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Mechanic: Resurrection

The document provides an in-depth review of the Jason Statham action movie "Mechanic: Resurrection". It argues that while Statham is the top action hero of the 21st century based on his roles in movies like "Fast & Furious", this particular sequel is unnecessary and lacks the intensity of Statham's best work. Some positive aspects are Statham's fighting skills and trademark intense one-dimensional acting, but the storyline is predictable and Jessica Alba's role is unnecessary. Overall, it is an average but watchable movie for die-hard Statham fans.

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186 views4 pages

Mechanic: Resurrection

The document provides an in-depth review of the Jason Statham action movie "Mechanic: Resurrection". It argues that while Statham is the top action hero of the 21st century based on his roles in movies like "Fast & Furious", this particular sequel is unnecessary and lacks the intensity of Statham's best work. Some positive aspects are Statham's fighting skills and trademark intense one-dimensional acting, but the storyline is predictable and Jessica Alba's role is unnecessary. Overall, it is an average but watchable movie for die-hard Statham fans.

Uploaded by

eomo_usoh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MECHANIC: RESURRECTION

The last 3 decades of the 20th century gave us cinema’s most iconic
action movie heroes of that century. Think Clint Eastwood, Charles
Bronson, Steve McQueen, Lee Van Cleef and Bruce Lee in the 70s, and
Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Chuck Norris,
Jean Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, Harrison Ford, Jackie Chan and
Jet Li in the 80s/90s. Of the latter, Stallone and Schwarzenegger
unarguably stand out as cinema’s most iconic action movie heroes.

Almost two decades in, the 21st century cinema has yet to give us its
most definitive action movie hero. However, if there is one candidate
who stands shoulder above others as most qualified to bear that
moniker, it is the lean, mean, all-muscle and not an ounce of fat fighting
machine; Jason Statham.

Statham is the quintessential embodiment of a Man’s man. Forget Right


Said Fred being too sexy for my clothes or Justin Timberlake bringing
the sexy back. Statham with the 5 o’clock stubble, a shaven bald head
and fighting skills you wished there was an app to download it from is
the very definition of machismo.

If you are in doubt as to Statham’s claim to the title of the 21st century’s
ultimate action movie hero, then imagine how the Fast 5 totally
transformed the b-movie franchise that was the Fast and Furious
franchise into an A-grade action movie franchise. Then imagine what
else they could have done to up the ante for the franchise. Then recall
the Jason Statham end credit scene in Fast and Furious 6; “Dominic
Toretto, you don’t know me but you are about to”. If Statham’s
appearance in that singular scene didn’t give you a boner literally or
literarily (or both) and got you doing a whoop whoop when you first
saw it in the cinema hall, the doctors might as well pull the plug on your
life support machine because you are as dead as a dodo.

This might be stretching it a bit but that forearm bump between


Stallone and Statham in the final scene of the Expendables 3 (a movie
franchise that starred an ensemble cast of the action movie heroes of
the 70s, 80s and 90s) could very well have been a cinematic nod from
the action heroes of the last 3 decades of the last century to the
putative action movie hero of this century.

Mechanic: Resurrection is an unnecessary sequel to the 2011 remake of


the 1972 Charles Bronson original. It started out with a James
Bondesque high octane opening scene of finely choreographed close
quarter fight scenes and stunts that are the trademark of a Statham
action movie. The jump onto the paraglider was a scene right out of
your typical James Bond opening scene playbook and from there on
out, the movie literarily dipped into typical movie boredom and
incongruity.

We are introduced to Michelle Yeoh who appeared not to have aged a


day since Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (where she and
Chow Yun-Fat delivered a clinic on one of cinema’s most searing but
understated and explored romantic dalliance). Sadly, her appearance
was barely utilized and came across as perfunctory and unnecessary as
the sequel itself. She could have been put to better use as Statham’s
love interest (instead of Jessica Alba) and allowed to showcase her
tremendous fighting skills to balance out Statham’s.

The storyline was as predictable as it was gratuituous with its


action/stunt sequences and the incongruously fast tracked hook up
between Alba and Statham. The hook up itself was as awkward to
watch as the scene where Alba and Statham were bound together with
a string signifying them as a couple must have been to both stars. An
editing and continuity oversight saw Alba spotting the scar of a busted
lip in some scenes and sans the scar in some other scenes.

The storyline premise for Statham’s Arthur Bishop to carry out 3


assassinations in order to be left alone to continue a life under the
radar was just an excuse to have Statham do what he does best; beat
up bad guys in the way you wish you could and get away with it looking
all bad ass.

Statham has always been one dimensional in his acting. Even in last
year’s comical turn in Paul Feig’s Spy, he still came across as one
dimensional albeit in a way that went against the grain for him given
the characters he has played in his career. But that is the thing with
Statham; he makes his one dimensional acting so kick ass good and bad
ass, you wouldn’t want him any other way.

Jessica Alba in this movie was as totally unnecessary as Michelle Yeoh


was underutilized. She hasn’t been in anything worth seeing since
Robert Rodriquez’s 2010 kill fest, Machete (and if we are being brutally
honest; since James Cameron’s Dark Angel which launched her into our
consciousness). Frankly, it came as a surprise to me that she is still
making movies.

Tommy Lee Jones brought some passable gravitas to his rather brief
role but it was nowhere near as memorable as Dame Judy Dench’s brief
scene stealing and Oscar winning performance as Queen Elizabeth in
Shakespeare in love.
Mechanic: Resurrection is not one of Jason Statham’s finest movies. But
if you are a die-hard Statham fan as I am, it wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t a
souped up high octane vehicle guaranteed to take you from 0-100km/h
in 0.4seconds. It was just your average over-used truck treated to your
basic tune up just about enough for you to take a not so boring ride on
a wet rainy Sunday.

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