Yes, if I could hand-pick the production company I’d most like to see do an Expendables-style movie with an all-female cast, it wouldn’t be the studio responsible for Sharknado 2, Mega Shark vs. Mecha Shark or Nazis at the Center of the Earth. I’d much rather hear an update on the long-discussed Expendabelles, say, or a similar Gina Carano project. But let’s not look a gift movie in the mouth. In anticipation of Expendables 3, Asylum will continue its trend of of barely-legal ripoffs with the release of Mercenaries–and several legendary ladies are along for the ride.
Mercenaries was directed by Christopher Ray and stars Kristanna Loken of the Painkiller Jane TV series, Vivica A. Fox, Zoe Bell (the amazing star of Death Proof and Raze and Lucy Lawless’ stuntwoman in Xena: Warrior Princess), martial artist Cynthia Rothrock, and Brigitte Nielsen (Red Sonja in the 1985 film). Each of these women has a decades-long career founded on athleticism and kicking ass, so although I’m by no means saying Asylum has a Criterion contender on their hands, it looks like Mercenaries will be the rare feature-length action film to feature all-female leads, many of whom, if prior work is any indication, performed their own stunts.
To reiterate, I’m not excited about Mercenaries because it looks good. A straight-to-DVD movie about a team of female commandos shouldn’t be notable, but considering the lack of big-budget action movies starring women (yet alone multiple women past the age when Hollywood typically views actresses as a valuable investment), Asylum’s mockbuster deserves attention if not outright applause.
Mercenaries will be available on August 5th, and according to IMDB there may already be a sequel in the works. Fingers crossed that the movie capitalizes on the super-human strength of its leads rather than catfights or PMS jokes–with any luck, Hollywood could be the one doing the ripping-off next.
(via Dark Horizons)
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