As far as action-porn goes, The Mechanic , directed by Simon West, delivers the required bloodbath and body-count. In a remake of the 1972-Charles Bronson hit, Jason Statham takes over the mantle of the efficient hit-man Arthur Bishop. As his voiceover tells you right at the beginning, he does all kinds of contract killings — from those done in a particularly gruesome fashion to send a message, to the “best” ones done with such finesse, they look like accidental deaths. The controlled manoeuvring that goes into the latter kind of killings gives him the most, shall we say, job satisfaction.
If Arthur is cold-blooded and ruthless, off-duty, he is a connoisseur of fine music and cars, who treats the local working girl well during his visits, and also pays her generously. He works for two bosses who run a shadowy firm — wheelchair-bound Harry McKenna (Donald Sutherland) who is something of a mentor to him, and in whose company Arthur actually lowers his guard enough to smile; and the snake-like Dean (Tony Goldwyn), who looks about as trustworthy as a banker.
An unfortunate turn of events — with shades of a Greek tragedy — disposes of Harry pretty early on in the film. When his ne'er-do-well son Steve (Ben Foster) threatens to go off the rails at his death, Arthur feels obliged to step in. Though he'd been estranged from his father, Steve is outraged; what sort of man would shoot a man in a wheelchair, he asks Arthur.
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Arthur's potential weakness is a vestigial conscience, not particularly an asset in his trade. He feels he owes it to his dead mentor to take Steve under his wing and teach the violent lad the only profession he knows — how to be a killer. Steve is enthusiastic, and proves adept at learning the tricks of the trade. However, where Arthur is emotionless and in chilling control of his game, Steve is all over the place, botching things up. But Arthur is strangely reluctant to give up on him.
Foster is excellent in his role of the weedy guy with a vicious streak, who, despite his better instincts, is always going to be a screw-up. He is a good foil to Statham's impassivity. Their interplay has a good dynamic, and is even light-hearted at times — "Couldn't you have found us someone more attractive to spy on?" Steve asks, when staking out an obese and obviously fake religious guru.
Unfortunately the filmmakers didn't have enough faith in this chemistry to develop it into the fulcrum of the film. Instead, scriptwriter Richard Wenk, who updated the existing Lewis John Carlino script, ups the gore, making it the centrepiece. People don't just get hurt or die, all of it happens with an unnecessary amount of brutality, punching, piercing, goring and spattering.
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The Mechanic
Genre: Action
Director: Simon West
Cast: Jason Statham, Ben Foster, Donald Sutherland, Tony Goldwyn
Storyline: A cold-blooded killer takes on a hot-headed protégé, diametrically opposite to him in temperament and style.
Bottomline: Action-thrills delivered efficiently — if, at times, mechanically.