MOVIE OF THE WEEK #1 (1/28/11): THE MECHANIC
Credit: © 2011 CBS Pictures. All Rights Reserved.
KEY CAST MEMBERS: Jason Statham, Ben Foster, Donald Sutherland, Tony Goldwyn, Jeff Chase, Mini Anden and James Logan
WRITER: Richard Wenk and Lewis John Carlino (1972 original and 2011 remake)
DIRECTOR: Simon West
WEB SITE: http://www.themechanicmovie.com/
THE PLOT: A remake of the 70s flick of the same name starring Charles Bronson, this version of The Mechanic stars Jason Statham as Arthur Bishop. As the title suggests, Arthur (a lover of vinyl records who lives in isolation) is a "mechanic"- a.k.a. a hitman who can make any death look like an accident with no signs of foul play. Working for a secret organization run by a man simply named Dean (Tony Goldwyn), Arthur is cool, calm and most importantly, calculated ... For everyone has a weakness - and it's his job to exploit it to their demise.
But following the death of his mentor Harry (Donald Sutherland), Arthur finds himself with the presence of a new, unexpected figure in his life: Harry's son Steve (Ben Foster). A drug and alcohol abusing loose cannon, Steve is full of rage with no where to unleash it - until Arthur reluctantly takes him in as his apprentice, that is.
What ensues is a story of revenge, potential redemption ... And a WHOLE lot of intense violence along the way.
THE TAKE: First things first, unless your significant other is a huge Jason Statham, UFC/MMA fan or really enjoys watching people get stabbed, impaled, shot, The Mechanic is about as far away as you can get from the idea of being a "date movie."
There are parts of The Mechanic that are, for an action movie, intellectual as one might ever get, almost on a Collateral like level. At the same time, those are not the moments you are going to remember. No, your memories will likely rather be filled with the sheer brutality of the film's fighting/shooting sequences, even though there is one that turns out to be much less physically intense that you are led to believe it will be.
For when Statham and/or Foster decide it's time to wreck shop, good gravy to they pull out all the stops ... And knives ... And guns ... And pretty much anything else you can use to impale, stab, shoot someone and/or break their bones/choke them to death. I really can't overstate this enough, these are some INTENSE fights/shootouts/deaths, so be prepared!
What might be surprising, however, is that for an action movie, The Mechanic has no real glaring plot or acting problems. For in playing it cool, Statham is perfect is setting a precedent for Foster to exhibit his intense (and downright creepy at times) performance. Foster kind of makes the film by showcasing how he is Arthur's polar opposite - completely reckless, full of rage and borderline psychopathic. Foster's portrayal is one of the best you'll find in a movie of this nature without being cartoonish, and that's saying something.
Whether or not you like the film will likely rely on two things: [1] The aforementioned unflinching violence and [2] Your response to each character's varying degrees of morality. Whereas Arthur is a hitman, he has his own code of ethics and morals; given that most of the other characters' morals are even more self-serving than his own, Arthur is prepped up to be the good guy in a film full of baddies, if you don't like Arthur, you're likely really not gonna like his "friends!"
On the other hand, if you like a smart (and yes, I use that term loosely given the film's subject matter), action-packed movie that doesn't insult your intelligence story-wise, The Mechanic might be able to repair a winter movie season that's off to a slow-ish start.
PARTING SHOT: Hyper-violence issues aside, The Mechanic delivers an action-packed product guaranteed to work as intended.
RATING (OUT OF FOUR POSSIBLE BUCKETS OF POPCORN):
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