THE MECHANIC

Photos courtesy of CBS Films
An assassin trains his mentor’s son at his own sadistic trade in the action remake THE MECHANIC.

Jason Statham is Arthur Bishop, an assassin who’s mentor Harry, played by Donald Sutherland, is double-crossed and murdered. Following his death, Harry’s son Steve, played by Ben Foster, wants revenge and wants Arthur to teach him the tricks of the trade. Arthur reluctantly agrees, and eventually learns that Steve will be a difficult pupil.

In standard action movies, there are good guys and bad guys. In THE MECHANIC, there are bad guys and worse ones. This proves to be the Achilles Heel of the film, a film which demands a rooting interest.

The setup is simple enough to establish a hero and a villain, but this remake, based on the 1972 Charles Bronson revenge flick, seems to relish the fact that all of its participants have an evil streak.

THE MECHANIC may have been able to get away with nary a hero had the action delivered the goods. The early scenes are the most interesting, with Arthur relying on his cunning skills to escape would be assailants. Steve isn’t the sly type though, so the latter scenes are less reliant on execution, and more on brute force. These scenes do not play as well, sacrificing suspense for shock value.

The performances are decent, yet unimpressive. Foster is solid, delivering a quirky and weird sense to Steve, while Statham is workmanlike, continuing to be Hollywood’s deadpan Bruce Willis.

The film concludes with a bit of a twist, but I was hoping for some form of personal redemption. THE MECHANIC could have used a bit of a tune-up.

Grade: C