Movie Review: The Mechanic

The Mechanic (2011) 

Directed by Simon West

Written by Lewis John Carlino, Richard Wenk

Starring Jason Statham, Ben Foster, Donald Sutherland, Tony Goldwyn 

Release Date January 28th, 2011 

Published January 27th, 2011 

If by some chance you have managed to avoid every other movie about coolly efficient assassins who live alone like monks and share a warrior's code with old school samurais then you might find the new Jason Statham film “The Mechanic” interesting. If, however, you are like me and you have seen any hit man movie ever you will find nothing the least bit original or fascinating about this rehash of sub-genre cliché.

Jason Statham is Arthur Bishop a classical music fan who also happens to be the coldest of the cold blooded killers in the world. Arthur's specialty is hits that don't look like hits and in the opening montage we watch as Arthur murders the head of a South American cartel by making the death look like an accidental drowning. The murder is clever but more in a B-movie fashion than in the sleek, cool fashion the film seems to think it's pulling off.

Arthur's next hit will not be as efficient; he's been hired to kill his mentor. Harry McKenna (Donald Sutherland) taught Arthur all that he knows about killing people. But now that Harry is aging and in a wheelchair he has become a greedy liability to the higher ups who give the contract to Arthur out of a sense of decency and respect, or something. The expectation is that Arthur will make the old timer's death quick and painless.

Arthur has a son, Steve (Ben Foster), and though the two were not close Steve wants revenge for his father's death. Lucky for Arthur, the unpredictable, hot headed Steve doesn't know who killed his dad. Out of guilt or sympathy, Arthur takes Steve under his wing and begins teaching him the tools of the trade for a 'Mechanic,' aka assassin, a man who fixes problems.

Simon West directed “The Mechanic,” taking the bones of a forgotten Charles Bronson flick from the early 70's and taking out anything vaguely arty like the original's wordless 15 minute opening in which Bronson lays out a complicated kill and cover up without feeling the need to narrate the proceedings the way Statham's Arthur does temporarily and fitfully throughout the new film.

The original “The Mechanic” was no art-house film but it had more ambition than this knock off and in Bronson a more compellingly stoic and fascinating lead. Jason Statham's one note performance, compounded by the dull and needless voiceover, has the same lack of energy and innovation as Simon West's direction. It's a shame because Statham is capable of being a charismatic presence but The Mechanic sucks the life out of the bullet headed action hero. 

Ben Foster is the truly unfortunate one in “The Mechanic.” This talented young actor who has brought vitality and unpredictability to roles in other not so great movies like “Pandorum” as well as great movies like “3:10 to Yuma” and the military drama “The Messenger,” where he helped Woody Harrelson to an Oscar nomination, is stranded in the one note role in The Mechanic. Much like Statham, Foster is hamstrung by an uninspired script and Simon West's dull direction. 

Dreary, derivative, and deeply uninspired, The Mechanic is a complete failure. It's indicative of every other movie Simon West has directed, a dull, often insulting rehash of genre cliches, slickly produced with little care for character or storytelling.