After months of “will he or won’t he” speculation about Sylvester Stallone directing the The Expendables 2 — even though Stallone specifically said he had no plans to do so — we finally get confirmation that he will not with Deadline’s announcement that Simon West will be in the director’s chair for the anticipated sequel. West has a solid directing resume — most notably he has directed Con Air, Tomb Raider: Lara Croft, and Expendables star Jason Statham in The Mechanic (you can check out my review for that film here!). Most importantly, however, he is the man who directed the Rick Astley “Never Gonna Give You Up” music video. No lie!
Though I can’t say West would be my first choice for director, let’s be honest: we all are going to see it anyway. Nu Image — one the studios behind the original and the upcoming sequel — has posted a basic plot synopsis on its website. If you don’t mind very basic SPOILERS, take a look below:
The Expendables are back and this time it’s personal! After Tool (Mickey Rourke), the heart and soul of the Expendables, is brutally murdered on a mission, his comrades swear to avenge him. They’re not the only ones who want blood. Tool’s beautiful young and wild daughter Fiona embarks on her own revenge mission, complicating matters when she is captured and ransomed by a ruthless dictator plotting to destroy a resistance movement. Now Barney and the Expendables must risk everything to save her and humanity.”
Well that sounds like the makings of a great 1980s action movie plot, so you’ll get no complaints from me. At the very least it confirms that Mickey Rourke is expected to return, even if it’s a small death cameo.
The film’s script has been written by David Agosto and Ken Kaufman based on ideas from Sylvester Stallone. It’s expected that most of the original cast — including Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Steve Austin, and Bruce Willis — will be retuning for the sequel. The Expendables 2 is set for release in August 2012.
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