This is my review of Mechanic: Resurrection (spoiler free)
*** (3/5)
Cast: Jason Statham, Jessica Alba, Tommy Lee-Jones, Michelle Yeoh
Plot: Arthur Bishop (Statham) thought he had put his murderous past behind him when his most formidable foe kidnaps the love of his life (Alba). Now he is forced to travel the globe to complete three impossible assassinations, and do what he does best, make them look like accidents.
A lot of people say that whenever Statham is in a new movie the only person he can play is himself, but maybe that isn't so much a bad thing. The world's most athletic assassin is back with more action and more heart stopping stunts than ever okay not than ever because there has only been one Mechanic. The first Mechanic (2011) saw Bishop kill quite a few people so you may be thinking what's the difference between the movies? Well this has been done on a much larger scale especially when in one scene you see him dangling from the bottom of transparent pool almost fifty stories up a building, to kill one unfortunate McGuffin. This is technically called Mechanic 2 but the only reason why it is called Resurrection is because Bishop has been resurrected from the dead. This sounds very familiar to another movie done before this well there is, Crank (2006) which saw Chev (also Statham) fall from a helicopter 14,000 feet in the air and then he comes back for revenge in Crank: High Voltage (2009). But don't blame Statham for wanting to do a sequel of the Mechanic because that ended on such a cliff-hanger. This is a pretty good continuation from the first film he goes out in search of revenge and he does it with such grace and formality, well the grace being death defying jumps and the formality being they look like accidents. This shows to be a fit for Statham though especially considering it's the first time working with German director Dennis Gansel, but again it's done well or moderately well. Unfortunately the script is a bit wobbly in some places and the other actors don't have a sense of tone in voice but sometimes if the action is good and fast-paced you don't have to worry about the scripting, unless in Gods of Egypt's (2016) case when it doesn't have a plot. But because of the wobbly scripting it turns out that the performances aren't particularly great either, although Statham tries to the best of his abilities but the real performer is the action, the stunts and the bullets, also the story is a little bit flat it does take a while for the action to get started, although in some areas it starts pretty much immediately but it takes a while for him to get the assassinations sorted, and finally when it gets to them they are too quick to end not necessarily a bad thing.
Of course just like in the first one Bishop is very clever especially when he uses surveillance to scope out the people he wants to kill, but that's another story he is clever in the way he devises his plans to end people's lives mainly his enemies, and also the use of explosives which is the key element to this movie but then that is the key element to action movies, well some actioners. There is a way this film is done better this is kind of like the first one as well everywhere Bishop goes it is absolutely stunning with the gorgeous landscapes and the beautiful women, but he doesn't go there for women, he's not James Bond. Sometimes whenever Bishop plans his kills it doesn't always go well like last time when one of his targets killed him, but ignore that. There are several Heart stopping stunts in this blood filled actioner, the main stunt let's call it a jump happens very early on when he is in Rio de Janeiro and he jumps straight down from a cargo lift to a hand glider in the air, that stunt will literally stop your heart but not everything in this movie is stunts there is also quite a unique story to it a bit flat but it's there. Character development as this the second in the series we already know what there is about Arthur Bishop, but what about the other characters? Do we learn about them? Well not really, not much anyway there is a little bit to learn about the characters especially one of the targets, which strangely enough Tommy Lee-Jones' Max Adams in his most ridiculous outfit yet, but also he doesn't say much which again is weird because in most of his movies he's quite the talker.
Now finally the one thing that is missing for all you Statham fans there is no martial arts, whenever Statham stars in a new film there is loads of martial arts spectacles to behold but unfortunately that is the one thing that is missing but don't let that disappoint you there is still plenty of blood filled, guns blazing action to peel your eyes at. So don't get too upset about the martial arts being missing. In conclusion this is an enjoyable action packed ride with plenty of blood guns and beautiful women, and even Statham's gruff demeanor is something to enjoy weirdly enough. Even though Statham has done some disastrous disappointments this surely isn't one. Certainly not as manic as the Crank series but still fun and enjoyable and probably one of the best ever Statham actioners.
Verdict: Statham delivers to the best of his abilities in this long-awaited sequel which feels very familiar but it's an enjoyable actioner nonetheless.
