Review of The Mechanic (2011) by Denise O — 17 Jan 2012

There's only one thing we've all come to expect from a movie that starts Jason Statham: Action and Adventure. We want the martial arts kick ass moves, the gun fire, the stunt driving, the pyrotechnics; seriously do we really need dialogue at all much less a plot?

In this remake of the 1972 Charles Bronson movie of the same name, Jason plays Arthur Bishop, a hitman working for some covert government agency (apparently we are chock full of them) who one day has to put a hit on his mentor and friend Harry McKenna, played by Donald Sutherland, a seasoned agent of the same company with an unpredictable son who can't hold down a job. After the elder's death, the younger McKenna, Steve, played by Ben Foster (3:10 to Yuma, Pandoram) runs into Arthur at the cemetary and vows revenge upon the man who did this to his father (not that he cared before, not even a card at Christmas, jeesh).

Out of a sense of guilt Arthur takes in young Steve and trains him in the ways of a hitman while, in the meantime, trying to sort out what happened to make Harry an enemy of the company he was so loyal to. As more layers unfold, Arthur uncovers deeper conspiracies that make him doubt the agency as young Steve begins to realize more and more that his mentor is also his father's assasin resulting in the powder keg ending we all know and love from Jason.

Pretty good for what it was but I wasn't upset when this one was bypassed by the Oscars this year.