Review - The Mechanic

The Mechanic (2011), R, 93 minutes - The Mechanic is the latest entry into the Jason Statham library of action flicks as well as being a remake of the 1972 Charles Bronson film of the same name. I haven't seen Bronson's original so I won't be able to compare and contrast (although I am curious to see it now).

Statham plays Arthur Bishop, a hitman, an assassin, but prefers to be called a 'mechanic' because he 'fixes problems'. He works for an organization that employs many mechanics that carry out assignments that range anywhere from personal grudges to political gain.

After one job, Arthur takes his mentor's (Harry McKenna played by Donald Sutherland) lost and underachieving son Steve (Ben Foster) under his wing. He teaches Steve what it takes to be a mechanic and even let's Arthur carry out one of his assignments. Steve develops a taste for a mechanic's work and begins helping Arthur with jobs, which the organization that Arthur works for frowns upon. They then set their sights on Arthur and Steve and begin to find out just how good they are at what they do.

The Mechanic pulls you in pretty quickly, with a unique hit man sequence. Statham and Foster both turn in what could be chalked up as their 'usual' performances. Statham the bad-ass, action hero and Foster as an unhinged, wandering soul of a tough guy. When it's all said and done, The Mechanic is a pretty entertaining action flick. In my opinion it's Statham's best flick since 2008's The Bank Job (yes, The Expendables was great fun, but we all know that was Stallone's movie no matter who else helped out).

If you like Statham, Foster, or just a well done actioner, The Mechanic is worth checking out.

*****SPOILERS*****

- Just a couple quick thoughts. I really enjoyed the scene where Arthur talks his mentor through his 'escape'. Even though it was pretty predictable in how it would end, it was believable that Arthur might try and tip Harry off.

- What I enjoyed even more than that was the delay in the car bomb that Arthur set for Steve back at the house. While watching, as soon as the car sputtered when Steve tried to start it, I immediately thought 'car bomb!'. Nothing happened and just as I started thinking 'interesting, they're going to let him get away with it' - KABOOM!

- There wasn't much doubt in my mind that Arthur didn't meet his demise in the gas station explosion. You don't tell a story showing how bad-ass and prepared for contingencies he is to have him fell prey to something like that.

- I did have one problem with the movie, and I guess I can overlook it considering I really enjoyed the rest of it, but I have never seen so much assassin work in a film where the hitman/hitmen wear no gloves and leave fingerprints everywhere. There's really no way any of the crime scenes could have been left as anonymous as the story would make us believe.