Jan 27, 2012

A Plea To EX2 Patrons

A few days ago when I pleaded for First Blood being a good movie even if it was rated PG-13 in today's standards, I thought it'd be my last post on the PG-13 issue and things would get better, some producer or Stallone would come out and say something nice to appease fans, people would be pumped up again to look forward to EX2 even PG-13 and so on, well I'm an optimist, even in my day-to-day life.

But the recent events and comments made by Crews forced me out of my optimism and I felt obliged to react to comments that fans, my friends and I did not find fair towards those who truly supported the first movie and carried it financially to become the franchise it is today. React to the silence of EX producers, Stallone and the cast, for not saying: we appreciate you, you the true fans who made all this possible, after all if it wasn't for your support on the first movie, we wouldn't have a business case to release $100M to make a sequel, we couldn't get Norris, we couldn't get Van Damme who didn't want in the first movie because he thought it'd be a flop. We couldn't afford $1.5M to Schwarzenegger to film his 5 days or convince Willis to have a more substantial role. We couldn't afford the extra expenses to shoot in China just to accommodate Li because he didn't want to do the movie outside his home country. We heard you, rest assured we'll do our best to make EX2 the movie you have waited on for nearly three decades, we won't let you down.

But all we heard was from Crews desperately trying to defend the movie going as far as bringing up movies like Inception and The Dark Knight, what are we supposed to think, did we go to see EX for the same reasons we would go to see Inception, this is what they think? Are they missing the point so badly? Do they know who we are and why we have been carrying the EX franchise and looked forward to even a third movie? Do they understand that we grew up with Rambo, Terminator, Die Hard and Bloodsport? Do they think we are just crying out for R because we are gore freaks and don't have the intellectual capacity to appreciate a good story? I don't know about you but I feel misunderstood here...

Sirs, don't let those who supported you down, do not forget the essence of The Expendables, do not let a generation of fans who stood by the heroes of this movie for more than a quarter of a century see their action idols ridiculed. We understand we live in an era of greed where money has the last word, but leave a tiny space to principles and dreams, HEAR US OUT before it's too late, although it might already be...

29 comments:

  1. Pathetic childish reaction as usual.

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  2. listen, this blog is for true EX fans, we are not making any money here, we are putting free time to maintain this blog for those fans who appreciate daily news and stories on EX2. You don't like our position on the recent PG-13 events, then go to some Walt Disney or Comic Book blog, you won't make a point by posting comments like this

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    1. If you cant take criticism then you're not fit to handle a blog. Again you came up with a childish reaction.

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  3. Now stop the talking about PG-13 its enough talking about this there no matter if this movie is PG-13 or not.......

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    1. Yeah I totaly agree with you, but some people just cant except that they wont get it their way.

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  4. Who cares If this movie PG-13 or no.........We want 2 see this movie in every way.......I dont care wheather this film is PG-13 or not......

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  5. Well said EX2B. I feel the same way. It's like getting kicked in the balls by your best friend when you weren't looking. The betrayal is palpable.

    Sly is damaging his own legacy, and sadly may put a nasty coda on the end of his career because he was consumed by greed.

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  6. Pg-13 is a Rubbish reason............

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  7. PG-13 is rubbish yes. I agree. No way it can be as good as TE1 with a PG-13.

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  8. If PG-13 case will continues in this movie & if they are not change it 2 R rated so the movie will release or not????My ques. is that..........

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  9. Honestly, while I agree with the "PG-13 misses the point of a throwback action movie" thing I think all the "PG-13 IS FOR GAY HOMOS WHO LIKE SUPERHERO MOVIES AND MY LITTLE PONY" comments from the community didn't exactly help us in the "getting taken seriously" department

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  10. That means the this movie will be release in every way????? Thats what I want............

