Released on September 22, 2023, The Expendables 4 gave fans the latest chapter of the iconic star-studded action series. The trailer, released back in June, gave fans an exciting look into the film. Alongside the return of the talented cast, a range of new stars joined the franchise for its 4th installment.
This included the likes of Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, Megan Fox, Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, Jacob Scipio, Levy Tran, and Andy García. Regardless of the excitement, the initial reactions to the film suggest there was a range of areas the film could have been better.
Expend4bles ending explained: Will there be a 5th movie?
The fourth movie of the series saw Barney, played by Sylvester Stallone, enlist the help of Lee, Jason Statham’s character, in order to form a new team for a Libya-based operation. The antagonist for the movie was a Libyan mercenary named Suarto, played by actor Iko Uwais, alongside terrorist Ocellot, played by Andy Garcia.
Suarto managed to steal a nuclear weapon from Gaddafi’s old base, leading to the Expendables needing to wipe him out. The next two hours were action-packed, with a lot of explosives and a variety of fake and real deaths, as the series is known for.
The most notable “death” that happened in the movie was Barney’s whose plane is shown to have crashed in the Libya mission.
Caught with impending fire on his airplane, Barney crashed to the ground leaving a huge wreck and seemingly his charred body behind. However, his death is shown to be fake right at the end.
After the rest of the team holds a funeral, Marsh, whose real identity stays hidden till the end, tells Lee that he has been kicked off the team. Instead, a new character Gina, played by Megan Fox, ends up taking control of the Expendables.
This was in addition to the fact that Barney’s death forced a once-classified file to be opened. The plot of the film was a multifaceted failure, and there was no explanation for why the confidential file couldn't be accessed prior to Barney's passing. The file reveals information about Ocelot, and his work with Suarto, as the Expendables decide they will do all they can to catch the infamous terrorist, who was also Barney’s arch-enemy.
While the mission came to an end officially, Lee had other plans. He convinced Gina to let him join again and then put a tracker on her. The Expendables team on their return from Libya end up getting ambushed and imprisoned, after which Lee managed to free them. This lead to the final stages of the movie.
Who killed Suarto in Expendables 4?
Suarto managed to arrange a prisoner exchange with the CIA. Marsh revealed his identity as Ocelot and detonated the nuclear weapon before throwing the remote into the sea. What followed was a bizarre final minute of the movie. The Expendables managed to escape. However, Lee decided to stay back in order to confront Marsh, who had his entire team left.
Lee had no idea about Barney’s “fake death,” and seemingly looked set to get himself killed. However, mysterious gunfire ensued, which was none other than Barney announcing his return from the ashes.
While all of Marsh’s men died, Ocelot survived and challenged Lee to a fistfight. However, he got smashed into what can only be explained as a “pulp” by Barney’s helicopter. The movie then continued to another bar, where the remaining team can be seen celebrating. The final scenes depict the team enjoying against the backdrop of Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back in Town."
While fans are sure to have a range of problems with the way the movie ended, the ending did set up the series for a 5th installment. The entire team ended up surviving, apart from Marsh, who is revealed as the antagonist of this installment. Barney’s death came as a shock initially.
However, even that proved to be fake, and Statham’s character continues to be in the middle of everything that goes down in the Expendables series.
