Read Mixed User Reviews for The Mechanic (2011)

6

nutterjrAug 24, 2011

Exactly what is expected from a film with Statham in a leading role. Ben Foster is a good addition to the cast, and Sutherland senior is always a joy to watch.

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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5

grandpajoe6191Sep 23, 2011

"The Mechanic" is a action movie with mind blowing sequences and bad ass acting by Statham. The only problem is that the movie knows what it has to offer. In other words, the movie is considerably predictable.

3 of 4 users found this helpful31

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5

GarrettTannerFeb 7, 2011

At this point, when I go to a Jason Statham movie it is very hard to be disappointed.

The list of things that will be contained in such a film is short and sweet: car chases, gun fights, fist fights/martial arts and the occasional nudeAt this point, when I go to a Jason Statham movie it is very hard to be disappointed.

The list of things that will be contained in such a film is short and sweet: car chases, gun fights, fist fights/martial arts and the occasional nude scene.

Occasionally, there is a surprise where his films really kick it up a notch, like anytime Statham worked with British director Guy Ritchie or the very well conceived â… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

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5

TVJerryFeb 2, 2011

This is probably Jason Statham's worst film yet (and I'm a fan). He plays the typical hit man: a cold-blooded loner of few words who likes classical music. He teams up with Ben Foster (to add a bit of acting) and they pull off a few absurdlyThis is probably Jason Statham's worst film yet (and I'm a fan). He plays the typical hit man: a cold-blooded loner of few words who likes classical music. He teams up with Ben Foster (to add a bit of acting) and they pull off a few absurdly implausible kills. The atmosphere is glum and the action is violent without being particularly inventive.… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

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6

BikerjamesJan 31, 2011

Jason Stathom is the Clint Eastwood of Action flicks. He doesn't say much, his facial expression says it all. He doesn't stretch with this role - in fact they could have called it Transporter 4 with a few changes, but the partnership withJason Stathom is the Clint Eastwood of Action flicks. He doesn't say much, his facial expression says it all. He doesn't stretch with this role - in fact they could have called it Transporter 4 with a few changes, but the partnership with Ben Foster is a good change of pace. As Stathom movies go, this one is somewhere in the middle. Entertaining, holds your attention, but not his best, and a little too predictable.… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

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5

FDT44Jan 29, 2011

Statham does it again. Another au courant, fast-paced, high octane "Transporter" progeny whose on-screen action is so entralling that it's run-time seems to fade as swiftly as its direction. Like its cinematic predecessors, "The Mechanic "Statham does it again. Another au courant, fast-paced, high octane "Transporter" progeny whose on-screen action is so entralling that it's run-time seems to fade as swiftly as its direction. Like its cinematic predecessors, "The Mechanic " makes for a great popcorn action flick that never loses your attention, and leaves you in your seat anticipating and wanting more from Statham's tough guy mein. Contrarily, when viewed more closely, the same Hollywood errors are mainfested. The first of these is the lack of depth. Statham and Foster move from one hit assignment to the next without much happening in between the various sequences. One minute you see the two men holding up a photo of their next mission, and the very next scene you see them hacking into a building and carrying out their duty with untenable ability. And what about this infallibility? When we are first introduced to Foster, he is an anguished, morose, hate-driven young man whose only sense of continuity is the vengeance of his father's killer. We see this desperate young man seek counsel from Statham and in a blink of an eye, without the film's care to show how, is transformed into a merciless, killing machine with a repetoire of skills, so vast as if to be acquired over many years. But nonetheless, despite the display for such, Foster suddenly emerges as the perfect accomplice. Aside from the rushed, under-developed writing and substance, "The Mechanic" is a highly enjoyable treat for the everyday, casual moviegoer. For you, the movie has plenty of surprises, explosions, sex, and ass-kicking. Statham doesn't disappoint, and continues to awe audiences with his feral physicality and winsomely, reticent, yet palpable demeanor. Like any other film of the genre: get comfortable, leave your intellect at the ticket office, relax, grab some popcorn, and sit back as the 92 minute run-time unfolds before your very eyes. You're not going to want to miss a second!… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

