Mechanic: Resurrection

Dir: Dennis Gansel

2016

**

Simon West's 2011 remake of The Machanic was 99% faithful to the original. It was that 1% that let it down in my opinion, that is, Jason Statham's hit-man extraordinaire Arthur Bishop, should have died at the end. It was clear that the option of a sequel was intentionally left open as is the case with most action films these days, they're cheap and cheerful (okay, maybe not that cheap) and they're easy to watch and easy to watch sells. They are generally horrible films but I, like many others, have a soft spot for them and will always give them a go. Mechanic: Resurrection is an utterly pointless remake but it is what it is, and unfortunately, it's not all that. I sat, I watched it throughout and enjoyed a lot of it (manly thanks to Statham's high-octane performance) but it is a load of old nonsense. I like nonsense but I'm afraid there wasn't much here that we haven't seen before, many times over. It is basically a string of action sequences poorly connected by an abysmal plot. Don't get me started on the script. Indeed, most of the action sequences are picked from other, better action movies apart from one. It does feel like the whole film only exists so that Statham can't climb a building in order to kill a man in his overhanging penthouse swimming pool. You could simply watch this one scene and be done with it, nothing else is worth talking about or indeed, memorable. It is all overkill, the beauty of the original Mechanic was the subtlety, the guy was a master hitman whose hits always looked like either an accident, a suicide or natural causes. Blowing up buildings, shooting people in public places and jumping between busy cable-cars is not subtle. The beauty of the original idea is completely lost, this is just another half-aresed James Bond film but with more violence and much less class. Director Dennis Gansel had made some brilliant thrillers in the previous decade, I would have thought this sort of trash was way beyond his talents. With no charm, no panache and absolutely no originality, Mechanic: Resurrection is more like Mechanic: Dying on his arse, although once again, he lives on. Tommy Lee Jones completes his 2016 hat-trick of awful following Jason Bourne and Criminal, Jessica Alba proves that she is just a pretty face and Michelle Yeoh deserved better. Jason Statham will survive the film because he's awesome but I really wish he'd stop with the awful franchise nonsense and make some original and independent action thrillers, as that is what he does best.