PTG Movie Review: The Mechanic

The Mechanic
Starring Jason Statham, Ben Foster, Tony Goldwyn, Donald Sutherland
Produced by Robert Chartoff, William Chartoff, Irwin Winkler, David Winkler
Written by Richard Wenk, Lewis John Carlino
Directed by Simon West

Maybe we really have no right to criticize Jason Statham for doing what he does time and time again in his films. After all, he seems infinitely bankable no matter what type of film project he signs onto, he’s consistent and believable in his roles (except when the script calls for the unbelievable, i.e. The Transporter series), and he’s one of this film generation’s few true “action heroes”, which is to say he’s an A-lister in Hollywood with whom we identify primarily with action films, as opposed to other actors who occasionally play action roles but just as often take on dramatic or comedic turns. Not bad for a one-time Olympic swimmer and later black marketeer. He does what he does and he does it well, so more power to him, right? Right.

So I won’t criticize him.

I’ll just focus on the movie around him, instead, since there’s plenty to work with there.

“The Mechanic” falls toward the opposite extreme from Statham’s popular Transporter and Crank movies. While those movies are characterized by their insane, over-the-top set pieces and storytelling, “The Mechanic” tells a relatively restrained story, with the quiet, steely-eyed Statham at its center as Arthur Bishop, a “mechanic” (hitman) who regards his “assignments” (murder contracts) with the same precision and care that he displays when caring for and playing his vinyl records of piano sonatas or working on his prize vintage sports car. Bishop lives and works alone, and the film does take its time illustrating his deliberate isolation from people (though he is shown taking care of people who help him along the way, a bottle of scotch here, a chihuahua in need of a home there …). His only true “friend” seems to be Harry McKenna (Donald Sutherland), a wheelchair-bound bigwig in the “company” that employs Bishop and sends him on his assignments. We get a sense that the men are friends because during a meeting with McKenna, Bishop brings up McKenna’s son Steve (Ben Foster), with whom the elder man seems to have little feelings for save disappointment. After Harry’s sudden death, Steve encounters Bishop and expresses an interest in his trade:

“I want to know what you know.”

“You can read about it. It’s all over the internet.”

“I don’t want to read it. I want to DO it.”

Bishop has his reasons for finally taking Steve under his wing, and what follows is Steve’s apprenticeship and initiation into the world of being a mechanic, and immediately afterward a confrontation with the people who ordered Harry’s demise, as certain facts inevitably come to light and Bishop goes and does something he advised Steve earlier in the film would get a professional in their line of work killed: he seeks revenge.

The movie does what it does competently–it never lags, nor does it ever feel rushed. The fight scenes are, as you might expect from Statham, visceral and bone-crunchingly brutal. Through it all Statham stares coldly and walks boldly; in other words, he plays to his strengths. The rest of the cast turns in similarly workman-like performances, Foster as the angry, maladjusted Steve who enjoys the brutality of the work a little too much (”I’ve always had this anger. Now I’ve got a place to put it.”), and Sutherland as the world-weary contractor with a soft spot for his most reliable employee.

Where this movie falls short is in the “fun” factor. The whole thing moves along smoothly, like the “machine” Harry says that Bishop is, but there’s very little humor along the way to lighten the proceedings, and if last year’s big budget action hits taught us anything, it’s that humor is needed to make these movies really click with audiences. For example, as bloated as “The Expendables” (Statham’s last big screen project prior to this film) felt compared to this lean-and-mean “Mechanic”, at least screenwriter Sylvester Stallone included some moments of levity and fun in his script to keep things from becoming too moribund. A better example might be Statham’s own “Crank” movies; say what you want about the level of absurdity in their premises, but both of those movies never fail to bring the “fun”, and thus are remembered fondly by fans of Statham’s films, including Hollywood studio execs who made tons of money on those movies.

The other route you can go with this type of material is the route of the thoughtful, probing character drama, a route that George Clooney’s “The American” took last summer with a very similar character at its center. However, that movie made Clooney’s isolation, emotional disconnect, and paranoia the centerpiece of the film, rather than fight scenes and explosions, and thus ends up regarded more as a thriller than an action film. Ironically, the original version of “The Mechanic“, made in 1972 by the same Chartoff/Winkler production team that can be found in the credits of the new film and starring the late Charles Bronson as Bishop and pre-Airwolf Jan-Michael Vincent as Steve, also took a more cerebral, almost existential approach to the characters and the lives they lead.

The production team of the 2011 version deliberately chose to avoid philosophizing and instead focused on updating the material with more stunts and fight scenes, more gun battles and explosions. The end product thus fails to transcend the realm of “just ‘eh’”. Will the film bore you? Not likely. Will you regret spending your money on it? If you like action films, probably not.

But are you likely to be talking about the movie with your friends months and years later as one of Statham’s best? Are you likely to keep it tuned in if you come across it playing on cable TV in a few years?

Most likely no. In fact, seeing it on will most likely put you in the mood to watch a more enjoyable Statham movie, like Crank.

Grade: C+