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Mixed or average reviews - based on 35 Critics What's this?

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Generally favorable reviews- based on 132 Ratings

  • Starring: Ben Foster, Donald Sutherland, Jason Statham
  • Summary: Arthur Bishop is a 'mechanic' - an elite assassin with a strict code and unique talent for cleanly eliminating targets. It's a job that requires professional perfection and total detachment, and Bishop is the best in the business. But when his mentor and close friend Harry is murdered, Bishop is anything but detached. His next assignment is self-imposed - he wants those responsible dead. His mission grows complicated when Harry's son Steve (Ben Foster) approaches him with the same vengeful goal and a determination to learn Bishop's trade. Bishop has always acted alone but he can't turn his back on Harry's son. A methodical hit man takes an impulsive student deep into his world and a deadly partnership is born. But while in pursuit of their ultimate mark, deceptions threaten to surface and those hired to fix problems become problems themselves. (CBS Films)

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 35
  2. Negative: 5 out of 35
  1. Reviewed by: Dana Stevens
    Jan 28, 2011
    80
    Feels fresh and satisfying. Maybe it's the presence of Jason Statham, the British action star who has a physicality like no other actor out there right now.
  2. Reviewed by: Brian Miller
    Jan 26, 2011
    60
    Jason Statham bares his six-pack before speaking his first line in this humorless, efficient remake of the 1972 Charles Bronson hitman movie.
  3. Reviewed by: Mark Jenkins
    Jan 28, 2011
    60
    The movie is crisp and contemporary enough to inaugurate another franchise for Statham.
  4. Reviewed by: Roger Moore
    Jan 26, 2011
    38
    It's a modestly effective but jaw-droppingly violent picture.

See all 35 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 35
  2. Negative: 2 out of 35
  1. An explosive action movie with Jason Statham at its best. I believe its an all around action thriller. Its packed to the brim with explosions, headshots and even a destructive car chase. The Mechanic certainly fixed things well for me to enjoy this movie from begining to end. Well worth a watch Expand
  2. 8
    I really enjoyed this movie. Not perfect but a great action packed thriller. Special effects were cool and the actors did a great job. No complaints. Solid movie! Go see it! Expand
  3. "The Mechanic" is a action movie with mind blowing sequences and bad ass acting by Statham. The only problem is that the movie knows what it has to offer. In other words, the movie is considerably predictable. Expand
  4. I called a Mechanic, and he broke my film.

    Review of "The Mechanic" 2011

    This Redux of http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068931/ has managed to
    do what very few films have accomplished. It made me stop watching it, with no feelings I might miss something and perfect assurance I could have been doing something better than watching a rock video for serial killers. Instead of following the formula that worked in the past the producers and director, this time around decided that it had been missing graphic and brutal depictions of murder, so they fixed it. But ended up breaking something that didn't need any fixing. If your thinking that I am just not into violent films, you would be wrong. Many films have brought the fictional representation of violence to the level of fine art. This is not one of them. In fact I had not ever known the title of the Bronson movie. I caught it late at night just as it started in 1983 on HBO.The film was riveting. I have often thought back to it through the years as a fine example of american action suspense film. Halfway through this Redux of fail, I began wondering why I was watching it at all. Then I caught a post from a young man reviewing it on imdb. Which said,( this film is so lame >>>>> so on and so on.) But what got me was the end of his review. "The movie they based this on must suck to, I will never watch the original." That is pretty damn bad. I had different issues than the angry young man had with this production. The film over all is well made. The editing, cinematography, directing everything, except the soundtrack, is technically professional. I think the director lost his mind and forgot he was making a movie though and attempted to make The Mechanic into the first Blockbuster Snuff Film. The assassinations depicted for these so called professional killers are very close to torture. Long involved scenes of merciless stabbing, chocking, crushing, and slicing the targets they are contracted to terminate left me queasy. By halfway through the film I had lost all consideration for any kind of plot. I no longer cared for, or could root for either of the main characters. Once you start thinking that your main heroes should both be lobotomized and incarcerated for life because they are sociopathic murderers, its pretty hard to notice there is a story . All I remember is how bad I felt for the people I was supposed to not care about or even dislike; as they died. So in my opinion, this film was wretched, and forever tarnished the good name of a foundational piece of American Cinema. Expand

See all 35 User Reviews

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