Con Air’s Simon West to direct Sly and the boys in The Expendables 2

Last Updated on July 23, 2021

Well, after a lot of back and forth…THE EXPENDABLES 2 has finally found a director.

Deadline is reporting Simon West (CON AIR, WHEN A STRANGER CALLS) has been entrusted to give cues to Sly and the boys in the much anticipated action sequel. Production begins this summer for an August, 2012 release.

West (above) most recently directed Jason Statham in THE MECHANIC. He also directed the pilot episode of “The Cape,” and has the Nic Cage action flick MEDALLION in post-production. Furthermore, he’s attached to helm RPM and RED SONJA, but those two projects will surely have to wait until THE EXPENDABLES 2 is completed.

Speaking of, here’s a spoiler-ish synopsis for the flick:

Stallone, Statham, Rourke, Lundgren, Couture and Crews return as hard-edged but noble mercenaries in the second installment of Sylvester Stallone’s old-school action thriller, The Expendables.

As payback for taking out the corrupt CIA agent Monroe (Eric Roberts) in the first Expendables, cagey Agent Church (Bruce Willis) forces the Expendables to do an “easy mission”: retrieve a missing CIA package from Gazak, a civil war torn country in Easter Europe.

The easy mission turns deadly when the Expendables are ambushed by a team of ruthless rival mercs, the Sangunaires, competing to get the same package. Tool (Mickey Rourke), the heart and souleof the Expendables, is brutally murdered by Vilain, the leader of the bloodthirsty guns for hire. Still, the Expendables manage to pull of the mission and return with the CIA package, but it’s a hollow victory.

As their thoughts turn from grief to revenge, Tool’s beautiful young daughter Fiona shows up. Cut from the same stone as her dad, she wants to join the Expendables when they hunt down Villain and his men. Barney (Stallone) promises her the Expendables will avenge Tool’s death, but will not risk putting his best friend’s daughter in harm’s way.

Fiona, who is young and wild, embarks on her own revenge mission, complicating matters for Barney when she is captured and ransomed by Vilain. Now Barney and the expendables must risk everything to save her, kidnapping CIA Agent Church and pulling off a daring heist of the CIA package they were hired to bring back.

When Agent Church reveals why the CIA package is so valuable to Vilain, the stakes go up even higher. Inside the package are canisters of radioactive cesium which Vilain has been tasked with releasing on the people’s uprising that threatens the thirty year rule of Gazak’s vicious dictator, President Dogot.

The Expendables, along with Agent Church, are now faced with an impossible mission: rescue Fiona, foil a dictator’s vicious plot to kill scores of innocent people, and avenge the death of one of their own.

THE EXPENDABLES 2 lights up screens August 17, 2012.

THE EXPENDABLES 2 star Giselle Itie