Mechanic

Theatrical Release Date: 2011 01 28 (USA)

UPC: 043396379381

Studio: Sony Pictures

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Graphic Violence, Nudity, Profanity, Sexual Situations]

Summary: Seasoned hitman Arthur Bishop (Jason Statham) sets out to avenge the brutal murder of his mentor, Harry (Donald Sutherland), and finds himself joined by Harry's vengeful son (Ben Foster), who is eager to follow in his late father's footsteps, in this remake of the 1972 action thriller starring Charles Bronson and Jan-Michael Vincent. Harry taught Arthur how to be a detached killer who always hits his mark. Now Harry is gone, and for the first time in Arthur's career it's about to get personal. As lone-wolf assassin Arthur prepares to hunt down Harry's killers, he is approached by his fallen mentor's vengeful son, Steve, who is eager to take up the lethal tools of his father's trade. Unadept at working with a partner yet compelled to help Steve carry on the family tradition, Arthur agrees to take him on as a prot?g?. Later, the duo begins to methodically eliminate their targets, forging a partnership born of blood with each new hit. The closer Arthur and Steve get to the name at the top of their list, however, the more apparent it becomes that his job will be anything but business as usual. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Category: Action

Features: Get Inside the Action with the "Tools Of The Trade" Featurette and Deleted & Extended Scenes

Mechanic

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 05/17/2011

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 2.40:1

Audio: DHMA null

Runtime: 93 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English,Spanish

Perry Seibert

At this point, while the legendary string of '80s testosterone-fueled action heroes (Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Norris) aren't quite ready to hang it up, none of them can carry an action movie like Jason Statham. Between the joyously over-the-top Crank films, the slick Transporter series, his collaborations with director Guy Ritchie, and interesting detours like The Italian Job and The Bank Job, Statham has proven to be a steel-eyed, hard-muscled man's man with a sharp sense of humor -- he's even capable of vulnerability. He's never played against type, but he's found plenty of subtle variations on that type. And, to its great benefit, The Mechanic utilizes all his skills. Statham plays Arthur Bishop, a "fixer" for a powerful yet shady corporation who specializes in killing people with efficiency and/or style -- whatever best serves his boss' needs. Arthur's absolute mastery of this talent -- as well as his sculpted torso and arms -- is revealed in the opening, where he assassinates a Columbian tycoon in the man's swimming pool. Of course a man with Arthur's career lives by a code, and his only loyalty is to Harry (Donald Sutherland), his mentor in the corporation. But when Bishop learns that Harry is the company's next target, business is business. Enter Ben Foster as Harry's ne'er-do-well, heavy-drinking son, Steve. With his father out of the picture, Steve wants Arthur to train him to become a mechanic as well. Together, they plot revenge on Harry's killer, but because Steve suspects Arthur might have pulled the trigger himself, the bonds of trust between the two might be imaginary. The best thing about The Mechanic is the debt it owes to crime films from the early '70s. It's a remake of a Charles Bronson movie, and it has the patient rhythms and the existential dread of such influential masterworks as Point Blank. Statham is one of the few stars around who can make it seem that still waters run deep inside a person who, by all outside appearances, is a cold-blooded killer. And since the tight screenplay (the movie clocks in at under 90 minutes, minus the closing credits) keeps him at the center of just about every scene, we cheer consistently for his meticulous mastery of every situation -- including some improvised torture involving a garbage disposal and a young woman's hand. As much as this is Statham's film, Ben Foster becomes a welcome complement. He's done really strong dramatic work on Six Feet Under, and in The Messenger, but here Foster's resemblance to a young Sean Penn helps make Steve a plausible loose cannon -- intense, reckless, and unpredictable. The term chemistry usually gets thrown around in romantic comedies, but chemistry is exactly what he and Statham have. Not Newman/Redford chemistry, but certainly enough to keep this hard-hitting, entertaining action film from dragging. Director Simon West does a solid job pacing the movie -- he makes you wait for the big action set pieces in order to build anticipation, and while too much of the hand-to-hand fight sequences are edited beyond the point of comprehension, these scenes are also brief enough that we don't lose interest. The down-and-dirty milieu of The Mechanic is most certainly a man's world. Thankfully Statham, the reigning king of guy cinema, is at its center. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Lewis John Carlino  Screenwriter 
Robert Chartoff  Executive Producer 
Boaz Davidson  Executive Producer 
Mark Isham  Composer (Music Score) 
Avi Lerner  Executive Producer 
Richard Wenk  Screenwriter 
Irwin Winkler  Executive Producer 
Simon West  Director 
Danny Dimbort  Executive Producer 
Trevor Short  Executive Producer 
David Winkler  Producer 
Billy Chartoff  Producer 
René Besson  Producer 
Jason Statham  Actor 
Ben Foster  Actor 
Tony Goldwyn  Actor 
Donald Sutherland  Actor 
Jeff Chase  Actor 
Mini Anden  Actor 
James Logan  Actor 
Eddie Fernandez  Actor 
Joshua Bridgewater  Actor 
John "Spud" McConnell  Actor 
Christa Campbell  Actor 
Joel Davis  Actor 
Mark Anthony Nutter  Actor 
Ardy Brent Carlson  Actor 
Lara Grice  Actor 
Lance E. Nichols  Actor 
J.D. Evermore  Actor 
Ada Michelle Loridans  Actor 
Linzzi Zaorski  Actor 
Dawn Neufeld  Actor 
Molly Rosenblatt  Actor 
Bill Scharpf  Actor 
John Teague  Actor 
David Leitch  Actor 
Jennifer Ortega  Actor 
LaTeace Towns-Cuellar  Actor 
Paul Abraham  Actor 
David Dahlgren  Actor 
Stuart Greer  Actor 
Kasia Wolejnio  Actor 
Larrel France  Actor 
Danny Cosmo  Actor 
Derek Schreck  Actor 
Choop  Actor 

Country: USA