Action junkies, take heed, your painful summer of withdrawal comes to an end with a sweet infusion of glorious violence and mayhem. I am pleased to report that the old school still has the goods. Stallone and crew deliver a hard-hitting, unrepentant action extravaganza. A fellow critic cohort called The Expendables the 'anti-Sex & The City' as we walked out of the theater. He's pretty much nailed it. This is a testosterone fueled kick for the true fans, the purists, the connoisseurs who expect to see the legends of action rack up a serious body count. Anything less would have been damned disappointing and Stallone knows this.

What's great about the plot is how incredibly generic it is. This story could have have been played out in the 70's, 80's, or 90's with anyone of these stars as the lead. Seriously, this is like action flick 101 in film school. Stallone stars as Barney Ross, leader of a mercenary/biker gang called The Expendables. They'll take any job if the money's good. And when they're not kicking ass and killing hundreds of people, they relax in their headquarters/tattoo parlor run by ex-member, Tool (Mickey Rourke). But all is not well with the crew as inner tensions heat up, especially between Gunner (Dolph Lundgren) and Yang (Jet Li). Turmoil may be their undoing as they face their toughest mission yet, liberating a small island from a despotic general (David Zayas) and his evil CIA boss (Eric Roberts).

While not everyone has long speaking roles, the characters are clearly defined and each have their moment in the sun. This could have been horribly done when considering how many heavy hitters are involved, but David Callaham's script uses the team dynamic as the driving force between character interaction. I was particularly surprised with how Dolph Lundgren and Mickey Rourke were used to show the downside of the mercenary lifestyle. It does add a human element and enhances the chemistry of the group. You would think that someone in this film would be a larger onscreen presence, but the real achievement in The Expendables is that it doesn't happen. Who would have thought that these juggernauts of action could play the bit parts so well.

The Expendables does have it's share of cameos, which are no great secret anymore so I don't mind sharing a minor spoiler. The great action summit of Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone, and Arnold Schwarzenegger is actually funny and clever. Once again, this could have been a ludicrous, cheesy scene but plays out rather well. I think fans will be cheering instead of groaning. These actors have known each other for years, so I'm sure they were aware of how vital it was to pull this scene off for the entire film to be taken seriously.

The Expendables drips with machismo. It's a big, loud, and bloody romp that makes no pretense. Your favorite action stars of yesterday and today killing loads of bad guys with gusto. This isn't a family friendly CGI cartoon or the romantic comedy to take a first date...unless your date enjoys watching heads getting blown off by armor piercing rounds.