When he arrives on the rural Louisiana farm of Louis Sweetzer, the Reverend Cotton Marcus expects to perform just another routine “exorcism” on a disturbed religious fanatic. An earnest fundamentalist, Sweetzer has contacted the charismatic preacher as a last resort, certain his teenage daughter Nell is possessed by a demon who must be exorcized before their terrifying ordeal ends in unimaginable tragedy.

Buckling under the weight of his conscience after years of parting desperate believers with their money, Cotton and his crew plan to film a confessionary documentary of this, his last exorcism. But upon arriving at the already blood drenched family farm, it is soon clear that nothing could have prepared him for the true evil he encounters there. Now, too late to turn back, Reverend Marcus’ own beliefs are shaken to the core when he and his crew must find a way to save Nell – and themselves – before it is too late.

Other Information

• Starring: Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Iris Bahr, Louis Herthum, Caleb Landry Jones
• Directed by: Daniel Stamm
• Produced by: Ron Halpern, Huck Botko, Andrew Gurland
• Genres: Drama and Suspense/Horror
• Running Time: 1 hr. 30 min.
• Release Date: August 27th, 2010 (wide)
• MPAA Rating: PG-13 for disturbing violent content and terror, some sexual references and thematic material.
• Distributors: Lionsgate
• U.S. Box Office: $20,366,613

Sylvester Stallone and his cast of fellow action stars flex substantial ensemble muscle in this high-energy battle between good mercenaries and bad mercenaries.

An effective mix of lean and over-the-top, “The Expendables” is often preposterous, but it achieves the immediacy of a graphic novel without the overdone mythology. Genre fans for whom there’s no such thing as overkill will make it a fearsome contender at the box office when it opens stateside August 13. The director/star’s newest since “Rambo” is also sure to be a muscular performer in international markets.

Even when they’re going for the obvious laugh or comeuppance, Stallone and his co-writer, David Callaham, use deft shorthand to etch their characters in bold outline, and the actors put their well-defined personas to work to complete the process. A group of freelance warriors who have lost their connection to righteous causes in favor of almighty cash, the Expendables may be hardened, but they’re not yet inhuman.

Leader Barney (Stallone) regards friends and enemies alike with a sad gaze (beneath strangely distracting eyebrows). Knife whiz Lee Christmas (Jason Statham) is man enough not to hide his hurt over a busted relationship, while combat expert Ying Yang (Jet Li) is angling for a raise. In smaller roles, Terry Crews and his biceps handle the operation’s biggest weapons, and Mixed Martial Arts star Randy Couture explains things, like his cauliflower ear, in fine scientific detail.

After the high-body-count rescue that opens the film, Barney chooses to cut loose sniper Gunner (Dolph Lundgren), believing his (unseen) drug use and high volatility make him untrustworthy – a conviction that’s soon validated when Barney and Gunner are on opposite sides in a clobbering car chase. Although a couple of women figure in the story, its true subject is the ties, broken and otherwise, in this brotherhood of latter-day samurais. In the film’s most nuanced scene, Mickey Rourke, ultra-charismatic as the ex-Expendable whose tattoo parlor serves as HQ and clubhouse, recalls the moment in Bosnia when he knew his soul had dried up.

The mission that wakens Barney’s dormant compassion involves the fictional South American island country of Vilena, where a former CIA operative, Munroe, pulls the puppet strings of dictator Gen. Garza (David Zayas, of “Dexter”). As the icy evil-in-a-suit rogue Munroe, you couldn’t do much better than Eric Roberts.

Determining that if they take out the general they’d be sacrificing themselves to save the CIA embarrassing headlines, Barney and his boys turn down the assignment. But then he meets the general’s beautiful rebel daughter, Sandra (newcomer Giselle Iti, suitably fiery), and for the first time in years, money isn’t everything.

Americans are both heroes and villains in “The Expendables,” which avoids political specifics while embracing brute force as righteous retribution – and shows the bad guys resorting to waterboarding. It can be an uneasy mix, but mostly it’s played on too broad a scale to take seriously. DP Jeffrey Kimball frames the action for kinetic impact and velocity. The extended fight scenes deliver the easy catharsis of straight-up violence, all with a comic-book sense of pow and splat.

The winking boys-will-be-boys quality is at its most blatant in a scene containing uncredited cameos by Bruce Willis and the moonlighting Governator. (Outside the film’s Los Angeles premiere, California state workers protested their pay cuts by Arnold Schwarzenegger; most action-film fans will probably delight in the scene’s self-consciously starry chemistry, and its punchline.)

Production designer Franco-Giacomo Carbone’s evocative sets and locations (in Los Angeles, Louisiana and with Brazil playing Vilena) enhance the body blows and the camaraderie. Even with action writ large, though, Brian Tyler’s score too often reaches for bombast.

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A notorious group of criminals continue to baffle police by pulling off perfectly executed bank robberies.

They are in and out like clockwork, leaving no evidence behind and laying low in between heists. But when they attempt to pull off one last job with more money at stake than ever before, the crew may find their plans interrupted by a hardened detective who is hell-bent on solving the case.

Other Information

• Starring: Michael Ealy, Gaius Charles, Matt Dillon, Paul Walker, Idris Elba
• Directed by: John Luessenhop
• Produced by: Glenn Gainor, Gabriel Casseus, Chris Brown
• Genres: Action/Adventure and Crime/Gangster
• Release Date: August 27th, 2010 (wide)
• MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, a sexual situation/partial nudity and some language.
• Distributors: Screen Gems