The Expendables 4 ★★½

THE highlight of the fourth film in The Expendables franchise is a motorcycle chase on a container ship.

That is something I haven’t seen before, as opposed to 99 percent of The Expendables 4 which repeats story and elements of not just the last three films but most action movies ever made.

The first act of the latest instalment is decent, with a well-staged action sequence in the Libyan desert and some entertaining moments of banter between the main characters played by Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren and Megan Fox.

But things become standard pretty quickly and elements of the story will annoy some viewers immensely.

Scott Waugh’s direction of the key action moments does not help. When you have the likes of great martial arts exponents like Tony Jaa and Iko Uwais at your disposal you really should make sure to move the camera back a little and let them shine.