"They don't make heroes like they used to" :)

That was one friend to another while standing in the queue at the movies. It was not much of a surprise that he was going to watch The Expendables 2, just as I was. Even though it is not the movie I would generally go to (not by a long shot), and the actors are far from my favourites, it was an event  that could no longer be ignored in popular culture. It is an unseen reunion of action movie icons among which Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham, Chuck Norris and Jet Li. There are already plans for a third movie and there have this time been talks with ‘hero’ Steven Segal to join the cast. Let us not forget that in many countries these action heroes are very loved. For example the LA Times wrote, “China's battle of the superheroes ended up being won by ... a group of aging action stars .In a surprising outcome, "The Expendables 2" has outgrossed both "The Dark Knight Rises" and "The Amazing Spider-Man" in China”. Therefore, this movie with these unlikely heroes, especially for my generation, was worth mentioning in a short review.

                The men, and newly added woman, set out on a mission. During the mission the mercenaries among are double-crossed. They end up discovering that there was an item stolen by Vilain (the villain J Jean-Claude Van Damme). The item was a miniature computer containing the location of a five-ton cache of plutonium that the Russians had stashed in an abandoned mine during the Cold War. Motivated as much by revenge as their realigned mission to prevent Vilain from selling the weapons/nuclear material to a list of willing buyers, the Expendables take off in pursuit of their adversaries. [1] This leads to explosive scenes and many a bullet and punch to be thrown across the screen. My personal favourite moment is when Arnold Schwarzenegger gets into a Smart car and by accident rips the door off when he gets in, upon which he says, “my shoe is bigger than this car”(at least that part at the end it is pretty violent).

 

What these actors have realized throughout recent years with their own individual movies, and what they have come to represent, is in my eyes an own subversive stream within the genre of action movies and within our modern popular culture. The Expendables movies are a projection of what all these stars have come to symbolize, of what we expect and they successfully bring it all together in an explosive big screen movie (with all the modern effects). Sure, there are the clichés and the one liners (“track him, find him, kill him”) we should expect (for example at the end Stallone says, “That plane belongs in a museum” to which Schwarzenegger replies, “We all do.”) , but it works and makes the movie that much more accessible and worth the 103 minutes of our time. Against all odds on IMDB the movie even gets a 7.3 and many people base their choice of whether to watch a movie or not on their opinion.

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[1] http://posttrib.suntimes.com/entertainment/movies/14480170-421/review-expendables-2-fleet-footed-and-engaging.html

 

The Road Not Taken

 

The road with a shot of humour :) One of the best moments ever in HIMYM :) :)

The Road Not Taken Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim Because it was grassy and wanted wear, Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I marked the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.       Robert Frost - 1920

 

I do not have a quote, movie or song to live by as I appreciate many movies, quotes and songs. Yet, there is a poem that has stuck with me for many a year now, Robert Frost’s ‘The Road Not Taken’ J. I remember sitting in an 8^th grade English class and we deciphered the poem sentence by sentence. Nevertheless, I appreciate it more now that I’m older because I remember back then it was just work. Either way, it triggered something because now several years down the line it is probably the one poem that managed to make all the difference. It just shows me that popular culture does not always come in the forms we expect it to and that even around the 1920’s the popular culture had elements we can appreciate to this day. It starts me thinking, staying positive (as the world can quickly become something rather depressing) and appreciating life and the curveballs it sends our way. That is also why I wanted to share this poem because everyone can use a bit of enthusiasm in their own way.

Nevertheless, I do not think the poem conveys the two paths as all that different because in the end there is no difference, there is no wrong or right road. There’s probably also more than two ;) Decisions and life-events lead to outcomes that we cannot always predict. Making a decision though is never a bad thing because otherwise life would not really move on and it would be pretty boring J

An important nuance I myself make is that even though some people have chosen another road that does not mean roads cannot intertwine or come together again (like a detour). There will always be people who guide you and are there for you, despite the turns of life. I believe that the people who are meant to be on your journey will be there in one way or another. In the end it’s the people and not the road that makes all the difference.  

 Therefore, just because you might think you are on the road less taken does not mean it is the road not taken or crossed. Even though we might not notice we never have to walk the road alone.  I’m not saying this with a sigh: “I believe Robert Frosts insight conveyed in this poem, as I’ve interpreted it, is a simple truth of life that has the possibility to make all the difference!”