Movie Review:The Mechanic

Cast

• Jason Statham as Arthur Bishop
• Ben Foster as Steve McKenna
• Donald Sutherland as Harry McKenna
• Tony Goldwyn as Dean Sanderson
• Jeff Chase as Burke
• Mini Anden as Sarah

Storyline

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.

Review

'The Mechanic,' with Jason Statham, Donald Sutherland, Ben Foster. Directed by Simon West, from a screenplay by Richard Wenk and Lewis John Carlino. 92 minutes. Rated R for violence, language, sexual content and nudity. Several theaters.

Charles Bronson's twisty 1972 thriller, "The Mechanic," established a lean-mean model for such Bronson vehicles as 1974's "Death Wish" and its many spin-offs. As Arthur Bishop, a wealthy assassin who is ordered to execute a close friend, Bronson seemed less remote than usual, partly because the character was eventually required to mentor the victim's son.

Simon West's slick, fairly faithful new remake gives partial screenplay credit to Lewis John Carlino, who wrote the original "Mechanic." But the picture isn't likely to do for Jason Statham what the 1972 film did for Bronson.

Despite the following he's established for tough European crime movies, Statham lacks an exciting screen presence. The vacuum he creates here is quickly filled by Donald Sutherland, who plays Bishop's crotchety friend with an infectious vigor, and by Ben Foster, who tackles the role of Sutherland's tormented son as if the movie belonged to him.

If you appreciated the looney touch of villainy Foster suggested in "3:10 to Yuma" or the sympathy be brought to the winged outcast in the third "X-Men" film, you'll probably warm to his performance here.

Too bad the script takes off in so many other directions. An episode about Bishop's assassination of a hypocritical religious leader has its amusing touches, but a subplot about a seductive gangster comes off as not just ugly but vicious.

West directed the sleazy, hard-to-watch "The General's Daughter," and he sometimes sinks to that level again. The new "Mechanic" sometimes suggests a battle between West's crass technique and Carlino's attempts to lend it a touch of class.

One critic called the original film "mildly entertaining if you want to watch Bronson suggesting silent, brooding menace for the umpteenth time." Statham does many of his own stunts, and he's clearly studied Bronson's slow burn, but he still seems like a substitute.