6/10 action packed gold.
*** (3/5)
Cast: Jason Statham, Jessica Alba, Tommy Lee-Jones, Michelle Yeoh
Plot: Arthur Bishop (Statham) thought he had put his murderous past behind him when his most formidable foe kidnaps the love of his life (Alba). Now he is forced to travel the globe to complete three impossible assassinations, and do what he does best, make them look like accidents.
A lot of people say that whenever Statham is in a new movie the only person he can play is himself, but maybe that isn't so much a bad thing. The world's most athletic assassin is back with more action and more heart stopping stunts than ever okay not than ever because there has only been one Mechanic. The first Mechanic (2011) saw Bishop kill quite a few people so you may be thinking what's the difference between the movies? Well this has been done on a much larger scale especially when in one scene you see him dangling from the bottom of transparent pool almost fifty stories up a building, to kill one unfortunate McGuffin. This is technically called Mechanic 2 but the only reason why it is called Resurrection is because Bishop has been resurrected from the dead. This sounds very familiar to another movie done before this well there is, Crank (2006) which saw Chev (also Statham) fall from a helicopter 14,000 feet in the air and then he comes back for revenge in Crank: High Voltage (2009). But don't blame Statham for wanting to do a sequel of the Mechanic because that ended on such a cliff-hanger. This is a pretty good continuation from the first film he goes out in search of revenge and he does it with such grace and formality, well the grace being death defying jumps and the formality being they look like accidents. This shows to be a fit for Statham though especially considering it's the first time working with German director Dennis Gansel, but again it's done well or moderately well. Unfortunately the script is a bit wobbly in some places and the other actors don't have a sense of tone in voice but sometimes if the action is good and fast-paced you don't have to worry about the scripting, unless in Gods of Egypt's (2016) case when it doesn't have a plot. But because of the wobbly scripting it turns out that the performances aren't particularly great either, although Statham tries to the best of his abilities but the real performer is the action, the stunts and the bullets, also the story is a little bit flat it does take a while for the action to get started, although in some areas it starts pretty much immediately but it takes a while for him to get the assassinations sorted, and finally when it gets to them they are too quick to end not necessarily a bad thing.
Of course just like in the first one Bishop is very clever especially when he uses surveillance to scope out the people he wants to kill, but that's another story he is clever in the way he devises his plans to end people's lives mainly his enemies, and also the use of explosives which is the key element to this movie but then that is the key element to action movies, well some actioners. There is a way this film is done better this is kind of like the first one as well everywhere Bishop goes it is absolutely stunning with the gorgeous landscapes and the beautiful women, but he doesn't go there for women, he's not James Bond. Sometimes whenever Bishop plans his kills it doesn't always go well like last time when one of his targets killed him, but ignore that. There are several Heart stopping stunts in this blood filled actioner, the main stunt let's call it a jump happens very early on when he is in Rio de Janeiro and he jumps straight down from a cargo lift to a hand glider in the air, that stunt will literally stop your heart but not everything in this movie is stunts there is also quite a unique story to it a bit flat but it's there. Character development as this the second in the series we already know what there is about Arthur Bishop, but what about the other characters? Do we learn about them? Well not really, not much anyway there is a little bit to learn about the characters especially one of the targets, which strangely enough Tommy Lee-Jones' Max Adams in his most ridiculous outfit yet, but also he doesn't say much which again is weird because in most of his movies he's quite the talker.
Now finally the one thing that is missing for all you Statham fans there is no martial arts, whenever Statham stars in a new film there is loads of martial arts spectacles to behold but unfortunately that is the one thing that is missing but don't let that disappoint you there is still plenty of blood filled, guns blazing action to peel your eyes at. So don't get too upset about the martial arts being missing. In conclusion this is an enjoyable action packed ride with plenty of blood guns and beautiful women, and even Statham's gruff demeanor is something to enjoy weirdly enough. Even though Statham has done some disastrous disappointments this surely isn't one. Certainly not as manic as the Crank series but still fun and enjoyable and probably one of the best ever Statham actioners.
Verdict: Statham delivers to the best of his abilities in this long-awaited sequel which feels very familiar but it's an enjoyable actioner nonetheless.
6/10 action packed gold.