Rated R for strong brutal violence throughout, language, some sexual content and nudity
Cast: Jason Statham, Ben Foster, Donald Sutherland, Tony Goldwyn, Jeff Chase
Director: Simon West
It is, however, competent, mercifully short, and oddly watchable. The film also resists the temptation to obliterate the viewer's senses with a third dimension and a thundering soundtrack. How refreshing it is to see an action movie that takes greater pride in its action than its decibel level. I can't quite bring myself to recommend the movie, as there's little to take away from it. But at least it knows how to flex its muscles. That's something.
Oh, it's goofy as hell. So many of the story's twists and turns involve characters knowing things they couldn't possibly know and anticipating events with such pinpoint accuracy that would make the Good Lord himself sit up and take notice. Added to which, the whole story hinges on a laughably inexplicable decision made by the protagonist.
Arthur Bishop (Jason Statham) is a "mechanic." A hit-man. Cleaner. Whatever they're called these days. His task, he explains in a voice-over narration at the movie's outset, is to make his jobs look like accidents. He embraces this concept with noticeable zeal. His first kill involves a drug kingpin inside his mansion. He accomplishes this by waiting for the drug lord in his pool. (Yup. Actually in the pool itself. Under the water. Full scuba gear.) Once he drowns him--somehow without his guards noticing--he tricks his henchmen into thinking he's still alive by moving the dead kingpin's arms in a swimming motion while beneath the water. (Yup.) Of course the plan works to perfection, and it's off to the next job.
This guy is meticulous as hell. He inherited that skill set from his mentor, a former mechanic himself named McKenna (Donald Sutherland). McKenna shares the same philosophy--he totes a handgun with "Victory Loves Preparation" engraved along the side--but he's been out of the field game for a while. Now confined to a wheelchair, McKenna is the main go-between for Bishop and the agency head (Tony Goldwyn in slithering snake mode.) Something's different about this next job, however. It doesn't come from McKenna. This is from the head honcho. Bishop's next assignment is to bump off his former mentor, who is accused to ratting out an elite team of assassins.
Bishop questions this, but like a good little soldier, he follows orders. While visiting the gravesite one morning, He encounters McKenna's listless son Steve (Ben Foster). Steve and his father never saw eye-to-eye, though the boy seems to possess a tinge of rage over his father's demise, and seeks an outlet for his aggression. Bishop agrees to take Steve in. Teach him the ropes of being a mechanic.
So now, why exactly does Bishop agree to take in the son of a man he just assassinated? You know, to be perfectly honest, I've been racking my brain and I can't think of a single reason beyond the fact that if he didn't, there wouldn't be a movie. Anyway, Bishop sets about teaching Steve the tricks of the "mechanic-ing" trade. Will Steve discover the truth? Was Bishop set up? Was McKenna really innocent? Is the company head hiding something? Those questions are rhetorical for anyone was has ever seen a movie in their lifetime.
Director Simon West ("Con Air", "The General's Daughter") isn't so much a cinema artist as an action movie technician. He's in the same camp, I think, as someone like Renny Harlin. That's not a bad thing. I've seen some indie-darling directors take on action pictures only to fall flat on their faces, so I appreciate what directors like Harlin and West bring to the table. If Richard Wenk and Lewis John Carlino's screenplay had provided the story with a tad more substance, it might have been worth a recommendation. I do give West credit here. He keeps the pace moving, and incorporates every action movie technique at his disposal to keep the movie afloat.
Jason Statham and Ben Foster are both likable actors, though they're playing characters that seem in lockstep with those they've played in the past. Statham can do these movies in his sleep, and Foster is portraying a personality quite similar to his role as Russell Crowe's main henchman in "3:10 to Yuma"... one who has a seemingly calm demeanor but can explode into violence on a dime. Perhaps it's a bit much to expect some modicum of character development in a story like this.
If nothing else, the movie is fun in its sheer absurdity. I especially got a kick out of the climactic chase scene on the crowded city streets, where whatever our heroes need to apprehend the villain... be it a bus, a forklift truck, a means to get from a skyscraper to the sidewalk below in less than a second, weapons, knowledge of where the antagonists are headed even before they know... anything within or beyond reason, it's right where they need it to be. (Victory may indeed love preparation, but it's got a hard-on for blind luck.)
The topper might be at the movie's conclusion, when one of the characters--who has anticipated things the best oracle in the universe couldn't touch--has sprawled a message for his target on a piece of paper. The guy reaches for the note. It states: If you're reading this, you're dead. Yup. And if you're writing this, you're God.
Reality is such a buzzkill. Who needs it in movies like this, right?
* * 1/2 out of * * * * stars
