The Mechanic 2011.

You get what's on the tin!

With Jason Statham you get what’s on the tin, gun battles, explosions, car chases, in short an action adventure for undemanding grown up children, but what you never get is boredom. The English actor is best known for working in Guy Richie films including Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), Snatch (2000) and Revolver (which I thought was great, but nobody else did) he has also appeared in all three of the Transporter films. Other high profile action films have included the successful British crime drama The Bank Job (2008) and of course Blitz (2011) in which he portrayed a hot headed, hard case police Detective Sergeant to great effect.

Also in 2011 he appeared in the remake of Michael Winner’s 1972 American action thriller The Mechanic where he plays Arthur Bishop, originally played by Charles Bronson. The Mechanic is defined on the films web site as someone who fixes the problems, doesn’t mind getting their hands dirty (they mean bloody) and summed up the character as an elite assassin with a unique talent for cleanly eliminating targets.

Based on a story by Lewis John Carlino who also shares scriptwriting credit with Richard Wenk, and directed by Simon West, whose best film is still the visually exciting action drama Con Air (1997), The Mechanic is an ideal addition to Statham’s body of work, its not exceptional but goes along like an express train never stopping to let you off until the closing credits. Co-starring Ben Foster as the son of one of Arthur Bishop’s only friends, a man he is forced to assassinate. Bishop takes him under his wing and teaches him the tricks of the hired executioner business without letting him know the identity of his father’s killer. Nobody can do edgy menace quite like Foster. If you’re looking for an exciting undemanding film for a Friday night then give this one a try you won’t regret it: honest.