If it ain't broke, don't fix it

No one will ever accuse Jason Statham of being a bad actor. As far as I can tell, he’s either just playing the same character over and over or he’s just playing himself again and again.

Statham is the gravel-voiced action star whose trademark five o’clock shadow is the first indication that he is Not a Man to Be Messed With. He has gymnastic abilities, a complete lack of smiling ability, and a Spartan vocabulary but then that’s probably what led him to be considered for this project in the first place.

The original Mechanic with Charles Bronson came out in 1972 and it was noted for an extended opening sequence lasting more than 15 minutes … with absolutely no dialogue. If ever there was an actor who should be considered for silent roles in action movies it’s either Statham or Keanu Reeves. This is practically a tailor-made role for tough guys who are meant to pull off a stoic, pensive persona because if they ever talked it just comes across as banal machismo.

This is where Statham should have taken lessons from watching Clint Eastwood movies. That guy can do more with a look than most guys can do with grunting dialogue and both fists.

In this Mechanic, Statham plays Arthur Bishop, a hit man so good at what he does that even his boss, Harry McKenna (Donald Sutherland) calls him a machine. Is it really so good to be deemed so efficient that you’re just as good as a soulless automaton? But he does like the refuge of his pristine and secluded home where he listens to classical music on a record player.

Bishop’s trademark is to dispatch his victims without prejudice or without leaving any traces of his machinations, only corpses. He even fulfils the assignment with his boss as the target, the result of some kind of business dispute. Now, Bishop has McKenna’s delinquent adult son, Steve (Ben Foster) hanging around and wanting to learn the ropes. Ah yes, there are many ropes here, too. Together they figure out that McKenna’s partner, Dean (Tony Goldwyn), set up the hit for the wrong reasons so they go out on a vengeance mission to right the wrong.

That’s pretty much it; an odd couple pair up and go on a rampage to restore the family honour. Don’t be fooled by the trailer that trumps this as more of an adrenalin-fuelled actioner. It’s not. This Mechanic is more of the kind who takes three hours to sip his coffee before he suggests looking at the starter and checking your plugs and points. It’s not even that interesting to look at, making me think Simon West is just a hack director. John Woo, even in his last few years of sabbatical from Hollywood blockbusters, would have added so much more style.

In the end, the biggest detractors from this entirely forgettable dreck are the archetypes and stereotypes, both racial and sexual. It’s easy to see that Ben Foster has a lot of talent and he probably just chose this role for the notoriety, not the acclaim. He’ll certainly reach much greater heights if he avoids future projects that don’t get bogged down in glamorized violence, extraneous explosions, gratuitous sex scenes and other superfluous symptoms of a lack of a decent story or anything original or interesting. Next year he’ll appear in 360, a movie directed by Fernando Meirelles with a script by Peter Morgan. That’s more in line with what he should be doing with his career. As for Statham, well, I expect more of the same, unfortunately. That means The Expendables II is coming just as soon as they can crank it out.