Drctd by: Simon West; Starring: Jason Statham, Ben Foster; Wrttn by: Lewis John Carlino
Released: January 28th, 2011 (USA)
Run Time: 88 min.
Rating: R
Synopsis: Set in modern times, Arthur Bishop is a professional assassin who sets his kills up as accidental. After the death of Arthur's best friend Harry, he soon finds himself partnering up with Steve McKenna, the son of his best friend as they attempt to take down the boss who set up Harry's death to begin with.
***
Where do I begin? This film is a genuine R-rated action flick - nudity, sex, heavy violence, drugs and alcohol along with a Chihuahua. If you're an action movie buff like I'm am, then you would be doing yourself a disservice by skipping out on arguably my favorite Statham film but let's get into that, shall we?
The film never does a good job of explaining anything, although not all movies should. The Mechanic is one that shouldn't, everything that it doesn't explain should be figured out on the spot which helps to advance the drama littered throughout the film. Sounds tough? Don't worry, it gets easier as the movie goes on. The film opens up to Arthur Bishop (Jason Statham) killing a drug lord. Simple enough, but the business in which Bishop works in will only pay its hired hitmen if the targets are eliminated as discreetly as possible. Of course the main character is incredibly adept at this job and to kill the drug lord, he hid himself inside of the pool before the baddie ever jumped in, held a shiny watch to attract the criminal deeper into the pool before strangling the poor fellow until his lungs overflowed with water. No one ever sees Bishop enter, no one sees him leave but the body floats to the top as it is ruled an accidental drowning.
Bishop later meets up with his mentor Harry McKenna (Donald Sutherland) who looks and plays his role very well despite what little screentime he ends up having. They talk about Harry's son who is ruled out as a disappointment but hang on, Bishop has a new target. After meeting with his boss, he's given a very special target to eliminate...Harry McKenna. Shocking, I know. It's revealed to Bishop that McKenna was responsible for the death of three other assassins in a failed mission in Cape Town, South Africa as he reportedly snitched on his partners. Already being paid, Arthur Jason Bishop Statham finds himself alone with Harry only to kill him. Also, did I mention Harry is confined to a wheelchair? Brutal. Harry was also carrying a gun which had the words "Amat victoria curam" embedded onto the barrel, a Latin phrase which roughly translates to "Victory loves prepardness". Bishop-Statham is introduced to Harry's son, Steve (Ben Foster), at Harry's gravesite which begins a relationship between the two. No, not that kind. Steve is later taken up by Arthur to learn the ways of the hired assassin as they take down criminal after criminal.
Everything is going well until Arthur finds one of the men supposedly killed in the Cape Town mission. Sorry, Harry. After dealing with him, Arthur embarks on a road to redemption to kill his own boss for misleading Arthur into the death of his best friend and mentor. Steve just kinda tags along too, it's never explicitly explained that he knows the big boss, Dean (Tony Goldwyn) is the name by the way, had set up for the murder of his father but that's just the way this movie rolls. While preparing to kill this mongrel, Steve finds out that Arthur had been the one that killed his father. Steve never knew who killed his father as he was led to believe that Harry died while involved in a shoot-out with some carjacker. How does he find out? He finds his father's "Amat victoria curam" gun in Arthur's garage. After disposing the boss in an admittedly disappointing fashion, the movie throws a curveball as Steve sets up the death of his own mentor, by dousing the side of their truck in gasoline (they were filling up, might as well before the prices rise again) and then shooting the liquid with his father's gun igniting flames and exploding the truck they were in. Of course, Statham Arthur Jason Bishop never dies so he instead does a ninja-roll minutes before being engulfed in flames and does a whole switch-a-roo by killing Steve instead in the long-run.
I would rather not delve too deep into details as the movie is good in what it does, R-rated action scenes. Sex scenes, two of them. And a nude lesbian make-out on a computer. Also, a little bit of gay sex. Again, R-rated action film. The acting isn't awful, but it isn't Oscar-worthy either. It's above-average enough to warrant people to say, "Well that wasn't so bad" or even "That was a good movie." I noticed a heavy use of the color yellow in lighting and wallpaper and even clothing. I have no idea on the significance of the color but it does look great on a high-definition display. Ben Foster does a good job at leveling out Jason Statham's rocky attitude by being the comedic, drunkard.
The action scenes are your typical Jason Statham action scenes. A lot of gunfights and quick-cuts hand-to-hand combat. I really dislike the quick-cuts of Statham's martial arts scenes in every single one of his movies. Especially, the Transporter series. It detracts from the impact of the scene, it's chaotic, it's disorienting, and it just doesn't look good. I want to say that I've been spoiled by Jackie Chan and Donnie Yen in the way they set-up their fights by pulling the camera back and carefully choreographing their battles no matter the length of the fight, but I guess it's a lot to ask for and I should just accept Statham for who he is, and that's a Hollywood martial-artist.
The plot is well done, in my opinion, and never really reaches that level of "eye-rolling-ness" (copyrighted) as his previous films especially the Crank films. It's a step-up for the man who's surrounded by solid performances in what hopefully is a rise in quality for his acting and even fighting chops. If you have about an hour and a half to spare and/or want to watch a recent action film, you wouldn't do any harm popping The Mechanic in. Just know that Statham always wins, his fights look crappy, the plot is great, Ben Foster almost has sex with a dude, sex scenes, and you should be fine. Be attentive for the subtle plot advancements too, it'll make the experience move along much more smoothly.
Ruling: 3/5
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