Given its Sly Stallone-directed, all-star-casting conceit that assembles a not-quite dirty dozen of the past three decades’ most notable action/martial arts/wrestling icons, The Expendables’ orchestral score couldn’t be expected to depart much from Hollywood action film formula. Yet those genre constraints don’t keep rising scoring star Brian Tyler from successfully leavening the expected pulse-pounding rhythms and blaring brass that characterize his soundtrack’s first third with dollops of his own, more distinctive musical instincts. Indeed, that familiar, adrenalin-pumping formula makes the languid, bluesy guitar flourishes of "Lee and Lacy," the Iberian-seasoned flamenco of "The Contact,” and the uneasy electro-acoustic soundwashes of "Trinity" stand out all the more.

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