The Expend-abilia-buddies.

So i recently saw "The Expendables". WARNING: SOME PLOT SPOILERS FOLLOW. i'm not really reviewing the movie, i just thought about a few things as i was watching this movie. most paramount was how dark it was. i dont mean its themes and acting, i mean its pitch black. 95% of the movie happeneds at night. now i get that when taking down warlords and dictators, one needs the cover of darkness to heighten the element of suprise, but seriously, dark passages and moonlit battles are for batman movies, and the blair witch project (or, for the younger readers, Paranormal Activity, (same basic concept)), not the "biggest" action movie of the summer. i say biggest b/c it was touted as the most ridiculous grouping of action stars....ever. which i get. the problem with packing all those action stars into one movie, is that it becomes 95% action, and 5% hot chick. the story line was pretty lame, predictable, and completely un-cerebral. not that i expected a mind melting chris nolan experience, but cmon, rocky was exciting, and a great storyline. (til rocky 3). neways, there were 2 gems in this movie that i think really give hope to Sylvester Stallone. not the actor (seriously, i can't understand a word you're saying!), but Stallone the movie maker. the 1st is stallone makes a reference, in a scene with bruce "Die Hard: willis and Arnold "Terminator" Schwarzenegger. Basically, willis is a shady CIA agent, posing as a potential employer, and Stallone and Schwarzenegger both show up for a possible job, both as leaders of assassination teams. Terminator hears the proposition, laughs and says he has better things to do. the interesting thing is that, as he turns to leave, pushes the doors open and is basked in the sunlight, willis asks "what's his problem?", stallone replies: "He wants to be president." now of course he is commenting on the current political situation that the Govenator is in. but in the bigger picture, stallone is taking a political position with a movie. he takes another, but i'll get into that in a minute. is he backing the Austian? its hard to tell. his sarcastic tone reading of the line says no, but the comment in and of itself says yes. he's positing a future where he is president, planting the seed in the American consciousness. an interesting theory, but only time will tell whether or not he takes a more definitive stance. the other interesting thing that happens in the movie is they water board the female lead to get information on why rocky and the transporter were in the little piss ant country at all. now, to my knowledge, this is the first time in a big league wide release movie that this has been shown in graphic detail. the scene isn't very long, probably 90 seconds at most. but its interesting that its in there at all. they could have beaten her, used a hot poker, or held up her prized havanese with a huge bowie knife. but stallone puts the torture method in the movie to vilify it. only bad guys do this sort of thi.....wait a minute.....Uncle sam does this too from time to time. he's saying its bad, he's saying he's against it. he's also saying everyone else in the movie is against it. which from my earlier comment means that the Govenator and possible future candidate to lead the free world is against it to. so is he saying he's a democrat (hollywood has a long blue history) but its unclear if he's actually taking a position. he's definitely saying its bad, and that he's very against it, so he's saying he's against the former methods of the military, but he's not saying he's pro anything. so it holds promise that in the future he moves away from action movies a little and towards more politically infused projects. but i guarantee they'll have a fight scene. i mean this guy burst on to the scene by writing and staring in a boxing movie. promising start sir. promising.