The Mechanic Resurrection shows why sometimes you don’t always need the recommendation from film critics.
Jason Statham delivers a character in expert fashion in the Mechanic Ressurection. With a character that can do everything, when he gets hurt, he gets hurt bad in this film.
The Mechanic Ressurection may pass at first glance as a typical straightforward B action film, however, there is a slick character study of Simon Bishop at its heart.
One of 2016’s lesser known and discussed action sequels, The Mechanic Resurrection grossed almost twice as much revenue as its original, The Mechanic and it’s for some great reasons.
This being the sequel to 2011’s The Mechanic directed by The Expendables 2 Simon West, is a continuation of the character, using the same soundtrack and style of action, only this time, the plot takes the character to a whole new experience thanks to the addition of Jessica Alba. The writers for this sequel have a strong background and experience in the action genre, with Tony Mosher writing the Antonio Bandera flick Security only one year later in 2017.
The film was also produced William Chartoff who would produce Creed and Rocky Balboa as well as producer Robert Earl who produced The Expendables series. Its clear to say the film had the right backing in the action genre and its execution was just right.
Trying to make every assassination job look like an accident seems like an impossible obstacle to achieve, the Stath manages to do this incredibly but it comes with a price and these prices are a joy to watch in The Mechanic Ressurection.
The underrated complexity in The Mechanic Ressurection: A decent and interesting character study that expands upon its original form in Simon West’s slick remake in 2011. Jason Statham is a fantastic actor who has a great deal of range in the genre, even some soft romance this time around.
Its worth noting that Jason Statham is a serious action star, there are’nt many of these kind of stars left in Hollywood. Sometimes, you get action stars that swing the other way with their performance featuring more charm and wit like Dwayne Johnson. Jason Statham always looks impossibly convincing in the action scenes, this realism really helps sell his character and gets us to understand who this guy is and in that sense he feels very human on screen.
Most audiences tend to be unable to separate Jason Statham’s films and the characters he plays from one another. His character as Simon Bishop is very distinct and unique to other characters he has played before including the more outgoing Lee Christmas in The Expendables series, who shares a more deeper and humorous relationship with his crew men including Barney Ross played by Sly.
The fact that this guy is so efficient and works on creating these highly intensified and specific plans when he takes out the enemies, ultimately makes him more vulnerable and here is why. The scene below really showcases this theme of practicality very well, a man who settles for excellence as his minimum standard,
The way he plans out his kills are so specific and strategic that if one area of the plan fails the whole plan fails and he could loose his life in a heartbeat. He has to be on top form everytime and knows that he is going to succeed, in that he places himself in some pretty vulnerable situations, where the distance between life and death is short.
However, the film’s action sequences which have been bashed by most critics for being super generic are still a lot of fun to watch. They feel fairly realistic, although they escalate to more ridiculous circumstances. The action itself is realistic and it has a lot of close quarter combat where you can see real good stuntwork in place.
The film really goes fo the violence which is really important, if the film had held back on the violence then that would be a problem because that’s when you become disengaged in the project. The violence is hard hitting and we see the blood just as you would in a typical Statham flick. This is helped because the costume designs of the villains and the choice of weapons all help ground the action in reality as much as possible.
However, the most intelligent aspect to the film is the manner of which Simon takes out his enemies, its the real USP, spice and flavour of the picture. The film’s cameramen do an excellent job of filming these scenes so that we can understand the whole plan taking place and we don’t miss a single aspect or shot, which is so important. Therefore, like Inception, we really have to pay attention to the expertise on screen when the action is taking place because it is helping progress the plot and developing layers to the character of Simon Bishop.
Its a fun concept to watch on screen, seeing someone who is so precise about what he does and when this is the case, when or if he crashes than he crashes hard. That way, these assassination scenes do a good job of holding your suspense as we see him do extradionary things.
This is ironically different to a lot of character driven action films because the manner in which Simon operates is on a whole new level of expertise and usually character driven action films would develop the character in a more emotionally dramatic way, The Mechanic Ressurection gets straight to the point and chooses to develop the character through its action, skipping all the emotional fluff, that’s the way I like it but yet there is vulnerability as we see real consequences to the fight scenes.
It helps to have Tommy lee Jones as the film’s villain. Obviously, the films main plot is full of action genre cliches and for the most part is’nt very interesting. However, when paired with Jessica Alba, the two have a very good screen presence and Jessica Alba is very good in this film as she can sell beauty and power all at once, she works with Statham with good chemistry, their relationship shows a different side to Jason’s character, which is what a sequel should do. In sequel terms, The Mechanic Resurrection does a great job in showing different types of action scenes, it really mixes up the bag.
Whats also great is that this film feels like a summer film, the locations are perfect to get you in the mood to watch a popcorn action film. With sun’s shining, beaches glistening, Jessica Alba and whole lot of guns and explosions but they are all worked together for a complete satisfying experience.
When you watch interviews from the director, Dennis Gansel, he really got the execution spot on and was the right talent for this project. He knew how capable Jason is at action scenes and knew the real essence of the film which for the most part are these intense and complicated assassination scenes that require 100% focus from the film crew. The director considered how he would want to see these action scenes from his and the audience point of view and he pulled it off. The action surprisingly doesn’t feel too over the top which is great to see.
Its a straight forward action flick but it cares about its characters just enough for you to be invested, what a smart move. for those that want to watch the film, pay close attention to the character of Simon Bishop, notice how his character is developed, you may see the film differently and a little more than your standard B action film. I always like to remember, just because a film received negative reviews doesn’t actually make a film bad, that’s for us to decide. In my eyes, you get your moneys worth.
You can buy the film’s steelbook here and The Mechanic collection here.
Author Bio
Sam is a content writer. He loves all elements connected with film and writes with passion, always. You can find him on Linkedin, where you will be able to read more articles. When he is not writing, you can find him practicing football
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