Gill couldn’t join me at the cinema this week as we couldn’t get a baby sitter. As such, I skipped the arty stuff and went to see something nice and Neanderthal. Ladies and gentlemen:
“*BOOM*”
Plot-in-a-nutshell: Hired killer gets stuck in a plot involving other people being killed. People die. Things explode. More people die. Come on, it’s a Jason Statham film – what do you expect?
With the exception of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Statham’s output has been fairly formulaic. Big explosions, car chases and ass-kicking has made up everything else he’s been in. The quality, however, has varied. For every Transporter 1 there’s a Crank. The Mechanic fortunately falls into the “good films” camp and is actually fairly low-key with the action sequences.
That’s not to say that there’s not a lot of action.
The film is set in the world of contract killers. Statham plays “Arthur” (probably not his real name), who is coerced into doing a job he doesn’t really want to, and then has to deal with the consequences. The nature of his chosen profession dictates that he has to be sneaky rather than all-out spectacular and this is reflected in the action scenes. They’re fairly short, tight and well-choreographed – no time wasted.
There’s also a lovely touch of gore to them with some nice blood spatter from the gunshots and plenty of bits to make you go “ow, bet that hurt”. Nothing up there with Saw, but gruesome all the same.
It’s not a bad story, either, although once the details have been set down it’s fairly obvious who the real bad guy is and what’s going to happen by the end. Regardless, it’s great entertainment and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Possibly Statham’s best all round film to date.
Related articles
- Statham shines in ‘Mechanic’ remake (today.msnbc.msn.com)
- The Mechanic, review (telegraph.co.uk)
- Review: ‘The Mechanic’ (cnn.com)
- The Mechanic Review: Can He Fix It? Well, He Can Blow It Up (time.com)
Not to defend Crank, but if you want a non-stop action, make your brain melt out your ears, don’t even try to follow the story movie Crank is not that bad.
Now Crank 2? Forget it. I didn’t know they could pile $4!T that high.
He also does a good job when he has less of an action role. Snatch anyone?
Agreed re Snatch – I mentioned Lock, Stock… for that reason. Great acting in both. I just didn’t enjoy Crank. If I recall correctly I watched it in a hotel balcony bar in India!