THE MECHANIC (2011)

The Mechanic stars Jason Statham, Ben Foster, Donald Sutherland and Tony Goldwyn. Directed by Simon West. Rated R with a running time of 1 hr. and 40 mins.

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.

The Mechanic is pretty much what you would expect from a Jason Statham movie. It had some cool action and some funny moments in it. Its just not a very good movie and kind of a disappointment. I mean Jason Statham does what he always does and kicks some ass which is fine and it works. Overall the cast was fine but its the script that is the problem. After a cool beginning action sequence the film becomes pretty slow and there isn't any more action until at least 40 minutes in and who are we kidding we go to these kind of movies for the action!

The film has two major weaknesses. 1. the film didn't have a strong villain. To me a good action pic always had a good villain but Tony Goldwyn isn't mean enough and actually really isn't even the movie that much. 2. There was not a strong climax. There is a climax but once it starts its over within 5 minutes and it didn't even feel like the end of the movie. There was definite pacing problems with the climax so it just didn't work out. The Mechanic wasn't terrible but it did have some major issues that kept it from being a good action film. The only reason to see this movie is Jason Statham because he is as good as ever at kicking some ass.

C+