Sylvester Stallone directs, co-writes and stars in The Expendables, set for release on August 13, 2010. The trailer starts with that stylized, deep pitched voiceover that comedians parody so often: “They... Are the World’s Greatest Mercenaries... The Only Life they’ve Ever Known... (blam blam blam!) is War... The Only Loyalty they’ve ever Had... is to Each Other...” It ends with a Metallica-esque power rock song, at high volume. In between there are bullets, explosions, military vehicles, muscles, knives, and bad guys getting shot to pieces by a bantering, wisecracking who’s who of action stars, past and present: Stallone (of course), Dolph Lungren, Jason Statham, Jet Li - even Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwartzenegger do cameos (Steven Seagal and Jean Claude Van Damme were both offered…

Imagine a person that embodied everything essential about your country. Or your generation. Your profession. Your religion. Your social class. Anything can be personified. Fiction writers do it all the time. “...when we get among masterpieces, we find that (the protagonist) tends to become no more than a function of his environment, a convenient symbol for representing and explaining that environment.” - HL Mencken