Editing style and features: cutting between shot in the opening two minutes of this film are very frequent, and allow the audience to build up a bigger picture of the setting, the scenario, and the characters that play a key role in the plot. A high proportion of the editing directs the audiences attention to two specific groups of people in this title sequence, the expendables (squad of highly trained mercenaries) and an unidentified man (restrained in the centre of a dark room and with a burlap sack covering his head) surrounded by a militia force (who are holding him captive). The editing between these shots shows the link between the two (the restrained man is clearly a person who is the goal of the operation, and the expendables who are there to achieve that objective), this is a form of parallel editing, in which two different scenes are inter cut to create a sense of tension among the audience, and these cuts generally lead to the two scenes coming together, (the climax of the sequence) which is where the majority of the action in said sequence will take place.
Credits and text: there is some text at the beginning of the sequence, which is the location of the compound in the frame. Aldo, as the mercenaries are crusading through the compound, the words “BAD ATTITUDE” and “COMING SOON” can be seen on the side and rear of their vehicles. This ads a slightly comedic tone to the rather brutal action sequence (one of the best I have seen, I may add) and is everything you would expect from the powerful and well humoured mercenary characters portrayed by Jason Statham, Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren and others.
Camera movement and framing: right at the beginning, we have the first of two establishing shots in this opening sequence. There is a compound in this shot, which appears to be either an oil refinery or some form of military compound. This shot sets the scene for this sequence, giving the audience a sense of what kinds of things to expect from they following scenes, and certain conventions within the Action genre can be portrayed by different settings – this setting would conjure up images of military spec weaponry and armament, military vehicles, gunfights and high precision kills, among other things, whereas an oil refinery would suggest large explosions, lots of fire, scientists, oil spoils and so on. Also the framing of the establishing shot can alter the way in which the audience perceive the setting, and in this particular sequence, the framing of the establishing shot seems to suggest that someone is looking over the compound to find any weak spots (over watch), and this idea is re-enforces when we see the mercenaries cascading over the top of a hill towards the compound in their military vehicles, as if to suggest they have found a gap in the patrol route which could make the operation run a little more smooth.
Mise-en-scene: most of the Mise-en-scene, if not all, is what you would typically expect from a film of the Action genre – things like soldiers, helicopters, tanks, small arms, explosions, flames, military related activity, fast vehicles, collisions and of course - glorious death.
Sound, dialogue & music: most of the sound in this sequence is diegetic (the source of the sound is visible on screen) –the sound of a tank driving past, the sounds of women and children hurrying to evade the military force, the sounds of the gate being opened and closed etc. also, with the arrival of the mercenaries arrive comes the sound of the machine gun mounted on the top of Stallone’s’ vehicle and operated by Statham, the sound of terry crews firing a man portable rocket launcher. Also the sounds of the mercenaries’ vehicles tearing through the pathways inside this compound, along with their speech to one another.
Introduce characters: there is a man being driven through the afore mentioned military compound in an open-topped vehicle, this combined with his body language and the way that all of the civilians flee desperately when the vehicle drives past suggests that he is a high ranking military officer, or perhaps the head of a militia/ guerrilla force. The man who is restrained inside the dark room inside the compound is only identified as Trench (Arnold Schwarzenegger) slightly later in this opening sequence, and he is either one of the mercenaries, or is closely linked to them. Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) and Toll Road (Randy Couture) are one of the main focuses of this opening sequence, and they are seen hurtling over a hill and downwards toward the compound, in the typical style, as one would know if one had seen the first expendables film.
Indicate genre: this film is perhaps one of the most stereotypical action films in existence, largely due to the fact that it includes top actors who regularly perform in films of the action genre. People such as Bruce Willis - who plays Church, Chuck Norris - who plays Booker, and Jean-Claude Van Damme - who plays the main antagonist of the film.
Iconography:
Enigma: someone of high importance or value to the people who the mercenaries are contracted to, or the mercenaries themselves, is being held hostage inside some form of military compound, and it is up to the mercenaries to get him out.
Props & sets:
Star casting: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Liam Hemsworth
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