| Director | Simon West |
|---|---|
| Genre | action film, thriller film |
| Runtime | 103 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $100 million |
| Box office | $315 million |
The Expendables are sent to Nepal to rescue a Chinese businessman who has been captured by Nepalese militia. The mercenary team includes leader Barney Ross, blade expert Lee Christmas, martial artist Yin Yang, weapons specialist Hale Caesar, demolitions expert Toll Road, the unstable Gunner Jensen, and sniper Billy "The Kid," the group's youngest and newest member. They rescue the businessman and the captured Trent Mauser, Ross's rival. Yang leaves the group to escort the businessman back to China.
After returning to New Orleans, Billy tells Barney that he intends to retire at the end of the month and live with his girlfriend, Sophia. Later, Barney is forced to accept a mission from CIA operative Mr. Church to retrieve an item from a downed airplane in Albania. Church sends technical expert Maggie Chan with the team. In Albania, the Expendables retrieve the item but are ambushed by international criminal and arms dealer Jean Vilain, his right-hand man Hector, and his criminal group, the Sangs, who capture Billy and demand the item in exchange for Billy's life. The team gives up the item, but Vilain betrays them by kicking a knife through Billy's heart and flees with the Sangs by helicopter. Barney recovers a note for Sophia from Billy's body; the team buries their fallen comrade, swearing vengeance on Vilain.
Maggie tells them that the item is a computer, with the location of 5 tons of refined weapons-grade plutonium in a mine abandoned by the Soviet Union after the Cold War. Vilain intends to retrieve, then sell, the plutonium on the black market. The Expendables managed to track the computer's signal and follow Vilain, which leads them to Bulgaria, where they stay overnight at an abandoned USSR military base. The next morning, the Expendables are ambushed by the Sangs and a tank. After the team run out of ammunition, they are saved by Barney's old friend, Booker, who quickly eliminates both the Sangs and the tank. Before he departs, Booker informs the group of nearby villagers who oppose Vilain. Meanwhile, Hector and Vilain dig up the plutonium and begin collecting it.
In the village, the Expendables find armed women guarding their children from Vilain's forces. The women ask for help because local men are being captured and forced into slavery in the mine, never to return. The Sangs arrive to gather villagers but are ambushed and killed by the Expendables. The team locates Vilain and the mine and attack with their plane, which they crash through the adit to gain entry. They rescue the enslaved miners, but Vilain and Hector escape with plutonium. Vilain detonates charges, causing the mine to collapse and trap both the miners and the Expendables.
Church and Trench arrive, freeing the miners and the team, and join the Expendables to pursue Vilain. The group intercepts Vilain and his men at an airport as he prepares to leave by plane. Joined again by Booker, the Expendables, Trench, and Church engage the Sangs in battle. Christmas decapitates Hector while Barney and Vilain fight hand-to-hand. Barney defeats and stabs Vilain, killing him.
In the aftermath, Barney is given an old Antonov An-2 biplane by Church; Church, Maggie, Booker, and Trench part ways with the team. In France, Sophia discovers a box with a large sum of money and Billy's letter on her doorstep. As the Expendables depart on the plane, they make a final toast to Billy.