Reviewed by Alicia Glass

Review Rating: 7 Stathams

An elite assassin referred to as a “Mechanic” takes on as a protégé the son of a former target.

We’ve seen the trailers for this movie right? It looks exactly like Jason Statham’s other action-porn movies, that I greatly enjoyed even, such as Crank and The Transporter. But this means, we cannot expect a magnum opus. It’s a violent romp of guns and protags running over rooftops and big-big explosions, for all their attempts at an in-depth plot. Why though? Most of Statham’s other movies didn’t do more than take a stab at a plot, it gets cumbersome and is, frankly, needless.

Ben Foster does more or less fine as the new sidekick to assassin trainer Arthur Bishop, Steve McKenna, son of the redoubtable Harry McKenna (Donald Sutherland). And while Foster was I am sure fantastic in other movies such as 3:10 to Yuma and The Messenger, neither of which I’ve seen, I prefer to remember him as Warren Worthington III from X-Men The Last Stand. Not to insult Mr. Foster, but the way they have him portraying his character it reminds me of Fight Club and frankly, Edward Norton did it better. It’s not bad, just that Mr. Foster had the misfortune to be playing the character around which the poor attempts at plot are focused. He gives it a very game try.

And yes, we do have the amazing Donald Sutherland for half of the first half of the movie, Bishop’s mentor and friend, in a wheelchair. Aw. That’s more or less it. It’s a perfectly fine way to waste an afternoon matinee at a seriously discounted price in the theater, but I wouldn’t pay full price. The Mechanic gets a rating of 7 Stathams, because the movie is right up his alley.