The Mechanic (2011)

Introduction

The number of remakes coming out of Hollywood these days is phenomenal, I suspect we'll hit critical mass before long and there'll be more remakes than original films being released. I'm not quite sure we're that near saturation point yet though. Still, it's bad enough when you know of high profile/classic films that are being re-made/re-booted, but it would appear that more films are being re-made than you may be aware of. In 1972, Charles Bronson starred in a film called The Mechanic that was produced by Michael "Calm down, dear" Winner. This year, Tomb Raider director Simon West has brought his vision of Bronson's film to the silver screen, or not as it appears to be a direct to DVD/BD release.

Arthur Bishop (Jason Statham) is a Mechanic, an elite Agency assassin with a talent for clinically and cleanly eliminating whichever target is assigned to him with deadly skill and complete emotional detachment. Bishop's professional view is that the identity of his target is irrelevant because if he doesn't complete his assignment, it'll be passed to someone else. Bishop's personal life is void of any real commitments or relationships, in fact his only real real relationship is that already forged with his mentor and friend Harry McKenna (Donald Sutherland), a wheelchair-bound Agency man.

Inevitably, then, McKenna is marked for termination by his superiors and Bishop given the assignment. Bishop insists on checking the validity of the assignment before proceeding and is informed by Agency head Dean (Tony Goldwyn) that McKenna was responsible for betraying an Agency operation in Iran that left five operatives dead, showing his pictures of the dead team that included people he knew. As an utter professional, Bishop puts his feelings to one side and reluctantly carries out his assignment, with his old friend seemingly content that it would be Bishop to put him out of his misery.

Shortly afterwards, McKenna's son Steve (Ben Foster) appears back on the scene. Despite being a disappointment to his father, McKenna is after revenge for his father's death and Bishop stops him from killing a random carjacker by mistake (carjacking being the cover for the assassination of the elder McKenna). Steve persuades Bishop that he is ready to commit to something that would make his father proud and asks Bishop to teach him the tricks of the trade. Despite reservations that he is cut out for the precise clinical work he is renowned for, Bishop reluctantly takes Steve under his wing.

Despite not having the same clinical skill or caution as Bishop, Steve does enough to persuade Bishop to take him on as his partner, something that may come back to bite him. Bishop subsequently learns that Dean has lied to him about McKenna's guilt and vows to take revenge. Meanwhile, Steve has his own suspicions on just who might have killed his father...

Picture/Sound

Couple of layer problems on the review disc that hopefully will be ironed out in the retail version, slight delays in layer changes - approx. three in total. There were also what appeared to be some stutters at the start of the film, but that turned out just to be West's decision to include some stop/motion jerkiness.

The 5.1 Surround track is dynamic enough, although subtitles are included (I much prefer to watch films with subtitles on as default).

Extras

Trailer

Making Of - apparently Statham gets a lot of respect for doing most of his own stunts, his background as an Olympic high diver is used to explain this partly (although I can't quite see the connection unless it's just a general fearlessness). Foster also gets some kudo's for replicating a 300m drop from a tall building on a thin wire - Statham naturally did it first.

Deleted Scenes - none of which are really deleted. The first is an alternate opening sequence that makes a little of a mockery against the narration that the best jobs are usually those where they don't even notice you've been there. The other four are really extended scenes trimmed for pace, presumably - nothing taken out that would have made that much difference...

Overall

I'm not sure I've seen the 1972 version of this film, certainly not a memorable film for me if I have, but I never realised until I got the PR blurb that this was a remake. I just assumed it was another typical low-ish budget action vehicle for Jason Statham. It doesn't feel like a remake either, but then it's a really a fairly generic action film so hardly surprising really. The action sequences are satisfying enough and Statham adds to his reputation as an action star.

There is a huge plot hole here that I can't quite reconcile, although it may have been better explained in the Bronson original. This hole is Statham's adoption of Foster and the decision to train him as a mechanic. Why? Maybe guilt, but it's clear that whilst Foster's character has a natural flair for picking up the tricks of the trade, he's not the precise and silent assassin that he needs to be in order to complete his missions without detection. So just why does Statham keep him on? This is annoying as I can't believe a dedicated professional assassin whose reputation for precision kills would allow an immature upstart to not only mess up his missions but almost get him killed in the process.

The action sequences themselves are pretty solid and I guess that this film will appeal to many fans of the genre. It's not original by any means but some of it is well implemented, even if I'm not sure that sticking Statham into a role made famous by Charles Bronson and allowing comparisons is one of his better career moves...