Interestingly enough, 2011 has been a really good year for dumb, testosterone-fueled action movies. The genre recently found its Citizen Kane in the box office smash Fast Five, but earlier this year the Jason Statham vehicle The Mechanic served its purpose quite well. It doesn’t quite have the energy of Five, but it has enough dumb fun to go around. If you’re looking for a rental that requires little to no use of the brain, this is the film for you.
Jason Statham is a better actor than just about every film he’s been in, and it’s his energy that elevates The Mechanic to the level of entertaining trash. Sure, I’d pay good money to see him in a legitimately great movie, but until then crap like this will more than do. It also doesn’t hurt that Ben Foster—a good actor in his own right—plays his newfound protégé. The actors play the action out in as straightforward a manner as possible, and as a result the film becomes a good bloody time.
Not every moment is satisfying, but it doesn’t have to be. All I want from a film like The Mechanic is a whole lot of explosions and gunfire. When it’s as reasonably well-made as this, it’s hard to complain.
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