The Mechanic

A remake of a 1972 Charles Bronson film, The Mechanic is a passable, workmanlike action thriller that knows what it's doing, but not much more than that. The 2011 film stars Jason Statham, an actor who I'm convinced with each passing film is getting paid by the amount he snarls on camera. He gets to snarl and sneer a lot here as Arthur Bishop, a professional hitman who specializes in silent kills, as we witness in the opening scene, where he takes out a Colombian drug lord in his own swimming pool, right under the noses of the drug lord's own armed guards.

Arthur returns home to New Orleans to hook up with his best friend and former mentor, Harry (Donald Sutherland). Right when we see Harry, we know he doesn't have a lot of time left in this movie for two key reasons. Reason no. 1 - He's in a wheelchair. People in wheelchairs tend not to last very long in action movies, especially those starring Jason Statham. And reason no. 2 - He's played by an actor like Sutherland, who's obviously too good for this material. We're right on both counts. Arthur gets his next job from his slimy boss, Dean (Tony Goldwyn), and the target for the job just happens to be Harry. Arthur seems conflicted about having to kill his friend, but eventually goes through with it. Harry at least is a good sport about it, saying he's glad Arthur is the one who gets to put a bullet in him.

Through dialogue, we learn that Harry had an adult son whom he was not on good terms with. Said son shows up after his father's death. That would be Steve (Ben Foster), who shows up before Arthur, wanting to learn his trade, as he wants to hunt down and kill the people who murdered his father. Of course, Steve doesn't know that Arthur is responsible. Regardless, Arthur takes him under his wing, and tries to teach him how to be an assassin. Problem is, Steve has a very violent mean streak, and would prefer to mangle his targets into a bloody mess, rather than silently sneak in and get the job done. Regardless of their differing approaches to killing people, the two become partners, especially when they go up against the corrupt Dean.

There's a lot of style and flash in The Mechanic, and director Simon West (who's past experiences in the action genre include Tomb Raider and Con Air) stages some impressive stunts, such as when Arthur and Steve have to escape a hotel after their presence is detected immediately following a successful hit. As impressively mounted as the film is, I found it hard to care about what was going on. That's because the movie is icy underneath. Everyone is a silent killer or dealing with murderous rage issues, and the script never bothers to dig much deeper than that into the cast. Don't get me wrong. Killers can and have made fascinating characters in movies before. But both Statham and Foster seem to be playing merely at the surface level. They sneer and look threatening, but there's nothing underneath.

To be fair, the movie does eventually turn into non-stop sound and fury, so we don't have time to complain that the characters in the middle of it all have no real personality. I guess this is the director's way of saying we shouldn't be putting too much thought into this film. It sure does get ridiculous, though. This is one of those movies where a garbage truck (driven by Arthur) can ram a car into a burning bus in the middle of a city street, and nobody seems to notice. (Nobody notices the bus being carjacked and exploding, either.) I know, I'm not supposed to be thinking about this kind of stuff. I'm just supposed to get caught up in the over the top action. I probably would have if I felt like I hadn't seen it all before. As impressive as the action usually is, it's never very original.

This review is just a formality, really. If you're in the mood for a mindless action film, The Mechanic will do just fine. I enjoyed some of the nonsense some of the time, but not enough for me to recommend. Still, it's fast-paced, it doesn't get bogged down in useless subplots, and a lot of stuff blows up. For most people who go see this movie, I assume that will be enough.

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