What can I say, I'm a big fan of action movies. Jason Statham is a force to be reckoned with, especially in the high-flying action genre, and I have been looking forward to him kicking ass for some time now. Simon West's The Mechanic was supposed to give me a fix. Unfortunately, the film is average at best.
Arthur Bishop (Jason Statham) is a 'mechanic' - an elite assassin with a strict code and unique talent for cleanly eliminating targets. Yet he is anything but detached when someone close to him is murdered. Bishop is in a complicated situation and revenge is the only thing on his mind, and though he's been a career loner, he gets help from a surprising source. A methodical hit man takes an impulsive student deep into his world and a deadly partnership is born. But while in pursuit of their ultimate mark, deceptions threaten to surface and those hired to fix problems become problems themselves.
What many people might not know is that The Mechanic is actually a remake of the 1972 film starring Charles Bronson. I am not a big fan of movie remakes and this film does not change my attitude about them. This is a typical Jason Statham movie in almost every imaginable way. It has a few cool explosions, but nothing so fantastic that people will remember the film long after it is played. It's interesting when it happens, but the excitement ceases as soon as it the adrenaline passes. It stages a few entertaining fight scenes, but the action never reaches a level that will impress the genre's most dedicated fans. The plot is average in terms of entertainment value, containing typical hit man movie twists and turns, stuff you've likely seen before.
To be honest I felt that the filmmakers knew their work was average and were surprisingly okay with it. Despite that notion, Jason Statham is still one of the best action heros in the business. While he gives a lot on his part, working his scenes to the extreme, everyone else falls way behind, leaving him to rescue the film from complete destruction.
Overall, The Mechanic is not going to raise the bar on action movies. I was really hoping to see the first hardcore 'guy' movie of the year and what I got was a film that I might consider watching on DVD on a slow night with nothing else to do.
