The title character (Jason Statham) is a hitman who does his job so thoroughly that his work can never be traced and always appears to be an accident or the work of someone else. Now, he sees an offer to knock off his colleague and mentor(Donald Sutherland) and the slick politician (Tony Goldwyn) who posted it claims that the old man had bungled a job and turned his back on his men in a secret operation. See no other options, The Mechanic kills his boss then realizes he's been set up. Now on his own mission of revenge, his boss's son (Ben Foster) throws a wrench in the mix and insists that he be taken on to learn his ways and achieve the same vengeful goal. Directed by Simon West and remade from a 1972 Charles Bronson film, The Mechanic starts out fairly intriguingly, with Statham drowning a drug lord, making his escape, and returning to his secret compound where the entire house seems dedicated to his work, with photos, maps, and strategies relating to his targets on the wall. Soon, though the film regresses into a mindless and senselessly violent action picture, and the early fun is taking out of the movie. Sutherland is fine in his early scenes and Foster gives another solid performance in his young career, but Statham does his usual boring one not thing and does not bring anything to what could have been an interesting character. The Mechanic is a film that has all the right ingredients that the filmmakers have decided to overcook leaving it without any flavor.
