The Expendables 4 (2022) Movie Review & Film Summary

The Expendables 4 (2022) Movie Review & Film Summary

Sylvester Stallone's Barney Ross and cohorts are headed back for more action in The Expendables 4, and here's what we know about it so far. It's a common saying, to the point of being a cliche, that they don't make them like they used to. In the case of action movies though, they really don't make them like they used to, assuming the "they" in question is Hollywood studios.

When conversations occur about the best action movies or action franchises of all time, all the usual suspects are from the 1980s or '90s. That's not to say that there haven't still been terrific action films made since then, but the kind of thematically unrestrained, brutally violent, sometimes wildly over-the-top blockbusters that populated those past decades aren't really much of a thing nowadays. That's exactly the problem Rocky franchise star Stallone's Expendables franchise was designed to solve.

Featuring a cast full of either famous action stars or real-life badasses, the first two Expendables movies brought R-rated, retro-themed thrills to the masses once again. Unfortunately, The Expendables 3 went PG-13 and lost much of that goodwill. Will The Expendables 4 save the day for fans? Here's what we know.

The Expendables 4 has actually been in some form of development since as far back as 2014, the year when Expendables 3 released to theaters. By 2017 though, Sylvester Stallone had reached a creative impasse with studio Lionsgate and left the project, taking several of his friends and co-stars with him. Thankfully, Stallone returned in 2018, but things have still been slow-going in the years since, with several stops and starts occurring. In April 2021, cast member Randy Couture revealed The Expendables 4 is still on, with a new version of the script being written, and tentative plans to start filming in fall 2021. That plan held true, as filming ultimately wrapped in mid-October 2021, punctuated by an emotional video shared by Stallone.

The Expendables 4 has no firm release date as of this writing, but with production now wrapped, its arrival in theaters shouldn't be too far off in the grand scheme. Producers previously teased in 2020 that a 2022 release might be possible, which seems logical, as post-production will surely be completed by then. As for when exactly that 2022 release will happen, August seems a good bet, as all prior Expendables movies have been released in August.

The prior Expendables actors confirmed to return for Expendables 4 so far are Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, and Randy Couture. Some new famous faces are also coming aboard for Expendables 4, including Transformers franchise veteran Megan Fox, rapper/actor Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, and Thai martial arts legend Tony Jaa. Perhaps the most interesting new addition is The Raid's Iko Uwais, who's set to play the primary villain. One person who it seems definitely won't be appearing is Terry Crews. He declined to return after Avi Lerner, a producer on the franchise, demanded he drop sexual assault allegations he had made against Hollywood agent Adam Venit. Jean-Claude Van Damme has also publicly pitched the idea of playing the his Expendables 2 villain Jean Vilain's twin brother.