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  11. Yes i would really like to know whats going on in the minds of the people who made this decision. And i'm sure Sly is one of them. They know we have waited this for almost 30 years some of us. They must know their biggest fan base is men over 20. They have no fan base in little kids. Only reason kids went to see EX1 is because it was an adult movie and rated R. If you take away all that R rated stuff then it becomes just another pg-13 movie and kids will go see something else than old men. So why are they making this to people that don't even care about them? The people that have supported them for all their careers. This is how much the real fan base means to you people huh?

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  12. oops..a little correction.. ''So why are they making this to people that don't even care about them? What about the people that have supported them for all their careers? This is how much the real fan base means to you people huh?''

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  13. It really is a great decision to alienate their biggest fan base because of 13-16 year old kids. You really think that's gonna make that big of a difference? You know if you would have made this properly, a lot of people would go see it more than once and say good things about it. Now they will probably go see it once and say it sucked. Just another PG-13. I'm so disappointed. How is that good for business? If you **** this up.. that's it for this franchise. It's over. The word of mouth on this movie is unbelievably bad. If they would have said we are making it a Hard R.. the hole freaking planet would be excited. Every action would piss their pants in excitement. It's like watching softcore porno. Sure there's tits and stuff, but the hole reason why you are watching it is missing.

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  14. But the recent events and comments made by Crews forced me out of my optimism and I felt obliged to react to comments that fans, my friends and I did not find fair towards those who truly supported the first movie and carried it financially to become the franchise it is today. React to the silence of EX producers, Stallone and the cast, for not saying: we appreciate you, you the true fans who made all this possible, after all if it wasn't for your support on the first movie, we wouldn't have a business case to release $100M to make a sequel, we couldn't get Norris, we couldn't get Van Damme who didn't want in the first movie because he thought it'd be a flop. We couldn't afford $1.5M to Schwarzenegger to film his 5 days or convince Willis to have a more substantial role. We couldn't afford the extra expenses to shoot in China just to accommodate Li because he didn't want to do the movie outside his home country. We heard you, rest assured we'll do our best to make EX2 the movie you have waited on for nearly three decades, we won't let you down.

    so,you knoow all this BUT you need someone to tell you that.
    correct me if im wrong but didnt stallone already come out and spoke his mind?? and after that van damme,and after that crews?? the thing is crews has less experience with fans so he took it more personally.i went to his facebook page and some of that stuff was very insulting,childish and pointless.
    i really dont know what else you expect them to say because is seems nothing can change your minds and those who are boycotting it are very clear in what they want.ill tell you this all this backclash seems to be killing another potential great stallone film bullet to the head.that trailer was supposed to be released 2 weeks ago and still nothing!!
    as for my personal opinion -im as big if not bigger fan then all of you here.i have spent million hours watching these guys films and yes i wanted a hardcore r rated action movie.i didnt get it with expendables two years ago(cgi blood,cgi knives and cgi exploding bodies didnt really do it for me) so im pretty sure i wont mind it now with ex 2 .my wish to see all these guys is bigger then few blood stains,and i can always go back and watch their older films for true real violence over fake one like the first expendables...
    also i think people are deluding themselves into thinking them and them only made this film a success.i saw expendables two times in cinema and it was always with usuall movie-going audience...it was maybe 50:50 ratio gross at the end...
    frankly,with this cast and much bigger action this time i think expendables 2 is going to be a slightly bigger hit(300-330 mill)

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  15. Yes, Sly spoke to AICN and said his peace. I doubt he'll say any more because he probably agrees the movie should be R but he's not going to say anything bad about Lionsgate. Do you actually think Lionsgate will come out and say "Yes, we made the decision to go for a PG-13 rating because we're greedy and think it will make more money that way"?.

    There appears to be quite a bit of entitlement here. "I'm mad at a decision a movie studio made. They need to give me an explanation or else". Really?

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  16. The sad thing is that so many people have waited to see all these guys together because of the carnage they each caused in their own films in the past. If they are not allowed to unrestricedly do the kind of action they did in their own movies, what's the point of them all being there? It's not just about how many names are on the sign, but what damage they are allowed to do in the film.

