Expend4bles improved its action by not taking itself too seriously

There aren’t many action franchises like the Expendables movies.

Simply ask Expend4bles Director Scott Waugh. He calls the movies “escapism,” “tongue-in-cheek” fun where the action is tailored around one-liners. They’re loving throwbacks to an era of cheesier action movies, with stars just as capable of delivering a punchline as a vicious right hook.

“It feels like an amusement ride, right?” Waugh tells Polygon. “Like, you’re gonna go smile, you’re gonna laugh, you’re gonna watch some actors do some pretty badass stuff, and hopefully leave with some enjoyment.”

Waugh’s 2023 was a successful year. Josh Hartnett’s survival movie was his first film in six years. Miracle on the MountainBoth Expend4bles and Waugh’s Jackie Chan/John Cena action comedy Hidden Strike Both came out in less than two months. (Waugh told Polygon Hidden Strike It took seven years for the project to be completed. Waugh, a former stunt performer — brother of fellow stunt performer turned director Ric Roman Waugh and son of stunt performer Fred Waugh — now has his hands on one of the biggest action franchises in America.

The following are some of the ways to improve your own ability. Expend4blesWaugh has reunited the Jackie Chan Stunt Team and stunt coordinator Alan Ng who previously worked on his film. Hidden Strike. The reunion was a no-brainer for Waugh, who praised Ng’s “ingenuity and violence” when talking to Polygon. Jason Statham will be taking over from Sylvester Stallone in this installment of the series. He told Statham about their collaboration. Statham was “super excited” to work with the Jackie Chan Stunt Team, Waugh says. Ng’s team and the cast’s stellar skills make the movie’s action the best the franchise has seen yet.

“I wanted to change the hand-to-hand combat and knife fights so they’re different to the previous Expendables,” Ng says via email. “We tried to implement some Hong Kong style with the timing.”

Photos: Yana Blajeva/Lionsgate

Ng says he studied the cast’s previous work to tailor the action’s fighting styles to their individual strengths. Expend4bles villain Suarto Rahmat (Iko Uwais) uses spiked tonfa weapons to play into Uwais’ speed and agility, while Megan Fox’s fluid choreography takes her dance background into account.

The secret weapon is back in action Expend4blesWaugh has grown up in the world of motocross. It was his love of racing that led him to direct 2014’s crime film. Need for SpeedThe influence of. was direct Expend4bles’ best action scene.

When Statham’s character, Lee Christmas (Lee! Christmas!He has to move fast and cover a large area on the cargo ship. There are a number of enemies blocking his way. In one of his most epic Expendables moments, he stumbles upon a motorcycle and rides it up the stairs, down narrow hallways, over people, etc.

Waugh explains that the close quarters made it difficult to shoot this sequence. The team considered shooting on a real ship (“We talked about it for quite some time”), but settled on using a set.

“It was challenging to figure out how to navigate all of those spaces in there and find ways to elevate, climb up stairs,” Waugh says.

Image: Brigade Publicity

But it wasn’t enough for Waugh to have a scene with a motorcycle driving on staircases and taking out bad guys in tight hallways. It was not enough for Waugh to have a motorcycle driving up and down stairs, or taking out bad guys in narrow hallways.

“That was my first thing when we were talking about the sequence,” Waugh says. “They were originally just riding around [on the bikes used for shooting]I thought it was funny that you said, It’s not possible. We’ve got to put some guns on these things.”

Waugh says it took some “serious engineering” to add the guns to the bikes, but the team made it work. Waugh hired extra crew to help film the scene, which took about two weeks.

Most of the motorcycle riding was done by Statham, who Waugh says is “a skilled rider.” But for the scene’s final jump and explosive finish, Waugh called in X Games gold medalist and motorbike stunt performer Robbie Maddison. Waugh had to do multiple takes of the big jump because it was so high.

“The last one he did for me, he did it five times,” Waugh says. “I came up to Robbie and I said, ‘Hey, bud, I need you. Could you please do me a favor? You need to get even inverted and try harder to make it wick. Because I want those guns pointed straight down.’ He looked up at me, and he smiled. He goes, ‘All right, brother, I’ll try one more.’ And that’s the one that’s in the movie. It was almost a disaster. It was saved. He had to over-rev to bring it back, and he saved it, and he was like, ‘Yeah, I think that’s about it.’

“It should just make you smile, because it’s kind of silly in its own respect,” Waugh says. “We don’t take ourselves that seriously. We’re having fun, and you’re gonna, too.”

Expend4blesNow in cinemas.