The Expendables: new pictures released

It might be a little early to start any kind of countdown just yet, but at the very least it's now under ten months before we get to set our eyes on Sylvester Stallone's action epic, The Expendables. With the main shoot complete, there's still apparently the small matter of Arnold Schwarzenegger's cameo to shoot, and that'll be done, according to the production blog, over the coming month. At least Arnie will be standing in front of a camera for it, which is more than he did for his appearance in Terminator: Salvation.

There's also still no formal confirmation on who will be playing bad guy Church, another cameo role that's been strongly linked with Bruce Willis. You suspect that they're trying to hold something back in surprise, but to be honest, given the attention the film's been getting, they'd have to do some kind of strange Internet mind blanking trick to throw people off the scent. The scenes with Church have yet to be shot, and it sounds like a day or two's work, which would fit a high profile cameo perfectly. Willis, in spite of no firm comment on the matter, would be our guess. We'd quite happily take any of Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken, Leonard Nimoy or that cussing 12-year old from Role Models if Willis isn't going to do it.

Anyway, onto the main business, and that's the publication on the aforementioned production blog of a series of new images from The Expendables. There's Sly getting a tattoo! Jason Statham looking angry in a way that only Jason Statham can! Jet Li with a gun rather than kicking the shit out of everyone! What, seriously, is not to like about all of this?

Click on any of the photos to make them bigger, and then you can find the production blog for The Expendables right here.