Susan Granger’s review of “The Mechanic” (CBS Films)
Director Simon West has remade Charles Bronson’s 1972 action/thriller with Jason Statham playing the assassin-for-hire.
Working with professional detachment, Arthur Bishop (Statham) is known as a “mechanic,” the best hit-man in the business. Adhering to his own strict, if amoral, code of ethics, he eliminates his victims with meticulous precision and disappears into a Louisiana bayou where he maintains a magnificent treetop home. Bishop is a methodical perfectionist whose goal is to make sure “nobody ever knows you were there.”
Over the years, his good friend, wheelchair-bound Harry McKenna (Donald Sutherland), has been his mentor within what’s known as The Company. But then Harry falls under suspicion by The Company’s head honcho, Mr. Dean (Tony Goldwyn), and Bishop is dispatched to kill him. Immediately regretful, Bishop befriends Harry’s surly, estranged son, Steve (Ben Foster), and impetuously takes him on as his protégé, a deal that’s met with disfavor by The Company as their chaotic capers continue.
Screenwriter Richard Wenk (“16 Blocks”) follows Lewis John Carlino’s original version, crafting a complicated, male-buddy plot, yet the frantic direction by Simon West (“Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” “Con Air”) so conventionally telegraphs what’s going to happen that there’s little suspense. Back in the ‘70s, Arthur Bishop’s lonely hired gun who seeks companionship was right in line with Clint Eastwood’s “Dirty Harry,” but now what’s missing is the female element, which consists of two brief sex scenes with call girls. Yet what’s most strikingly different in this version is the conclusion, which opens up the possibility of a sequel.
Brawny Jason Statham obviously enjoys typecasting, since he’s done similar scowling, stone-faced turns in “The Expendables,” “Crank” and “The Transporter.” Best remembered for his performances in “The Messenger” and “3:10 to Yuma,” Ben Foster oozes deceptively vengeful retribution. Donald Sutherland, as always, gives convincing support. And it’s worth noting that producers David Winkler and Bill Chartoff inherited the project from their fathers, Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Mechanic” is a faltering 4: mindless brutal mayhem, signifying very little.
