Plot
A group of elite mercenaries based in New Orleans, Louisiana called The Expendables deploy to the Gulf of Aden to save hostages whose vessel has been seized by Somali pirates. The team consists of leader Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), former British SAS soldier and blade specialist Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), martial artist Yin Yang (Jet Li), sniper Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), weapons specialist Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) and demolitions expert Toll Road (Randy Couture). Before the team can form a plan of attack, Jensen instigates a firefight, causing casualties for the pirates. Jensen then tries to hang a pirate, against Ross' orders. When Yang tries to stop Jensen, Gunner threatens Ying's life, requiring Ross to subdue Jensen. Though the team manages to rescue the hostages, Ross later discharges Jensen from the team due to his psychological problems and drug use.
Upon returning home, Christmas is upset to discover his girlfriend Lacy (Charisma Carpenter) has left him for another man, because he was not forthcoming about his line of work. Ross and rival mercenary leader Trench Mauser (Arnold Schwarzenegger) are summoned a client calling himself "Mr. Church" (Bruce Willis) (so named after their meeting venue) for a mission. A busy Trench passes the contract to Ross, which is to overthrow dictator General Garza (David Zayas) in Vilena, an island in the Gulf of Mexico. Ross and Christmas fly to Vilena for initial undercover reconnaissance and meet their contact, Sandra (Gisele Itié), but are discovered. It is then revealed that ex-CIA officer James Munroe (Eric Roberts), with his henchmen Paine (Steve Austin) and The Brit (Gary Daniels), are keeping Garza in power as a figurehead for their own profiteering operations, while Sandra is revealed to be Garza's daughter. Ross aborts and causes casualties among the army as they escape, but Sandra refuses to leave Vilena and let her people suffer. Meanwhile, a vengeful Jensen approaches Munroe to help and Garza is angered further when Sandra is captured by Munroe, who has her waterboarded for information.
After discovering that Lacy has been physically battered by her new boyfriend, Christmas beats him and his friends, then takes her home, having revealed his work. Ross and the group discover that Mr. Church is a CIA operative and the real target is Munroe, who has gone rogue and joined forces with Garza to keep the drug money that funds the CIA to himself, resulting in profit losses for the CIA, but the CIA cannot afford a mission to kill one of their own directly because of bad publicity. Ross meets Expendables mission coordinator Tool (Mickey Rourke) to express his feelings. Tool makes an emotional confession about letting a woman commit suicide during the Bosnian War, instead of finding redemption by saving her. Ross is then motivated to go back for Sandra alone, but Yang accompanies him. Jensen and hired men pursue them on the road, ending in an abandoned warehouse, where Yang and Jensen fight a second time. Jensen attempts to impale Yang on a pipe, but Ross shoots him. A wounded Jensen makes amends and gives the layout of Garza's palace. Ross boards the plane with Yang and finds the rest of the team, ready to aid him.
The team infiltrate Garza's compound. Thinking Munroe hired the Expendables to kill him, Garza has his soldiers' faces painted, preparing them for a fight. Christmas, Yang, Caesar, and Toll plant explosives throughout the site but Ross, while saving Sandra, is captured by the Brit and Paine. The team save him and kill the Brit, but are pinned down by Garza's men as Paine wrestles Ross. Caesar fights back with his AA-12 shotgun so Paine escapes. Garza finally stands up to Munroe, ordering him out and returning his money. Instead, as Garza rallies his men against the Expendables and Munroe that he believes to be the same, Munroe kills him and takes off with Paine and Sandra. Garza's men open fire in rage against the team, who fight their way through, detonating the explosives, demolishing the palace and destroying the compound. Toll kills Paine by burning him alive while Ross and Caesar manage to destroy a helicopter before Munroe can escape. Ross and Christmas catch up to Munroe, killing him and saving Sandra. Later, Ross gifts the mission payment to Sandra to restore Vilena.
The team travels back home and celebrate at Tool's tattoo parlor, with the recovering and redeemed Jensen. Christmas and Tool have a game of knife throwing and Christmas recites a limerick about Tool, then throws a bullseye from the street.
Read more about this topic: The Expendables (2010 Film)
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