Expendable? Not during this summer-movie season

Years from now, when some editor is looking for an image to place with the dictionary definition of the term “action blockbuster,” he (or she) is going to search for a poster from Sylvester Stallone’s new flick “The Expendables.”

Yeah, the testosterone in this things-blowed-up-real-good movie flows thicker than blood at a Yakuza picnic.

But unlike a number of other Stallone movies, from the “Rambo” series to “Demolition Man,” this one actually is a bit more than mere gore-flinging and exploding cars. Maybe not a lot more, but enough.

First there’s the gimmick casting, which includes nearly every major action star from the last two decades. We start with director-coscreenwriter Stallone and British hard guy Jason Statham and proceed with Jet Li and Dolph Lundgren. We augment things with real-life bad-asses Steve Austin, Randy Couture and Gary Daniels. Then we toss in cameo appearances by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis.

Oh, and let’s not forget Mickey Rourke, just for a bit of mood.

The plot is simple. Stallone is the leader of a group of mercenaries, former military types who now live in a motorcycle-scented warehouse that acts as a kind of Boys Club for pre-geriatric lovers of all things male (choppers, guns, fistfights and hot chicks). We are introduced to the group just as it foils a kidnapping/ransom scheme hatched by a band of modern-day pirates.

A few dismemberments later, and justice again reigns in the world.

Then another deal comes their way. They are approached by a mysterious stranger (Willis), who plays them off against the representative of another group (Schwarzenegger). The job: Eliminate the leader of an island nation who is becoming troublesome.

Stallone (Barney Ross) and Statham (Lee Christmas) travel to the island, ostensibly under cover - as much as a couple of muscle-bound freaks can disguise themselves - and discover that things on the island are worse than they imagine. Led around by the attractive guide Sandra (Mexican beauty Giselle Itie),  they barely escape with their lives, having attracted the attention not only of the tyrranical leader but of his cruel backer as well.

Oh, yeah, did I forget to say thagt Eric Roberts stars as the cruel backer? He does. And he is so bad that his beeotch-boy is “Stone Cold” Austin.

Back home, Barney can’t get Sandra out of his mind. So even though it’s a suicide mission (what else?), he decides to return to see what he can do for her. Maybe even save her. And kill everyone else on the island in the process.

That pretty much is what happens. People (mostly the island’s army) die in every way imaginable: stabbing, strangling, bludgeoning, exploding into a series of pink mists, being shot by everything from medium-caliber pistols to fully-automatic shotguns. Oh, and we get to see Sandra waterboarded, too (though, darn, no wet T-shirt scene).

It all has some sort of point, though I can’t think of one now. Maybe it has to do with helping women be who they need to be. Or maybe it has to do with eliminating human detritis from the world. Or maybe it has to do with finding a way to resalvage your seemingly unsalvagable soul.

That last one would seem to be the most authentic reason, considering the one moment of real emotion comes during a digressive scene that features Rourke telling a war story from Bosnia. In that one scene, a total cliche that features some of the worst dialogue ever written, Rourke proves just how good an actor he really is. Making that scene work, which it does expertly, wasn’t easy. Yet Rourke, against all odds, pulls it off.

Considering just how old these guys mostly are, you’d expect them to be starring in something called “The Expandables.” But “The Expendables” is what they end up in. And while not everything fits together smoothly, and it’s about 10 minutes (and 173 deaths) too long, there’s enough intentional humor in Stallone’s film to make it the perfect example of today’s action blockbuster.

Look for that poster. The dictionary can’t be very far away.

Below: The trailer for “The Expendables.”