Forget about the Expendables, say hello to THE B-TEAM

Easily the biggest joy of watching the two Expendables movies was in seeing these old action movie juggernauts on-screen together. But there was another group of action heroes who were pretty prevalent at around the same era as when the Stallones, Schwarzeneggers and Willises were blowing stuff up every other week at the cinemas, but you probably wouldn’t have found these guys in your movie house.

I’m talking about the low budget, B-grade, straight to that dingy lower shelf at your local Mr. Video action heroes like Don “The Dragon” Wilson (Ring of Fire series), Michael Dudikoff (American Ninja series), Cynthia Rothrock (China O’Brien, Undefeatable) and Jeff Speakman (Perfect Weapon). And now they’re making their own team-up movie!

Impact Online broke the news, which revealed that the film, titled The B-Team, is being setup by Wilson as a B-grade answer to the Expendables and stars the abovementioned four actors in the lead, although producers want to fill out the cast with other B-grade action stars like Billy Blanks, Loren Avedon, Richard Norton, etc. Wilson says the film, which is planned to be made in Papua New Guinea, has “a lot of bad guys and good guys in it, there’s room for anybody that’s going to be available. They would only be in for a few days and then out, the ones I listed, we would have to be in New Guinea the entire shoot but the other actors can come and go. There’s plenty of action and the game plan is to get as many guys as we can get in. I literally know everyone of them!'”

An early and very basic draft of the script has also been revealed, and it seems like the film is going to be some kind of mash-up of The Expendables, Argo and The Amulet, which is actually almost not the worst idea ever. (Normally, I would throw up spoiler warnings here, but seriously, if you’re afraid of spoilers on a movie like this, then you’re probably not familiar with how this genre works)

Far from the excitement of Port Moresby in PNG, jettisoning skyward is the awe inspiring Volcanic Rim of Rabaul. This Ancient and beautiful place has an intriguing and tumultuous history. Deep in the jungle/forest near Rabaul’s base, a group of archeologist unearth a highly-developed, ancient civilization. Among the amazing relics found, a mysterious amulet is discovered that is believed to hold long forgotten technological secrets. Secrets that could threaten the welfare of the planet. This amulet had remained forever lost, until now.

When world powers learn of this discovery, rogue groups from around the world race to capture the amulet and its secrets. The amulet’s secrets would give the owner great power. The Prime Minister of PNG requests that the President of the United States send an elite team of Military operatives to return the amulet to its rightful place. Rising to the call for action, the President dispatches both an elite team and a backup team of action movie heroes (Don “The Dragon” Wilson, Cynthia Rothrock & more). They enter PNG under the guise of making an action film, when in reality; it is their mission to return the amulet. They are THE B-TEAM and this, is their story.

In order to keep up the facade that the B-TEAM Members Wilson, Rothrock and co are just shooting a movie, they bring their family members along as added cover. While the Team risks their lives; their families discover the extraordinary beauty and sites of PNG. Through various missions, chases, fights, streaks of good luck, streaks of bad luck and treks through the jungle (Shenanigans, etc.) The heroes get close to securing the amulet while appearing to be making a film. The elite team ends up serving as a distraction to the rouge groups, etc while the B-Team-ers make exceptional progress.

Now call me crazy, but that might actually work… in a very cheesy, low budget, ripping off everybody and everything else that came before it way of course, but still, there’s potential there for a fun time.

The only problem at this stage, as Wilson revealed during an interview with City On Fire, is the recently changed political climate in Papua New Guinea.

“There is a script called The B-Team and it’s still “in development,” but the original idea was to shoot it in Papua New Guinea with the support of their government. Cynthia Rothrock and I traveled to PNG and had a “reception-party” for the project but, unfortunately, the political leaders did not win their elections and so it’s uncertain what will happen in regards to the film. It could be rewritten to fit another location, so you’ll never know.”

So basically if the new government doesn’t give the go ahead they may need to retool this. But even if the worst case scenario comes to pass and the project is scrapped entirely, Wilson revealed that he has another project in the pipeline titled Blood Raid which is set to shoot in LA and could “utilize many of my “B” movie star friends”.

As somebody who spent far, far too much of his youth watching these types of movies, I really hope they get everything sorted out and make The B-Team a reality, because it has been far too long since I’ve been able to enjoy this calibre of action on screen:

Last Updated: January 14, 2014