BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Joanna Mccarty Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

paulclaassen If the handbook to film flaws was in the form of a film, this would be it. This film was just bad on every level. It is so overdone and unnecessarily violent. Jason Statham's character is so one-dimensional, it hurts. So much of the film just doesn't make sense and nothing seems to be justified. The ending renders most of the movie worthless leaving you with a sense of WTF! It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever why The Mechanic did what he did. I hated this film, in fact.

Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "The Mechanic" is an American English-language movie from 2011, so this one had its 5th anniversary last year. The director is Simon West who is from England, just like his lead actor Jason Statham in here and these two have collaborated on several occasions. The movie runs for slightly over 90 minutes and this already includes a great deal of closing credits, so it is really not a long movie at all. Last year there was a sequel, but that one got directed by German filmmaker Dennis Gansel actually. But back to this one here. The screenplay is by Richard Wenk and Oscar nominee Lewis John Carlino, who also wrote the original story here. Most known supporting players are Ben Foster, Donald Sutherland and Tony Goldwyn. I personally think that Ben Foster is among the most talented actors of his generation and has several really strong films in his body of work. Shame he did not get a major nomination yet as I believe he is severely underrated. Sadly, this movie we have here is not really a strong addition to his career. He has a great deal of screen time, but the script just won't allow him to shine as the longer the film goes the more it is really just about the action and about making Statham look as cool and badass as possible.But they screwed up with the general plot idea already. They certainly tried all they could to justify Statham's contract killer character only being the messenger by telling everybody that Sutherland's character had to die anyway and all, but still it is tough to believe that Foster's character, the son of the victim is really not mad at all when it comes to Statham, has only the intention to kill the ones who ordered the murder. Then again, the ending which is interesting somehow with the major plot twist justifies this a little bit. But the very ending with the final explosion is one that once again completely lacks in substance and really only serves as means to make Statham('s character look good). In terms of the story and the character, there is very little (almost nothing) beyond the surface here and while the film early on had moments that somehow offered the opportunity for at least a decent crime action movie, it all was basically thrown away in the second half. Maybe Carlino, in his mid-80s now, is really way too far past his peak. But maybe also Wenk is the one to blame. Oh yeah, this film here is somewhat of a remake of the then almost 40-year-old film with the same title starring Charles Bronson. haven't seen that one, so I cannot say if it is any better. But this one here also shows that Statham is probably not an actor that can make an action movie work as a lead actor if the material is not really good. He seems to be pretty limited in range. Luckily (I guess), they did not include a weak romance story line here, but focused on all the male characters instead and the outcome was still pretty bad. I guess they did include romance in the sequel I mentioned earlier as that one is co-starring Jessica Alba. But judging from the quality of this first film here, it never should have been made and you can use this reference for the second and first film I guess. Money makes the world go round. Sad state of affairs. It summarizes this movie perfectly that the only awards recognition it received is for its stunts. Enough said. Don't watch.

Tss5078 In recent years, Director Simon West has become known for turning simple action movies into big hits, thanks his unique story lines. The story doesn't actually mean as much in action films as it does in other genres, because as long as people are getting killed and things are blowing up, most action fans are satisfied. Simon West wasn't and in recent years, he has given us some great stories to go along with the amazing action. His most recent film is actually a remake of the 1972 Charles Bronson classic, by the same name. The Mechanic is a code name for CIA hit-man, Arthur Bishop (Jason Statham). For years, the Mechanic has gotten the job done without question, until one day his next target is revealed as his mentor. The stories are similar, but the special effects and action moves are much more intense, and we have Jason Statham to thank for that. This man has single handedly taken action films to another level. For those unfamiliar, the man speaks several different languages, is trained in dozens of forms of fighting, and he's quick with a joke, many of which are unscripted. Every film Statham does is entertaining for his tremendous moves and unpredictability. The Mechanic gives Statham the chance to show off his talents and for that, I loved it, but trying to modernize the original story without changing it all that much, makes things feel a little outdated. I found many things to be tame by today's standards and the film itself does suffer because of it. Statham is paired with Ben Foster and that's problematic for the film as well. Foster is not known as an action star, he's the complete opposite of Statham, and in this case opposites do not attract, they had no chemistry whatsoever. In my opinion, Jonathan Rhys-Myers or Alex Pettyfer would have been a much better choice, but I am just a reviewer. That being said, the Mechanic isn't a bad movie, it has all the moves and wit of a typical Statham movie, but the story is more than a little outdated and aside from Statham and Sutherland, the casting left a lot to be desired.

RobertBerg When I saw this DVD in the used DVD rack, I didn't realize that, even though it had the same name, it really is a poor remake of the Charles Bronson, Jan Michael Vincent classic. (Hollywood, could you possibly find an original thought in your collective heads?) Oh, the cinematography and shot designs are modern, and Statham delivers a solid performance, but Foster as Steve McKenna NEVER convinced me he harbored an inner psychotic or had any real desire to be a hit man. In fact, his performance is more sophomoric than it is moody.In the original (1972), Bronson's brooding loner and Vincent's devil-may-care swagger make the story believable, and, ultimately, much more disturbing.Don't watch remakes...for the most part, they get made because a studio "suit" dusted off the earnings spreadsheet for the original and decided that the well could be tapped again for more dough. And, most of the time, they suck.