10 Most Bitterly Disappointing Movie Showdowns

8. Barney Ross vs. Jean Vilain (The Expendables 2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV1dKAlRVrE I'll start off by saying that The Expendables films have a clear target demographic audience for whom they probably work very well, and I'll be the first to admit that they do have a number of eye-catching action set-pieces. One problem I felt with the first film, not that it was the sole one, was the lack of a villain with real screen presence to match those of the Expendables crew, though perhaps with the exception of Stone Cold Steve Austin who I think can be said to have got the better of old Sly in their individual battle of fisticuffs. It's perhaps fitting that the former wrestler (i.e. fake sport) soon gets beaten in turn by the former mixed martial artist (i.e. real sport) in the form of Randy Couture, even if the latter wasn't half as entertaining in his prime. The sequel seemed to correct this issue perfectly through the casting of Jean-Claude Van Damme along with his own band of mercenaries as the principal antagonists. And for much of the film €œthe Muscles from Brussels€ does an excellent job getting us to hate him, even going so far as kicking a knife into Liam Hemsworth's chest. I mean, he's even called Vilain for god's sake. Action-packed though the film is, the final showdown between Stallone and Van Damme does come off as something of a disappointment. It starts promisingly enough, with VD convincing Sly to drop his guns and confront him in a fistfight. After some intense but brief brawling, VD hits a couple of trademark spinning kicks and chucks Sly over a ledge, only for Stallone to go medieval on him with a length of chain and stab him with his reclaimed knife. Again, it's not terrible, but pretty anticlimactic after the huge build-up to the fight, not just in the course of the film itself but also throughout the film's publicity. Perhaps it was unreasonable to expect too much more from two ageing action-stars, but an underwhelming spectacle nonetheless. There have been far far superior fights committed to film. Who'd still be excited by the prospect of Sly finally taking on Arnie in a potential Expendables 3?