I took out Badass Decay because the trope is about characters and not "meta perspective" stuff; saying the trope applies to Jet Li is basically saying he has suffered Badass Decay himself. Having just seen the movie I'll admit that it was disappointing that Li didn't get as memorable a moment as most everyone else, but he wasn't utterly helpless either. The only time Yang needed help against Gunnar was that final impaling threat but he handled the Brit almost entirely on his own, Lee just helped with the finish.
- Badass Decay: Jet Li from a meta perspective. He doesn't win a single fight against a main character without assistance in the entire film.
- An Asian man overshadowing a bunch of gun-toting westerners in an American-made action film? Ha ha ha ha.
- What I found hilarious was that everytime he fought, he was kicking the other dudes ass. The other would just get a lucky hit towards the end of the fight.
- Your Mileage May Vary: It often gets lost that Dolph Lundgren has a black belt in Kyokushin Karate and was European Champion twice. Couple that with the fact that he is is 6'5" and about 260 pounds and is in pretty good shape, and that's not such a stretch to think he could hold his own with Jet Li.
- Fortunately, this is Jet Li we're talking about. Even with the purported Decay, he is still very, very Bad Ass.
- An Asian man overshadowing a bunch of gun-toting westerners in an American-made action film? Ha ha ha ha.
- the trope is about characters and not "meta perspective" stuff
I personally think that still applies. Oh, and when I saw the deletion in the history, there was no discussion, so I restored it. Don't start a war. Let's see what the general consensus is.
Edited by Darkmane Tyler Durden is my bitch.
I think it's warranted. Jet Li has headlined so many action movies he's turned into the quintessential "untouchable badass martial artist" in the minds of many, so it's easy to see why seeing him not win a single fight might be a little jarring to some people.
As long as "from a meta perspective" is in the description, I don't think it should be removed.
The biggest argument I can think of against it is that Rambo would never have taken as big a beating as Barney did (he took the most punishment of anyone, caused by Payne, short of being killed) but isn't there any argument concerning him suffering Badass Decay. The trope is about how when a character appears more often the less dangerous they become, it's Character Development/Character Derailment and it can't happen in the first installment. Terms like "Meta" are often a word that says "I am redefining the trope so that it fits the definition I want it to." and that is what has happened here. That line of thinking says that if Jet Li shows any sign of weakness then it is badass decay, because we all know he is an "untouchable badass martial artist."
I certainly understand the line of thinking and I think it is a perfectly valid observation, but I'm saying it's coming up with the wrong trope. What makes it jarring isn't that he nearly lost a fight but that he didn't get a personal, distinctive CMOA like everyone else (Gunnar's "warning shot," Barney and Lee's escape from the island, Caesar's shotgun and Toll's "flaming punch"). Because of that Missed Moment of Awesome is far more accurate and is less likely to cause an argument like the section that I took out.
It's interesting to note that almost all of the non-mook hand-to-hand fights in the movie are only won when two of the Expendables team up to fight their opponent; when they're by themselves they usually, at best, draw even. The only fight in the entire movie where an Expendable beats named villain hand-to-hand it Road's brawl with The Dragon, and even that one was indirectly supported by having said dragon end up getting set on fire by the explosives that had set the channel of fuel on fire.
"In distress", my ass.
Regarding Mr Church: Obviously his name was inspired by where the meeting was taking place, but does anyone else think it may also be a reference to the Church Committee that took a bite out of the CIA's ability to engage in covert action (like, say, toppling dictatorships) in the mid-70s?
Or is that too deep for a Stuff Blowing Up movie? :P
Edited by Nohbody All your safe space are belong to Trump
Has anyone seen the new photoshop contest on cracked.com? Entry #1 totally needs to be the page image either here or on Troperiffic.
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Um, it hasn't been released yet, buddy. Wait for August 13th.
Tyler Durden is my bitch.
I don't think we have to wait at all. Yes, it's worth seeing. With all these guys, I'd probably go see it even if Uwe Boll directed. The only way this can suck is if it's the biggest turd of the millenium. Nobody's going to see this for dramatic thespianism, depth of the scenario or intricate characterisation. We get to see our childhood heroes kill truckloads of bad guys and blow shit up while cracking one-liners.
I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me.
Maybe it was a good thing that Chuck Norris doesn't appear in this movie. That could have pushed the awesome level beyond that a normal human could survive.
Fear me
Am I the only one to think that Caesar's "I love this gun" scene is a Shout-Out to the Meet the Heavy video? I swear I kept expecting him to say "boolet".
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Aside from both of them featuring someone gushing over a gun, I don't see much in common.
Just curious, how is it known that Sandra's an Interpol agent? I didn't see anything referring to that in the movie, so I think I may have missed something.
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Popped up in The Other Wiki. It has since then been changed over there as well.
Tyler Durden is my bitch.
Question: why is what Statham did to his ex-girlfriend's abusive boyfriend Disproportionate Retribution? The bastard punched her in the face. Statham didn't even kill the guy, he just roughed him up and told he'd come back if he did it again. Am I being unreasonable thinking he deserved it?
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Why are we using a picture with IGN's logo? They don't own the image. No credit towards them is needed.