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4

BShea423Mar 20, 2011

Pretty much your typical Jason Statham movie with your typical car chases gun battles and fights, but not as exciting. I felt like there could have been more intense action sequences and a more developed plot. The movie was entertaining onlyPretty much your typical Jason Statham movie with your typical car chases gun battles and fights, but not as exciting. I felt like there could have been more intense action sequences and a more developed plot. The movie was entertaining only because Statham was in it.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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4

ShiiraFeb 9, 2011

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The hitman wants some information and he won't accept silence as an answer. During a home invasion, it appears as if Arthur(Jason Stratham) will bring harm to an innocent girl, which runs contrary to his proclamation that he only goes after people who had it coming, but now, in a strange kitchen, we find the self-described mechanic threatening to grind a young woman's hand down the garbage disposal, unless her father fails to divulge the whereabouts of their duplicitous boss, Dean Sanderson(Tony Goldwyn). "You bastard!" screams the prostrated mother, held down, face first, at gunpoint by Steve McKenna(Ben Foster), Arthur's apprentice(and receptacle for penitence). Surely, there's no need for names, since the mechanic, under normal circumstances, eliminates any chance for collateral damage via his meticulous planning, largely because he's a sociopath with ethics, an honorable killer. The father, the man on the spot, slow to react, as a result, prompts Arthur to make good on his threat, and for a couple of agonizing seconds, he has us going, has us believing that the girl will be needing a prosthetic, but it's steak, not phalanges and worse, that creates the pulverizing noises. This mean streak, albeit a fake one in service of a hoax, evokes Stratham's predecessor, the late Charles Bronson, whose minimalist take on Arthur Bishop in the 1972 original differs in that his hitman, a mustached hitman, largely acts apathetically toward the murdering of innocent bystanders. The wordless sixteen minute opening to the Michael Winner film climaxes with a fiery apartment complex explosion, destruction on a scale wide enough to have claimed additional lives, on top of the original target. Compare that to the beginning of the remake, in which the clean shaven assassin takes out the Colombian druglord without having to molest one member of the kingpin's minions who occupy the opulent mansion. And unlike the assurance he gives Steve(during his on-the-job training) that the man they had just killed was an unscrupulous arms dealer, the Bronson vehicle never makes reference as to why the incinerated man was selected for removal. On another job, the underrated actor breaks the neck of a hapless fast food worker, for no other reason but to steal his Chicken Lickin' vehicle. Whereas Stratham's mechanic derives no gratification from his outlaw profession, Stratham's forebearer takes delight in seeing a man squirm for his life, even if that man is a confidant. In the hyperkinetic remake, Arthur shoots an incapacitated Harry McKenna(Donald Sutherland), his wheelchair-bounded mentor, in a parking garage without any histrionics, or sense fun and games. To the mechanic, killing a man in cold blood is business, not pleasure. But the seventies era original has its namesake torturing his prey, prolonging the inevitable on a deserted beach where McKenna is repeatedly shot at, near-misses meant to provoke a spontaneous coronary attack. Modeled after James Bond, the mechanic, in actuality, seems closer to the Bond villain, who often toyed with the secret agent rather than simply killing him. Alas, McKenna doesn't escape; he dies, but the mechanic's impish spirit could have easily resulted in McKenna's bolting, due to the hired killer's penchant for drawing things out. He has no scruples, this mustached mechanic; he enjoys his work, as opposed to the remodeled Arthur Bishop, who expresses remorse for the systematic execution of Steve's father, most explicitly, in a scene where the mechanic can't bear to glance at a picture of the murdered man which the son, his future protege, hands him. In Winner's film, the moviegoer never gets the sense that Bronson cares, one way or the other, about orphaning Jan Michael Vincent. The Lithuanian gives away nothing. Stratham, on the other hand, gives away too much. The spirit of Bronson, or more pointedly, the spirit of the justified homicide that ran through the films Winner made with his muse, lies within Steve, who attacks a would-be carjacker and a would-be rapist, which are the sort of violent counter-attacks against minorities(black) that got "Death Wish" charged with racism, and also, galvanized sold-out audiences, who couldn't get enough of vigilante justice, back in the politically incorrect days of the early-seventies. The ending, predicated on the notion that the mechanic has no conscience, is duplicated in the remake, but it's rendered nonsensical by Stratham's attempt at a thoughtful performance. As a result, the mechanic seems too sensitive, too self-reflective to begrudge a son's right for vengeance against his father's murderer, by inflicting some unmotivated vengeance of his own.… Expand