THE EXPENDABLES
Here they are, "the real A-Team," back for a last roundup. Sylvester Stallone's gonzo action film (★★ out of four stars) is a deliriously retro ride into Reagan-era blockbusters. Sly, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Terry Crews and Randy Couture play mercenaries hired to free some sailors taken hostage by Somali pirates, then to take down a Caribbean dictator. Here, for the first and probably only time, are Stallone, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger, in one (pointless) scene together. Here, for almost certainly the last time, is Stallone taking a serious licking, struggling to sprint away from bullets and bombs (dude has some hard mileage) and dreaming of getting the girl. Statham, heir to the action hero crown that Sly, Bruce and Arnold once shared, out-kicks and out-cools them all. While the shootouts are epic, the stuff leading up to them is lame. The macho men still deliver, but "The Expendables" feels, well, disposable -- nostalgia isn't enough to make this .50-caliber trip down Memory Lane worth the fake napalm. (Rated R for violence, language.)ROGER MOORE, Orlando Sentinel
