THE EXPENDABLES: EXTENDED CUT (M)

Directed by Patrick Hughes. Starring Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Mel Gibson. Movie: ✪✪✪✪ Extras: ✪✪✪

Sanitised violence was blamed for the third in the geriatric gunslingers franchise punching below its weight of action greats at the box office. Yet it’s this softening of the blows that helps to make Expendables 3 more enjoyable and less offensive than its predecessors. That and a wittier screenplay, with the 80s old guard – Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Snipes, Lundgren – squaring off against the ambitious young turks they recruit to help capture warmonger Mel Gibson for black ops boss Harrison Ford. But the most inspired casting is Kelsey Grammar as a gun-for-hire headhunter, whose grizzled charm amusingly leavens the wall-to-wall brawn. The mostly expendable extras include a making-of hour, gag reel and extended scene. (Subtitled.)