Okay, let’s look at the new movie lineup this week. First we’ve got Anthony Hopkins in the three-hundredth movie about Catholic exorcism, in which not very much happens that wasn’t done way better in The Exorcist itself. Then there’s a Jason Statham movie in which lots of shit gets blown up. Not exactly the strongest pickings ever. Oh well. So I went with the Statham one. The previews didn’t look that bad really, and Jason has made a couple good movies here and there. It certainly couldn’t be as bad as The Expendables. Also I’ve seen Ben Foster in a few things and he’s been pretty cool.
A “mechanic” in this movie is an assassin, because they fix things. Jason plays Arthur Bishop, an accomplished mechanic whose mentor becomes his target, as required by his direct employer. Being a professional he obliges, but not without remorse. As a sort of penance he takes his mentor’s trouble-maker son, Steve (Foster), as his charge and begins training him in with ways of The Force. Steve isn’t the best student ever but eventually becomes a competent killer and starts helping out on assignments. Then the unthinkable plot twist of Steve discovering who killed his father happens, and he tries to take out Arthur. The results are predictable but not badly played out.
It’s a simple story without very much to exposit, so most of the time is spent gearing up to the next batch of violence, and then killing stuff. Still, there’s enough characterization to make it more than pure pulp. Statham is likable and Foster is believable in his kind of empty sadness for his father’s death. The action is quite good, with at least one fight sequence that reminded me a lot of The Bourne Identity, which I’ve probably mentioned is my favorite action flick. All in all it’s not really anything special, but it was a pretty good watch.
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