For a few years now there has been plenty of talk about the possible remake of the 1972 film The Mechanic, which starred Charles Bronson and Jan-Michael Vincent. Many different major action players were considered for the role that Bronson originally played, including Sly Stallone and Vin Diesel, but it wasn’t until recently that pen hit paper and Jason Statham was signed to play hitman Arthur Bishop.

From there, it was a pretty easy decision to cast up-and-coming star Ben Foster as Steve McKenna, a role first made famous by Jan-Michale Vincent. In the film, Bishop is a hit man who is on his way out of the business and takes McKenna under his wing as a protege to pass along his legacy. Things, of course, go awry from there in an action-packed cacophony of violence.

Now, with both Statham and Foster filling in, it almost carries the same the same impact, with Statham coming off of a nearly 10 year run as an action star, and Ben Foster still working his way up the “leading man” ladder. The remake is also directed by action director Simon West, who has brought such films as Con Air and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider to the screen.

Check out the first trailer for the film after the jump, and be sure to catch The Mechanic in theaters on December 15th.

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Even with SXSW Film being just over a week away, more events are still being added to the already impressive program. This time around it was revealed today that Robert Rodriguez and Director Nimród Antal will present a “first look” at their upcoming movie Predators during the fest, which is a reboot of the film originally starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Said Rodriguez about the event: “My director Nimród Antal and I are excited to bring this first look at Predators to Austin’s SXSW Film Festival, an event that’s become vital to the filmmaking scene. Austin is my home and I’m proud that Predators was conceived and filmed here.”

In addition, it was also announced that the world premiere of Géla Babluani’s 13 would take place during SXSW as the previously announced Super Secret TBA screening. The event is part of the SX Fantastic midnight section.

The Predators “first look” will take place on Friday, March 12th at the Alamo Ritz Theater in Downtown Austin at 10:15pm and will also include a Q&A session after the event. The screening of 13 will take place at Midnight on Saturday, March 13 at the Alamo South Lamar Theater. We advise getting in line early for both of these events.

Also, be sure to check back here at The Flickcast for our extensive coverage of this years SXSW Fest.

For more info on these events, check out the full press release after the jump.

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We here at The Flickcast have all been pretty excited at the prospect of Sylvester Stallone writing, directing and starring in basically the quintessential action film with the quintessential “who’s who” of action stars. There was a trailer leak for the film about a month ago, which was almost instantly taken down by the studio. But it looks like the first full trailer is here and here to stay.

The film is about a group of black ops agents who go up against an evil Eric Roberts and a third world country dictator. The premise isn’t really important, considering that the film brings together the LARGEST GROUP OF ACTION STARS EVER.

Starting at the top, the film features Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Randy Couture, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Danny Trejo, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. This cast is enough to make any action film fan salivate.

Check out the very first official trailer of the film after the jump. Be sure to catch Sly and company in the action-packed Expendables in theaters on August 20th, 2010.

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Though the term “bootleg” gets thrown around often in a negative light when it comes to the internet, sometimes it can be the only way to see footage from one of the most buzzed about films in production today. Of course, that film is Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables.

The action packed film stars Stallone, Jason Statham, Steve Austin, Randy Couture, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Terry Crews, Eric Roberts, with special cameos from Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The phone-shot trailer, shot in a theaters in Venice, shows off some of the action and comedy that we can expect to see in the film.

Check out the trailer after the jump, and enjoy the line “Bring it, Happy Feet!” from a yelling Sly.

The Expendables hits theaters August 20th of next year.

UPDATE: Well, that didn’t take long. The trailer is now gone. We’ll try to find another link.

Update 2: Here’s another link. Get it while its hot.

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With all the sometimes disappointing and questionable remakes, reboots and do-overs coming out of Hollywood these days, sometimes its nice to get news of a reboot and actually be happy about it. What am I talking about? Well, according to The Risky Business Blog, The Dark Knight producer Charles Roven and Transporter producer Steve Chasman are teaming up to bring Remo Williams (aka “The Destroyer”) back to the big screen.

According to the report, the producers have enlisted Charley and Vlas Parlapanides, who are currently writing the action film War of Gods, to take on the screenplay based on the first book in the massive Destroyer novel catalog — which was written by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir in the 70s and 80s. In case you’re not familiar with The Destroyer, it concerns New Jersey cop Remo Williams, who’s convicted of a crime he didn’t commit.

Williams is sentenced to the electric chair, but his death is faked so he can become The Destroyer, a vigilante who joins a top-secret group of assassins set up by the government to operate outside the law. With the help of Chiun, his Korean mentor and a deadly assassin himself, Williams goes on missions for the government and takes his revenge on the criminal underworld and those who framed him.

As a big fan of the books and the original movie starring Fred Ward as Remo Williams and Joel Grey as Chiun, I’m pretty happy that The Destroyer is getting another chance at the big screen. Its a great story and one that, if done well, can be very entertaining and action-packed. No word yet on who will take on the role of Remo Williams. However, with the two producers involved, might it potentially be either Christian Bale or Jason Statham? It could happen and if it does, we’ll bring you all the news.

2009 has been pretty heavy with blockbusters so far. But when it comes to preposterous action movies, the list begins and ends with Crank 2: High Voltage, the sequel to 2006’s Crank. While this movie may have been pretty ridiculous from start to finish, it was still a fun and entertaining way to spend 85 minutes and $10. There isn’t much to the movie story-wise (it’s no Casablanca), but it certainly did the franchise justice and may not even be the last time we see these characters.

For those not “in the know”, the original Crank was about Jason Statham’s character, Chev Chelios, being injected with a synthetic poison that forced him to keep his adrenaline pumping in order to stay alive. This new film essentially keeps the same premise, but ups the ante by replacing Statham’s heart with an artificial one, and the only way he can stay alive this time is to keep the mechanical heart electrified — by any means necessary. Even for a comic book movie, this premise would seem farfetched. But one of the great things about this film is how it doesn’t take itself seriously at all. This becomes abundantly clear when one of the lines in the movie describes Statham’s character as “the guy from that Transporting movie”.

The movie continues with it’s video game-like action to a point where you feel it could easily be a live-action adaptation of the Grand Theft Auto video game series. Statham defies just about every action movie conceit and would probably make even John McClane cringe. The use of ultra-violence, excessive nudity and more “f*cks” than you can shake a stick at didn’t diminish in this sequel and are, in fact, even more abundant this time around.

Even with all the over-the-top action, violence and nudity, the film does offer a great number of interesting cameos. From Corey Haim to David Carradine, Ginger Spice and John de Lancie (Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Q), the movie pulls no punches when it comes pumping up it’s C-List celebrity quotient.

There isn’t really a whole lot to pick apart in this film. It is what it is. I suppose the worst thing you could say about it is that if it were a Troma movie, I wouldn’t have blinked twice. The ridiculousness of Crank 2: High Voltage had the audience both laughing and cringing at the same time but it is a great movie to run out to on a weekday afternoon if you’ve got nothing better to do. Or, if you want to make it an even better experience, after a few drinks.

After all this, where could they possibly go for a third film? Of course, nobody really knows what’s in the minds of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the film’s writers and directors. But if I were throwing out ideas for the next one, may I suggest Crank 3: Diabetes?

Verdict: B+