Jason Statham and Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables 4 gets a strong R-rating following the disappointing PG-13 rated third installment.
The Expendables 4, aka Expend4bles, could be the bloodiest installment of the entire franchise.
Per JoBlo.com, the fourth go-around of Sylvester Stallone’s aging action hero franchise has landed a hard R-rating by the MPAA “for strong/bloody violence throughout, language and sexual material.” This marks a return to form for the Expendables franchise as the initial two installments were rated R for heavy violence. 2014’s The Expendables 3, however, had a PG-13 rating that divided fans of the previous movies and played a part in its box office disappointment.
The biggest appeal of The Expendables franchise was the combination of ’80s and ’90s action stars coming together in a glorified love letter to the action movie genre. 2010’s The Expendables brought together Stallone alongside action veterans Jason Statham and Jet Li with legends such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis making cameo appearances. 2012’s The Expendables 2 increased the amount of star power on screen with Chuck Norris as a new member of the team and Jean-Claude Van Damme as the villain. When The Expendables 3 came along, Stallone and the movie’s producers wanted to broaden the audience to teens by watering down the relentless violence, a decision that Stallone now regrets.
“I believe it was a horrible miscalculation on everyone’s part in trying to reach a wider audience, but in doing such, diminish the violence that the audience expects. I’m quite certain it won’t happen again,” Stallone said. “This is a big conflict for me because in an R-rated film it is difficult to believe that none of the heroes die. I personally just believe that the characters become identifiable and their demise could put a dark cloud over an audience exiting the theater after seeing the film. But that may change in Expendables 4.”
Expend4bles Passes the Torch to Jason Statham
With Expendables 4 being Stallone’s final appearance in the series, the actor passes the torch to Statham’s Lee Christmas who must lead the team on a mission to stop Suarto (Iko Uwais) from smuggling nukes. Franchise veterans Dolph Lundgren and Randy Couture reprise their roles from the past three installments. New additions to the cast include Megan Fox, 50 Cent, Tony Jaa, Jacob Scipio and Andy Garcia. One star not returning this time around is Schwarzenegger who passed on playing Stallone’s pal Trench from the previous movies. “I said, ‘You know what, we have done this and I’m out of it.’ And he really understood,” Schwarzenegger explained.