Mechanic Resurrection

I was not a fan of the original film, The Mechanic because it tried to be too clever and ended up tripping over its own cleverness. So, I cam into this screening of Mechanic: Resurrection with very low expectations, but I have a soft spot for Jason Statham and his movies, whether they be good or bad.

Mechanic: Resurrection is a film that can easily be seen without seeing the first film. I did not remember much of the first film as I started watching this film and only re-read my review of the original film afterwards. There’s nothing that carries over from the first film other than needing to know that Arthur (aka The Mechanic) is an assassin who plans his kills meticulously and that he faked his own death in the first film.

As this film opens, Arthur is found in Brazil and there is a “principle” that is trying to persuade him to assassinate three people. Arthur, who has stepped out of the life of an assassin turns down the deal in a spectacular fashion and moves on. Arthur finds himself in a different location and falls in love. The principle returns and uses a more direct way of convincing Arthur to complete the three kills.

The story for this sequel is much more straight-forward than the first and there was a twist that I kept anticipating because it almost seemed like the kind of twist a clever movie would try to pull off – and pull off badly – but it never happened. There is a slight twist at the end, but it was more for fun than as an attempt at cleverness.

The one problem I had with the film stripping itself of the previous film’s grandiose attempts at being clever is that this film may have taken a little too much away. The problem with making Arthur attempt three assassinations is that it forces the Arthur character to rely less on his brilliant and meticulous planning. By doing this, it makes him more of an every day invincible action hero who relies more on luck than on planning.

Jason Statham is Jason Statham in this film. He continues to play characters that are so similar that I am starting to get them all confused – except for when he played a bumbling spy in Spy, which was brilliant. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but the man has pigeon-holed himself into such a tightly defined role in all his films, that it’s getting old. Still though, it is Statham and Statham is awesome no matter way.

Jessica Alba was good enough for the film. It was good to see Michelle Yeoh onscreen again, she didn’t have much to do, but I always enjoy seeing her onscreen. The real eye opener was Tommy Lee Jone’s goatee. What was that TLJ? I liked the way TLJ approached his role and it was fun to watch him whenever he was onscreen. The one disappointment was Sam Hazeldine as the villain. He was pretty generic and quite a bore.

Overall, I liked this sequel more than the original. But, that is not saying too much since I disliked the original. There was enough action in the film that I enjoyed it. The story was just thin enough that it carried me through the film. I borrowed the film from the library because it didn’t cost me anything to give it a shot (except for 90 odd minutes to watch it). As such, it was worth it. As a rental, it is worth it if you’re looking for a mindless action film starring Jason Statham. Just keep expectations low.