every be too restrained, but this was. Its almost too self-aware and ends up feeling more like a plod than the glorious piece of testosterone laden unintentional comedy it should have been. I guess next time the participants need to do as much coke as they did back in the eighties to get a better result.