Stallone steps back from writing/directing The Expendables sequel

The most anticipated movie of 2010 for me was The Expendables, Sylvester Stallone's action hero all-star jamboree featuring some of the genre's grizzled greats(and not so greats. Lookin' at you Randy Couture!).  After what seemed like an eternity of hyperbolic build up, the film ultimately turned out to be a disappointment. Financially it kicked the asses of both Scott Pilgrim and Julia Roberts, ultimately earning over $270M worldwide. But the combination of piss poor writing and underwhelming performances by aging vets took a toll.  Still, Stallone has been eager to talk sequel. Rumors have already started about Bruce Willis returning for a larger role, Jean Claude Van Damme FINALLY accepting an invitation to join, and yes even Charlie Sheen was rumored at one point. Hey, the guy was in Navy Seals so he qualifies.

So when The Expendables 2 finally gets off the ground, things could look a little different. The only confirmed actor to return at this point is Randy Couture(urrghh!!), and now the LA Times is reporting that Stallone won't be writing the script nor will he be behind the camera. Instead he'll be handing the writing chores over to David Agosto and Ken Kaufman(Space Cowboys). No director is being considered yet, but no matter who gets named this is still Stallone's show and he'll have the majority of the say in what goes on.

The Expendables to me all boiled down to the last 20 minutes, which was all the explosions and violence and bad jokes we expected the entire film to be. Maybe it's best that Stallone take a step back, because he always appeared too satisfied with just pulling all those actors together in the first place. He was too comfortable just throwing a camera in front of himself surrounded by all his oiled up buddies and expecting we'd just drool over how cool it was.  Not so much.  The Expendables doesn't need much of a plot to hook people, but it needs enough to propel the action and so the movie makes sense.