So Sylvester Stallone is in the mainstream of Hollywood again. Before the film, “Rocky Balboa”, Sly’s career was almost dead. It seems that everyone forgot who the man was. Before “Rocky Balboa” Sly’s last big screen movie, was “Driven”, a movie about race cars that was directed by Renny Harlin. The film “Driven” was a failure, a box office flop. Why did it fail? Simply because the movie was bad and Sly didn’t star the lead in it, Sly was only in “Driven” for a small role. After “Driven” was released, Sly began doing movies for the independent industry of film aka indie films for straight to DVD. His next few straight to DVD films, were “D-Tox/Eye See You”, “Avenging Angello”, and “Shade”. Those films really didn’t go anywhere either.

So what could Sly do to save his dying career? That’s right, star in a movie for children, which he starred in, “Spy Kids 3D: Game Over”, he played the main villain, the Toymaker. Sly played several different roles at once in that film as a matter of fact. “Spy Kids 3D” was obviously a huge success as it helped bring Sly back in the mainstream just a little bit. Shortly after the film, Sly announced shocking news that he had plans for a “Rocky 6” which is now titled, “Rocky Balboa”. Sly had a long battle against MGM to release “Rocky Balboa” ’cause they wouldn’t work on it because of Sly’s age. They felt like he was too old for the character. Now that Sly and MGM are on good terms, they released the film. “Rocky Balboa” did well in box office, but it wasn’t a huge hit as everyone hoped it would.

Next, Sly decides to try and bring Rambo back to the big screen for the fourth time. The film “Rambo” did pretty well in box office, did a little better than “Rocky Balboa”. After the success of Rocky and Rambo being back, Sly got a deal with Nu-Image Milllenium to make a few more films with them. So Sly came up with an idea of making an action movie full of other action stars, which is “The Expendables”. Sly’s been working on “The Expendables” for the past couple of years, and now it is finally here. Will the “Expendables” movie do better than the new “Rocky” and “Rambo”? Sly making “The Expendables” is just his way of seeing what he can do outside of Rocky and Rambo.

I predict that “The Expendables” will be Sly’s biggest film, since “Rambo: First Blood part II”. It’ll be bigger than “Demolition Man” and “Cliffhanger” as well. Will the “Expendables” top Christopher Nolan’s movie, “Inception”? Definitely. Could “The Expendables” top the “Dark Knight” or even, “Avatar”? I don’t think it’ll go up that far world wide, but maybe “The Expendables” can actually make the top ten.Sly doing Spy Kids was a good move. It may have been silly and goofy for Sly to star in a kids film like that, but if Sly didn’t star in Spy Kids at all, then Rocky and Rambo wouldn’t have came back, and the Expendables wouldn’t have been made. Sly would still be doing straight to DVD movies if he didn’t do Spy Kids.

You gotta ask, what’s next for Sly after, “The Expendables”? I’m not sure yet. Sly hasn’t announced his next project yet, although he has talked about doing the Gotti movie, the Death Wish remake, and the Edgar Allan Poe biopic. He also talked about an “Expendables” sequel at times as well. Nothing’s been confirmed yet. Will Sly continue to be box office king after “The Expendables”? I think he will.

This movie will especially help Dolph Lundgren’s career as well. Dolph directed straight to DVD stuff for most of his life, and maybe his future films will get big screen treatment because of the “Expendables” movie. The “Expendables” film will give all actors in the film good opportunities for their future. Steve Austin retired from wrestling so he can focus on an acting career. Steve appeared in films such “The Longest Yard” and “The Condemned”. He starred in a few straight to DVD movies as well, such as “Damage” and “The Stranger”. “The Expendables” will help Steve Austin’s career get bigger as well. The same with Randy Couture. Other than Randy’s UFC career, Randy does star in a few films here and there, but mostly independent films such as “Red Belt” and “Scorpion King 2”. I think “The Expendables” will help Randy get into more big mainstream films in the future. Jet Li has always been known as a huge icon. Mickey Rourke is well known too, but with his movies like “The Wrestler” and “The Expendables” helped him get into “Iron Man 2” and many other big films. Jason Statham has always been well known, he’s done action movies such as “The Transporter’, “Crank” and others but they weren’t as big and mainstream. “The Expendables” will help Jason become a household name like Sly. Terry Crews is an underrated actor that no one knows about, and now that guy is everywhere in the media.

I can’t wait to see, “The Expendables” movie, I’ve been waiting a long time to see this. Sly is finally back to where he is, doing action movies with him as the leading star. I’m sure Sly will announce his next project when ever he’s done promoting, “The Expendables”. I think Sly will announce his next project sometime this fall. Looking forward to seeing the film this weekend!!! 🙂

Kev