Mercenaries (2014)

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

When the President's daughter travels to Kazakhstan and then gets kidnapped by the evil Ulrika (Nielsen) and her henchman Gregori (Abell), a government agent named Mona (Rothrock) does the only logical thing - she assembles a team of female prisoners (with pasts appropriate to this task, of course). Led by Cassandra Clay (Bell), the other team members include Raven (Fox), Kat (Loken), and Mei-Lin (Bilderback). Armed to the teeth and with nothing to lose, the ladies embark on the deadly mission, facing everything from sexism to RPG's along the way. Will they come out victorious? Will they rescue the President's daughter? What will happen to the baddies when they face the MERCENARIES? In the grand tradition of Hell Squad (1986), Sweet Justice (1992), and Mankillers (1987), Mercenaries is the latest in the lineage of low-budget DTV "assemble a female team" movies. While the brief seems to have been "create a DTV, all-female Expendables", the end result is more in line with the three films mentioned above. Not that that's such a bad thing, of course. But Mercenaries is just a bit too silly for its own good. If they could have dialed down some of the more inane and/or sophomoric elements just a tad, and taken the whole project slightly more seriously, we might have more of a winner here.Top marks go to our new hero Zoe Bell, arguably the best part of the movie. While the other Mercenaries were off experiencing the time-honored Prerequisite Torture, Bell goes off on her own, and we appreciated that. We hope to see more of her in front of the camera (for those who don't know, she's an experienced stuntwoman). Overall, though, it seems the filmmakers were going for a bit of a lark - a reasonably pleasant piece of entertainment you don't have to think about too hard (or at all). But where's the line between that and something that's just really dumb? Mercenaries certainly defines that line.Sure, it has some of those needless, modern-day editing tricks, and the production values are very cheap-looking (as befitting of The Asylum production company), and the green screen/CGI quotient is unhealthy, but on the brighter side it has some classic 80's/90's style clichés - the wacky transportation driver, "It's an election year", and some un-PC dialogue (mostly centered around Mei-Lin). The comic-booky vibe is sledgehammered in with some interstitial cuts to comic book frames, an editing device pretty much universally frowned-upon when it came to that new cut of The Warriors (1979). Why Mercenaries chose to do it remains an open question.There is plenty of groan-inducing dialogue as well, and top fan favorite Cynthia Rothrock has only one, all-too-brief fight scene. All the ladies, generally speaking, acquit themselves well, which is why we wished the overall product had more weight and heft to it, instead of being the aforementioned lark. It's easy viewing, to be sure, and we like the tradition it falls in, so we're willing to cut it some slack. But the silliness/dumbness factor reaches ??? proportions, so it's kind of a wash.In the end, Mercenaries is a well-meaning trifle, buoyed by Zoe Bell and her cohorts. We personally would have liked some more grit, however.

A truly horrible knockoff of The A-Team on Premarin. A terrible plan, with no hope of success, badly executed. On their own the actresses might have pulled it off... as in faintly interesting with enough alcohol - but with no direction over no plot where is the hope. Try this with some suicidal pals - every body gets in a double wide garage with AK-47's and fires 700 rounds each - at each other - OK? Ha Ha I fooled ya - it's the A-Team on Midol!!! No one gets hit - not even grazed! Cause after all they're all 8 feet apart!! Ha Ha can't hit a standing target!! Fox takes a hostage 4 feet from Clay and escapes - hello - shoot her in the brain stem all gone! Once again a movie not worth a review but cheaper than therapy...

This movie is call Mercenaries, but the version i have is really call Expendabelles 3.0. Basically this continue the tradition of THE ASYLUM of copying stuff if i can say, even tough the real Expendabelles is not even out(or will it ever be?) But truth is, this was actually pretty fun. Sure the scenario is really over the top cartoonish, and in no way believable, but i actually enjoyed the action, following those girls around and so on. Got to see it as somewhat of a comic book movie or something.Bridgette Neilson do her job fine as the villain, Zoe Bell is pretty good as the main heroine. I knew this girl could be believable in those kind of roles. She is a former stunt woman and her acting is actually pretty good, surprisingly. Looking at her on screen make you believe she is indeed a tough chick. Kristanna Loken got this super sexy look but combine with a tough chick side as well, i loved her character. Actually i enjoyed pretty much all "main characters" in the movie.My only grip is i was hoping for more Cynthia Rothrock, yeah well i got the movie because her name was in it, mostly, been a fan for years, and she do her job fine, but i wish her part would had more action even tough i knew she was not part of the main cast. Also at some point there is way too much slowmo while Zoe fight, which i would had like to see more in real time, more brutal if i can say.But overall considering its a cheap low budget action movie, im pretty surprise at what they did, and never was i bored, i had fun, its cheese to the max, its pop corn sure, but its fun. Take it for what it is and you will have a good time.Some may ask why a 7? Well because i don't rate on movie quality and budget, i rate on how much a good time i had, if a movie entertain me, and i had a good time watching it, its a 7. If its really awesome and i want to watch it multiple time, its a 9. I give 4 or below to only movies i was bored and i tough where bad, and no i don't gives below 4 unless i really hate the movie. So yeah, this got a 7 because i enjoyed watching it.

I watched Mercenaries just because of Cynthia Rothrock and has always been my favorite martial artist, but her acting could improve. Okay improve A lot! That is the sole reason I gave this a 6. Although she really didn't have a good action role in this film, so let me change to a 5.I have always loved cheesy. Who doesn't like cheesy movies like Howard the Duck? No reason you do, you just do! There was a lot of terrible acting in this movie but who didn't think that when they saw it? My advice is watch is or don't, but don't go into it like you would a 'serious' movie. If you are bored, watch it. If not pick something else, or better yet. GO READ!