Stallone Eyes The Mechanic

Sylvester Stallone in Rocky IV director's cut
(Image credit: United Artists Releasing)

I don’t quite get Sylvester Stallone’s obsession with Charles Bronson flicks these days. First the aging action actor signed on to remake Death Wish and now there’s word that Sly wants to take on The Mechanic, a story of an aging hitman’s friendship with a younger man who is looking to get into the game.

Although a timetable on the remake isn’t known, Dark Horizons has some interesting news on considerations for the younger man who would act opposite Stallone. According to their source, MGM is looking at a range of young talent, from Ryan Gosling and Cillian Murphy to Ben Foster and Elijah Wood. All of those are decent names, but I can’t picture a single one of them committing to a Stallone picture. Well, maybe Foster – he was a part of Hostage, after all, but Wood and Gosling seem like a pipe dream to me.

Stallone really seems to be embracing his rising age, but I just don’t know if shadowing Bronson’s career is the right direction for the Rambo star. I think I liked him better when he was willing to poke fun at himself with movies like Spy Kids 3-D over attempting to recapture his action star days. And didn’t Stallone already play the retired hitman in The Specialist, and Assassins, and….