    For a different example, it would be like taking many famous comedy actors (i.e. Jack Benny, The Marx Brothers, The Wayans, Robin Williams, The Three Stooges, Jim Carrey, Bob Hope, etc.) and putting them in the same movie only to then announce that the movie will be a holocaust drama instead of a great comedy that would showcase the comedy actor's talent.

    This whole situation is the biggest buzzkill I have ever felt regarding any movie, and if Sly has sold out, I will try to help destroy this movie on principle before it even lands. The fans don't owe Sly. Sly owns his fans for his entire career!

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  17. @ Jeff: Yes, there is absolutely a sense of entitlement on this because of how the franchise started. It began with Sly getting on sites like this and asking the fans who they wanted in the movie and what they wanted to see. It led to an almost grass roots support from the fans that I believe helped lead to the success of the first movie.

    That's what hurts about the new movie. It seemed like it was gloing to be even better, and getting Van Damme and Norris was very exciting. Then they announced the rating and it just seemed like it didn't matter anymore. You could get all those guys to advertise in the same toothpaste TV commercial too, but that's not exciting either. People wanted to see all the best action actors in some of the best hardcore actions scenes of all time. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the fans will be getting this. I sadly just see the franchise stalling right here because most action fans would rather see no Expendables than a half-assed Expendables in Name Only (EINO).

    Tim

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  18. I have no problem taking constructive criticism but keep calling us childish is not really constructive and doesn't do much to change my opinion on how the PG-13 issue has been handled by the EX2 folks. I had made peace with PG-13, where I have a problem is how the communication was handled after fans were outraged, I don't think sending Crews to the front line was the wisest thing to do and it could have been handled better and more professionally with more empathy towards the true EX fans who have supported the franchise since the beginning.

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    1. EX2 Blogman- Pls. tell me that when the first official trailer of expendables 2 will be released???????

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  19. EX2 Blogman- Pls. tell me that when the first official trailer of expendables 2 will be released???????

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  20. nothing has been said but I'm thinking sometime in April unless they do something sooner to counter all the negative publicity that's been going on lately

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    1. But why the official trailer of the sequel will release so lately???? In the first part of the expendables they released trailer very soon.....the prequel's shooting completed in July & the first official trailer was leaked in August.............

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    2. In the prequel the trailer was leaked in the gap of 1 month after completing the movie........

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    3. same thing could happen with EX2

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    4. EX2 shooting is completed now.......That means the trailer will release in next month in February (in the gap of 1 month).Am I right????

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  21. [on rejecting Sylvester Stallone's offer of a part in The Expendables (2010)] Stallone gave me a part in his next movie, but I ask him about the subject, about the story. He said, 'You're gonna make lots of money.' I don't want to hear that, I want to hear what was my character. He was unable to tell what it's going to be. [Stallone said:] 'You know, uh, well, the fighting will be good.' [So I said:] 'Syl, what is my character?' So I didn't do the movie.

    it says a lot of the mindset of the film makers, even during EX1!!!

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  22. Dear Lionsgate Studio, Dear Simon West, Dear Actors of EX 2

    The whole Idea of making The Expendables started from the thought of making and old-school very hard and ultra-brutal action movie with the old action guard. Without R-rating it does not work. Listen, Rambo (2008) was a great risk to make but is was a success. It was R-rated, bloody and brutal. Because of that Sly and the financier had the heart to do EX 1 the way it is (R-rated, even more brutal and bloodier than Rambo). It was even a much much bigger success than Rambo. Now, as Rambo and EX 1 are established as successful or hugely successful (in the case of EX 1) R-rated moves it is no risk to make EX 2 R-rated. Do you really believe with PG-13 it will make even more money? Every sound marketing adviser will tell you that you will make the most money out of it with an R-rated movie. Go R-rated and you will win double: 1. Making the most money and 2. Making the most happy fans and audience.

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