The Mechanic (Review)

No one can ever accuse Jason Statham of false advertising. In film after film he goes out and plays the exact same person doing the exact same things, yet he comes out the other end looking like one of the most reliable action stars we have. Even absolute dreck like The Expendables can be elevated to fun trash simply because of his presence, which is often self-aware but never over-the-top and jokey. Statham always seems to know he’s not exactly making The Seventh Seal, but he also knows how fun a solid action movie can be. His latest film, The Mechanic, features Jason Statham at his most Jason Statham-y. And that’s fine with me.

I first heard of The Mechanic back in January, when I saw the poster. In case you are unfamiliar, it features the large shape of a handgun made out of many smaller guns, all apparently orange. I saw the title of the film at the bottom of the poster, and before my eyes even found their way to the names at the top I immediately knew that Jason Statham was in this movie. I was right. This poster also told me that joining Mr. Statham would be youngster Ben Foster, and I immediately figured that he would be Statham’s protégé or something. When I finally found my way to a computer to watch the trailer, all my suspicions were confirmed. The Mechanic was to be an R-rated testosterone-fest that would immediately grow hair on the chest of all who paid for a ticket.

Indeed, The Mechanic is a whole lot of soulless fun, in which things go boom, brains go splat, women get slept with, and tough dudes walk in slow motion as things explode behind them. There’s nothing in The Mechanic that hasn’t been done before, but this is January, where films barely seem to elevate themselves to the level of moderate distraction. In this film wasteland, The Mechanic looks particularly attractive.

If you must know the “plot” of The Mechanic, it features Jason Statham as a hitman whose job is to make all kills look like accidents. Eventually he is assigned the job of killing his mentor, played by Donald Sutherland. He eventually does so, but he isn’t happy about it. Not long after, Statham meets Sutherland’s son played by Ben Foster. A new mentor/protégé relationship develops, and soon Statham and Foster are out killing people like nobody’s business, but it doesn’t always go according to plan.

From there it takes all the predictable turns, as Foster will likely find out who killed his father, and the truth behind the entire “mechanic” business will be revealed and so on. Yet The Mechanic has a kind of fearless energy that most films like this need. Not only does it have an R-rating; it openly flaunts it, throwing in computer-generated blood where it has no business existing. Most studios go out of their way to get a PG-13 rating (even my favorite movie of last year, The Social Network, was obviously cut in several places to get the lower rating), but The Mechanic has no interest in a broad audience. It simply wants all the dudes with nothing better to do.

The Mechanic was given to us by CBS Films, a studio that has given us such high-class fare as Extraordinary Measures, The Back-Up Plan and Faster. Now they have given us The Mechanic. Obviously, they’re not the most trailblazing of studios at the moment, and I don’t know if that will ever change, but at least The Mechanic isn’t brazenly safe. The film was directed by Simon West of Con Air fame, and he, like everyone else, is fully aware he’s making trash. When stuck in a project like this, the least you can do is try to make it a decently fun time at the movies for anyone who may pay to see it. In that arena, they’ve succeeded. In the middle of all this awards season insanity, sometimes you just need to sit back and watch Jason Statham blow things up.

Rating:  (out of 4)