The Mechanic
DIRECTOR: Simon West
CAST: Jason Statham, Ben Foster, Tony Goldwyn, Donald Sutherland, Jeff Chase, Mini Anden, James Logan and Eddie J. Fernandez.
CLASSIFICATION: 16VN
RUNNING TIME: 93 min
RATING: **
The guy we now know as “the transporter”, who also had to do the Italian job and the bank job some time ago, returns to our screens as the mechanic. It is becoming a Jason Statham trend that he either has to do a ‘job’ (polite version of heist) or is a specialist at something. While in The Transporter movies his line of work was in moving goods from one point to the next, in The Mechanic he is an assasin who uses clever mechanics to make his victims’ deaths look accidental or not, depending on the given case. If you are an avid movie goer then you already know this story is pointing in the direction of the Bangkok Dangerous plot. And like in the Nicolas Cage movie, here Statham’s character enrolls an unlikely understudy who learns the skills of the trade.
The story follows Arthur Bishop (Statham) a contract killer with exceptional talent. He gets jobs from a huge corporation from time to time and he manages to kill without leaving a trace. Things get complicated when the next hit is on his old friend Harry McKenna (Sutherland).
Like in The Italian Job, Statham and Sutherland are friends and again Sutherland’s character dies prematurely. Enter McKenna’s estranged son, Steve (Foster), who thirsts for the blood of his father’s killer. Bishop does not own up, but after a series of clues Steve catches on what really happened to his father.
Fans of Jason Statham are most likely to enjoy this; the rest of the world will find it forgettable. We know what to expect from Statham now: martial arts, car chase scenes and explosions. If you watch this movie with that information preset in mind, then it is going to feel like an extension of any of his earlier movies.
The action scenes are great and the countryside pictures are refreshing, but the plot is something you’ve seen before. Considering the film is a remake of an older 1972 original, one would think the story would bring something new to the genre. Besides, why make a remake anyway? Perhaps that’s a sign that Statham and his team are out of ideas.
It seems like he is falling in the typecasting well that drowned so many actors’ careers before him (Chuck Norris, Jean Claude Van Damme or Steven Seagal). Being a real life martial artist should not dictate that Statham should be kicking butt in every film. It’s not like Mariah Carey or Justin Timberlake sing in every film that they get involved in. It is time for Statham to play in lighter movies like the next Notting Hill or Serendipity 2.
Watch The Mechanic only if you want to know how all his other movies would look like if they were mashed up together.
If you liked … Bangkok Dangerous, The Transporter movies, Crank, The Italian Job and every other Jason Statham movie … then you will like this.