海角大神

聽unites the retro action stars of previous installments 鈥� Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dolph Lundgren, and so on 鈥� with such fellow old-timers as Wesley Snipes, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, and Antonio Banderas. However, in a self-admitted bid to keep up with the times 鈥� an age where younger, finely-chiseled, superheroes聽聽鈥� this new聽Expendables聽installment will be rated PG-13, according to co-writer/lead Stallone. This comes after聽Stallone and Schwarzenegger鈥檚 recent non-Expendables聽vehicles (Bullet to the Head,Grudge Match,听Sabotage) were by and large ignored at the box office, while their team-up聽Escape Plan聽was an overseas hit, yet all but flopped here in the States.

The simple truth is that neither of them are big draws for their name alone anymore 鈥� though, it鈥檚 a different story when brand appeal comes into play.聽The first two聽Expendables聽movies were pretty lucrative, having grossed more than half a billion worldwide combined.聽

While promoting this next聽Expendables聽installment (via聽Deadline), Stallone explained how the decision to go PG-13 was based on the same logic:

鈥淲e want to reach as many people as possible. It鈥檚 very close to an R, believe me, it鈥檚 right there. But I think we owe it to the next generation. We thought we鈥檇 join that club for a while.鈥�

You might recall that, two years ago, there was some back and forth in public, where it concerned the rating for聽Expendables 2; that was聽before the film ultimately landed an R for graphic violence 鈥� not bad language,听. Make of that what you will.

In truth, by today鈥檚 standards, the聽Expendables聽sequel 鈥� and, to a lesser degree, its predecessor 鈥� was close to PG-13 anyway. It was the bloodshed (which, in no small amount, was digitally-rendered) that pushed that movie beyond the gunfire and killings in stuff like the聽Dark Knight聽trilogy and recent James Bond films.聽Having said that, there was previously reason to think thatExpendables 3聽might up the ante, in terms of the rawness of the action. After all, the film was co-written by Katrin Benedikt and Creighton Rothenberger, who also penned the violent (with the occasional brutal piece of killing) throwback action/thriller聽; not to mention, the director this round was Patrick Hughes, who broke out making the R-Rated neo-Western聽Red Hill, back in 2010.

Stallone commented on the tone for聽Expendables 3:

鈥淲ith the first one, I didn鈥檛 know which direction to go. It was experimental, more dramatic and heavier. In the second one, I think we went too far in the comedy and one liners. [For the third film] I realized we should get back to being more dramatic. When men and women know each other, there鈥檚 a kind of human comedy, not jokes, but when the action starts I don鈥檛 like to do jokes. So, I believe we finally got it right on the third one. It鈥檚 kind of like marriage.鈥�

Expendables 3, it seems,听will be lighter on the cheekiness than its predecessor, which at times boarded on being a really violent聽Hot Shots!聽film, more than anything (case in point: it featured Chuck Norris making a Chuck Norris joke and Bruce Willis stealing Arnold鈥檚 classic one-liner).

There鈥檚 something a tad ironic about how, in an age where rebooted properties such as聽聽are going darker than past live-action installments, the veterans of gung ho 1980s and 鈥�90s shoot-em-up cinema are going relatively 鈥渟ofter鈥� than before. C鈥檈st la vie, it seems.

Sandy Schaefer blogs at .