Revenge Served a la Carte: The Mechanic Trailer

This efficient  remake of the 1972 Charles Bronson thriller exhibits few of the virtues and most of the vices associated with taking an existing formula and tweaking it to suit one's own ends. In this case, seeing the relative success of the Nicholas Cage-Jay Baruchel vehicle The Scorcerer's Apprentice, the producers have reached down deep into the old Hollywood "parts bin", pulled out this ageing kit, re-tooled if or modern times and let it loose.

Of course, this is not the politically correct master-apprentice formula, so the master (Jason Statham) and even moreso the apprentice (Ben Foster, from 3:10 to Yuma) smoke and drink copiously, rut like beasts with all-too-willing women, and, of course kill people. Make that guys - from a Colombian drug lord to a slimy fake preacher addicted to prescription drugs (in this particular scene, the producers apply their take on the Michael Jackson death).

As the contract killer ("mechanic") of the title, Statham has Bronson's legendary stoicism down pat, but he still hasn't learned how to let people care about his characters, whichever side of the moral fence they're on. Foster, as the apprentice, is another matter. Giving us well shaded combos of grief, pathos, bottled rage, curiosity and even bloodlust, his performance very nearly saves the film, and certainly lifts it above the admittedly low bar of Statham's previous work (as much as we liked the action of The Transporter). Donald Sutherland tries also, but simply doesn't hang around long enough to really make an impact...at least not acting wise. As the bad guy, Tony Goldwyn, surprisingly pudgy and stuck either behind a phone or a desk for most of screen time, is a shadow of his former self.

Still, there's something to be said for this remake. It has some points to make, a "destination" if you will: obligation, friendship, loyalty and of course, revenge. But it's the method that one questions: the original "Mechanic" could never be mistaken for PG fare, but in this version, everything is ratcheted up: the violence, the sex, the action; there's car wrecks, a winning shootout sequence both inside and outside a high-rise, the almost obligatory gay reference and there's a decent, if erratic soundtrack.

So there you have it - The Mechanic done for the insta-media Generation. Just don't touch that record player.