My only issue with the movie is how it propagates the stereotype that dudes treat other dudes like crap. My network of friends do tease one another from time to time but when one of us is hurting the rest of us are their to support and build-up rather to tear down and demoralize. That is no the case in this movie, several times the opportunity to encourage is instead met with put downs and tearing down of the soul. It is this blind treatment of ones friends that make the center theme of the movie hard to sallow. If the titular character really wanted to save his soul from the damage of killing people has taken, it is probably best to start with being a good friend than to kill hundreds of bad guys to save one girl. Would he have done the same if it were his buddy?
Dudes must start building up their friends rather then tearing down and demoralizing. If we can start there maybe hope is not lost for our collective souls.
My friends are not expendable!!!
So true dude. Major deflecting by these guys. Then again, they're lifestyle is NOT conducive to moralizing. Just as any group of soldiers from any Word War, or army. But I will point out a few things:
ReplyDeleteStallone's character didn't kill Doph's character
-Jet li and Dolph made up in the end
-Wrestler dude and Jason's character encouraged Dolph's character at the end to stop the druggege
-Jet Li and Jason's character offered to help out Stallone's character to go to the island in the first place.
-Stallone and Jason's character talked, even though in jest, there was some seriousness about how hard it is to have a relationship in their line of work
- Mickey Rourke's character talked deeply to Stallone about his 'lost' chance for redemption when he didn't save that girl from jumping off the bridge. (for me the anchor to the entire flick, because it spoke to how far a man goes before he feels that redemption is lost to him).
I do think that these characters would protect each others back... but in the end, these guys are a buncha merceneries, out to get money. As Stallone's character said at the beginning .. in the end their line of work will get to them.
What I find sad is that we don't have the excuse to have the baggage that the 'Expendables' do have. We have no excuse in the perspective of these characters for NOT being real.
These guys are trying to gain back their humanity by doing a 'good mission' as it were. While we have the humanity, we haven't lost ourselves in warfare, and killing, yet we sometimes loose sight of what should be important when we have no excuses for it.