In addition to the previously announced John Travolta, Chuck Norris, and Donnie Yen, Sly would also like to find a way to shoehorn Nicolas Cage, Taylor Lautner, Christian Slater, and Highlander himself, Christopher Lambert, into this thing. That list makes sense. Cage, Slater, and Lambert all seem like they would be game. The only X factor is Lautner. Can he hold his own starring opposite these legends or is he going to want autographs? We are talking about a Face/Off AND Broken Arrow reunion after all. (Moviehole)

Expendables 2 has been in motion for quite some time, with a polished draft produced by Ken Kaufman and David Agosto, so it’s no surprise that a helmer was quick to be named so that they can get to blowin’ shit up before some of the stars become too fragile.

All principals, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Terry Crews, Jason Statham, and of course, Sly, are expected to return. The director announcement provides certainty to the production timeline, but nothing can get started until Simon West wraps up Medallion, with noted crazy person Nicolas Cage. (Deadline)

Medallion has garnered buzz on two fronts: It reunites Nicolas Cage and director Simon West for the first time since the much-loved Con Air, and it was written by screenwriter David Guggenheim, whose anticipated Safe House, starring Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds, is currently filming.

While the plot of Medallion is more than little reminiscent of Taken, it goes without saying that even if you were to put Liam Neeson and Nicolas Cage in projects with the exact same script, you would end up with two very different movies. One good one, and one Nicolas Cage-one, which could still be good, just louder. (Playlist)

The Mechanic

The mechanic is Arthur Bishop (Jason Statham). He specializes in clean kills that look like accidents, everything from drowning to autoerotic asphyxiation. He checks in for assignments by responding to encrypted ads on Kansas Klassifieds (I guess Craig doesn’t get royalties for his list this time.) Only one day the target is his old pal Harry (Donald Sutherland). He even check with his boss Dean (Tony Goldwyn) who explains how corrupt Harry has gotten, and since it’s Tony Goldwyn, you kind of want Arthur to be a little more suspicious.

Anyway, Harry’s son Steven (Ben Foster) wants to learn Arthur’s skills so he can get revenge for his father (oh, if only he knew the whole ironic story.) It becomes a gay The Professional which is fantastic. You’ve all heard the rumors that The Transporter is gay. How progressive to do the mentor/protégé hitman story with men. Maybe in the sequel they’ll kiss. Yeah, Arthur has a lady he has sweaty sex with, but we’re taking baby steps for the equality movement. One of the targets is a gay pedophile, so Steven has to seduce him. That might be more homophobic than supportive but at least gay characters are kicking ass.

For an overdone generic setup like the professional killer, The Mechanic really shows some skills we haven’t seen before. A swimming pool hit? Awesome. Harry’s attempted escape in a wheelchair is really suspenseful. The strangulation is not original but it’s efficient and the payoff is that the most mundane cover story can be the best.

The action doesn’t really pick up until Steven starts messing up, because when Arthur’s on his game nothing ever goes wrong. But with Steven, fight break out and bullets get fired. This movie tears through every rod, pole, window or seat on a bus, every pipe or scaffolding in the walls, every appliance in a house. Arthur throws dudes off buildings (and you see the splat) or in front of cars. You know the cliché where someone breaks a bottle in a fight? Steven uses a whole six pack! They almost maim innocent victims but aren’t quite awesome enough to go that far. I guess I’ll have to wait for Crank III for that.

Haters may pick apart the logic of it all, but I think The Mechanic celebrates the lunacy of the action fantasy. When Dean threatens to put out so many expensive contracts on Arthur that his own reflection will want to shoot him in the face, I think Goldwyn knows he’s just trying to be the most evil suit out of the 1000s of evil suits in this kind of movie. That’s wonderful bravado. There are more “realistic” action movies (as if Jason Bourne isn’t fantasy but that’s the pretense anyway) and they’re great. This is one of the other kind and I’m so glad it exists.

And that’s exactly what Simon West wants. While making the rounds for his latest The Mechanic (which isn’t half-bad by the way), he let it slip that he’d like to helm a sequel.

“Con Air 2 I’d like to do. It’d be great. It’s a matter of getting everybody together. There’s so many people involved and it’s about getting everybody to agree. But I’m going to bring it up to Nic. I’m going to put a bug in his ear about it. If the two of us want to do it, we’ll go after the others.”

I’m not sure who the others are considering all the bad guys either get shot, impaled, run over by a plane, have their arms chopped off, set on fire, blown up, electrocuted, or have their heads pounded to goo by a pile-driver. John Malkovich‘s character could have had a brother though. Whatever. Just get this thing made. (Crave Online)

Nicolas Cage, Mr. Loses His Sh*t himself, is about to bring more chaos to the crowded streets of Manhattan. The eccentric actor has joined the action thriller Medallion which is to be directed by Simon West. The story “follows a father, a former master thief, who has only a few hours to find his daughter when she is kidnapped and locked in the trunk of a New York medallion taxi cab.” Close your windows, urban dwellers, and bridge and tunnel folks stay home. The sound of Cage’s distress is about to reverberate through a city that needs more crazy people yelling like it needs more hot garbage stench in the air. (THR)

Though it pains me to have to use Taxi Dog to break this news, there was no other way. Resoundingly mediocre film directors McG and Simon West are teaming up for Medallion. It’s rumored that Nicolas Cage or Clive Owen will star as a man who has a short amount of time to track down his kidnapped daughter, who happens to be locked in the trunk of an unidentified NYC taxi cab.

Locked in a trunk? That sounds more like a job for Marvin Berry. I guess he’s holding out for something that really cooks. McG will produce while Simon West enjoys a later call time than the rest of the crew. This unholy union can only mean one thing. The prophecy is correct. I will fall asleep on the couch while watching this on Netflix Instant. And so it shall be. (LA Times)