Angry Movie Lurker Honest Review 39: The Mechanic 2011 (4 STARS)

Arthur Bishop (Jason Statham) is a 'mechanic' - an elite assassin with a strict code and unique talent for cleanly eliminating targets. It's a job that requires professional perfection and total detachment, and Bishop is the best in the business. But when his mentor and close friend Harry (Donald Sutherland) is murdered, Bishop is anything but detached. His next assignment is self-imposed - he wants those responsible dead. His mission grows complicated when Harry's son Steve (Ben Foster) approaches him with the same vengeful goal and a determination to learn Bishop's trade. Bishop has always acted alone but he can't turn his back on Harry's son. A methodical hit man takes an impulsive student deep into his world and a deadly partnership is born. But while in pursuit of their ultimate mark, deceptions threaten to surface and those hired to fix problems become problems themselves.


Meant to post this at the weekend but the internet was playing silly beggars and had all the good cards, this is a remake of the 1972 movie of the same title starring Charles Bronson and Jan Michael Vincent, I liked the original and the ending of the original but it's been a while since I've seen it (came out in 1972). I like Jason Statham and Ben Foster (damn good actor, 3:10 to Yuma, Pandorum...) and they do well here (that's why it got 4 stars, if you don't particularly like them then the movie is 3 STARS). The action is good, Statham is cool, collected and ruthless, Foster is the opposite, when the jobs are clean they are done well but when they go wrong or Foster is acting up they go badly wrong, the action is loud and quite good but for the purists out there the ending is different to the original which didn't bother me but may annoy some. Well worth a watch.


The original was quite unique at the time for having a 15 minute opening with no dialogue. Doesn't happen here as I don't think some people could take it now.