Simon West

British director Simon West was the guiding hand behind a string of highly polished action-thrillers in the late 1990s and early 2000s, including "Con Air" (1997), "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" (2001), and the popular TV series "Human Target" (Fox, 2010-11). A former director of commercials and music videos, West brought the skills from those mediums to his feature film work, which resulted in fast-paced, visually striking movies that succeeded on purely visceral levels. Despite sometimes threadbare scripts, audiences rarely had time to breathe between action set pieces in "The Mechanic" (2011) or the barrage of shock effects in his 2006 remake of "When A Stranger Calls." West's streak of hits began to falter after "Stranger Calls," but the director, who also produced numerous TV-films and pilots, remained in demand for his numerous strengths: breakneck pace, jaw-dropping stunts and minimal plot to distract from the spectacular action West put on to brilliant display.