Film & TV

Film Review: The Mechanic

Rating: MA 15+

Running time: 92 minutes

Release date: 24 March 2011

The Mechanic is a remake of the Charles Bronson 1972 classic. In this 2011 version Jason Stratham is Arthur Bishop, an elite assassin for hire. When his mentor and friend Harry (Donald Sutherland) dies the normally detached Bishop feels surprisingly compelled to take care of Harry’s devastated son, Steve (Ben Foster). Steve trying to rebuild his life, begs Bishop to teach him his “mechanical” ways resulting in them becoming killing partners. However in a game where the stakes are high, deception lurks which usually unravels but to who’s undoing?

Directed by Simon West (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Con Air) with screenplay by Richard Wenk and Lewis John Carlino the film is action over substance. Unfortunately the story is full of plot problems such as why would Bishop take on a troubled, unpredictable alcoholic like Steve. Also as a trained professional why would he be as careless as to leave incriminating evidence to be discovered? Instead this film relies purely on the high action, fast cars, hot sex, pumping machine guns and gratuitous violence with the storyline just a passing consideration. The target audience, based on this is likely to be 16-28 year old males who will, for obvious reasons, get over excited. Jason Statham (Transporter, The Expendables) is good as the emotionally detached hit man, as no acting is actually required. Luckily Stratham has a magnetic screen presence and great abs which meet the basic prerequisites required for this role. Ben Foster (3:10 to Yuma) is well cast as his sidekick as he can provide enough emotional heart to compensate for Statham’s lack of.Donald Sutherland, in a small part, is obviously cast to lend some weight and credibility to this pure action flick, which he achieves to an extent.

If you don’t care about a story or the predictability of the unfolding events, with the added bonus of unadulterated violence and gore, with breasts thrown in for good measure, then you are sure to enjoy the pure titillated action.

2.5/5 stars

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