“Someone has to fix the problem.” And Jason Statham has a knack for playing characters who do.
In The Mechanic which hit theaters Jan. 28 Statham’s character Arthur Bishop takes the film’s tag line to heart. Bishop is a professional assassin — a “mechanic” who eliminates or “fixes” targets — seeking revenge for the murder of his close friend Harry played by the great Donald Sutherland.
Bishop comes across Harry’s son Steve played by Ben Foster who wants to join him on his search for Harry’s killers. Much to Bishop’s chagrin he lets Steve tag along teaching him the ropes of being an assassin throughout their journey. Bishop and Steve forge a partnership but what started out as a hunt for the “problem” turns into a battle to save them from being “fixed.”
It’s not a overly complex plot line especially since the film’s a remake of a 1972 movie with the same title. Director Simon West might not have had an original plot to work with but he did make some heavy changes.
And the changes come in the ridiculous amounts of violence and action stunts. The movie is completed with the “good the bad” and the “ugly.”
The acting was surprisingly good when you could rip your eyes away from the action-violence long enough to pay attention to the actors. Statham is always pretty believable as an action hero and this film is no different. Foster is a typically solid actor in all that he takes on. So together Statham and Foster make a great on-screen tag team. Their performances aren’t Oscar-worthy by any means but they make the movie bearable because they create three-dimensional characters instead of action junkies who are ridiculously unrelatable.
On the other hand the plot isn’t anything to get excited about and is “bad.” Besides the fact that it’s a remake — which makes most people weary to watch — it has all the elements of the usual action-thriller or you may call them clichés. For people okay with clichés then you”ll really like this movie. But for people who are tired of the same things — cue high-intensity chase scene artillery of sleek high-tech weapons and (often) unnecessary sexuality — The Mechanic probably isn’t the movie for you. But don’t get me wrong the movie does pull off all the clichés tolerably well.
The “ugly” in the film is all the violence. Yes it is an R-rated film but the violence overshadows pretty much everything else. I applaud West for going all out but sometimes it was just mind-numbing which is not exactly the feeling you want to get from watching a movie. Hopefully. Sometimes the whole ambience of the music paired with the violence made you forget why the violence was occurring in the first place. It was out of control. It’s an hour and a half of non-stop violence so if you’re not up for it maybe this movie is not the best idea.
But even though the violence was distracting at times it wasn’t tasteless. Audiences must remember the entire film revolves around an assassin so crazy fight sequences and ridiculously amounts of people getting slaughtered is to be expected.
Overall the movie was ok. It’s not something that deserves to be seen a second time in theaters but it is interesting and Statham does a great job. The plot twist gives the film an extra push as well especially if you’re new to the story and have never seen the original 1970s version.
If you are looking for a movie that’s fast-paced high-intensity and full of blood bodies and mad amounts of action this is your movie. If that’s not exactly your thing you won’t regret not shelling out that $15 to see it. And remember it’ll come out on DVD eventually.