|
Special Offers and Product Promotions
- Jubilee offer: spend £10 or more on any product sold by Amazon.co.uk on or before June 6 and you can buy The Diamond Jubilee A Classical Celebration Album for just £2.50 Here's how (terms and conditions apply)
Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
|
Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
The 1972 version of The Mechanic is a tough-minded action film that reflects its disillusioned era. While no masterpiece, it does get points for the retro-coolness of prime-era Charles Bronson, cast as an ice-cold hit man who begins teaching the tricks of the trade to a young apprentice. So the prospect of a 2011 remake isn't especially sacrilegious, and handing the central role to 21st-century tough guy Jason Statham is a logical choice; Statham's got the moves, the voice, and the three-day stubble necessary for the role. In some fairly significant ways, though, the remake backs away from the hardness of the original and settles for a less daring approach. Director Simon West (Con Air) manages to make even New Orleans locations seem monotonous, as he covers everything in a baked-butterscotch glaze and surrounds his antihero with the sleekest, most boring kind of modern hardware (the old skool LP turntable is a nice exception). Statham stays in his locked-down key throughout, while, as his student, Ben Foster--somewhat less jittery here than in the likes of 3:10 to Yuma or Alpha Dog--strides into one reckless situation after another. Playing peripheral roles as members of the hit man's shadowy network, Donald Sutherland and Tony Goldwyn successfully read their lines. The actual targets of the hits are creepy enough so that we aren't unduly troubled by Statham's line of work, and the ending falls far short of the memorable original. A take-no-prisoners approach to violence makes this seem even more like an empty exercise. --Robert Horton
Product Description
From the director of Con Air and Lara Croft:Tomb Raider Jason Statham is Arthur Bishop - The Mechanic - an elite assassin with a unique talent for eliminating targets with deadly skill and total emotional detachment. But when the Agency double cross him and his mentor and friend Harry (Donald Sutherland) is killed, Bishop enlists Harry's son (Ben Foster) on a mission to avenge his death. As tensions rise and deceptions surface those sent to fix the problem soon become the problem themselves in this explosive, high-octane thrill ride.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Statham fans will know what to expect and will not be disappointed.
Guess what, he's a top assasin - particularly good at faking accidental deaths. As hard and wiley as they come.
Without giving anything away he ends up focusing his vast killing aptitude on a revenge mission.
It's enjoyable stuff if you're in the mood and is one of his better movies.
Guess what, he's a top assasin - particularly good at faking accidental deaths. As hard and wiley as they come.
Without giving anything away he ends up focusing his vast killing aptitude on a revenge mission.
It's enjoyable stuff if you're in the mood and is one of his better movies.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The Mechanic is a remake of the early `70s classic that starred Charles Bronson and was directed by Michael Winner. Unusually for a Winner film it was directed with imagination and a bit of flair, and with the ultra cool central performance from Bronson, radiating a casual machismo, it has become one of my favourite films.
The remake casts Jason Statham in the Bronson role and is directed by Simon West. It is a competent thriller, and largely follows the plot of the original film for the first half. Then it seems to go off the rails and side tracks into a plot revolving around personal revenge. It seems to lose its balls and whimps out of making an ending that resembles the nihilistic, fatalistic end of the original film that showed the futility of the cycle of violence.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the film. Statham, surely the hardest working action man around, is always good value for money, and he almost manages to fill Bronson's shoes with his stoic, taciturn charm. The action is plentiful and well staged, and the remade plot is reasonable enough. And there is a great cameo from Donald Sutherland, full of pathos and dignity. It's just that it sets itself up as a rival to great film, and such it just fails to deliver. So three stars only.
The remake casts Jason Statham in the Bronson role and is directed by Simon West. It is a competent thriller, and largely follows the plot of the original film for the first half. Then it seems to go off the rails and side tracks into a plot revolving around personal revenge. It seems to lose its balls and whimps out of making an ending that resembles the nihilistic, fatalistic end of the original film that showed the futility of the cycle of violence.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the film. Statham, surely the hardest working action man around, is always good value for money, and he almost manages to fill Bronson's shoes with his stoic, taciturn charm. The action is plentiful and well staged, and the remade plot is reasonable enough. And there is a great cameo from Donald Sutherland, full of pathos and dignity. It's just that it sets itself up as a rival to great film, and such it just fails to deliver. So three stars only.
23 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
'The Mechanic' is an action-thriller film, which is a remake of the 1972 film of the same name that starred Charles Bronson in the lead. The remake released in 2011 to negative reviews, however managed to become a moderate success at the box-office.
The story centres around Arthur Bishop (Jason Statham), a professional assassin who starts to mentor an apprentice (Ben Foster) who is related to one of his victims.
The movie has an interesting start and progresses at a fast pace with good action set-pieces. There are a few subtle twists throughout and also a couple in the climax.
The flaws are the predictable storyline, lifeless characters, pivotal scenes that are a bit rushed and a number of pointless/sleazy scenes.
Statham performs his trademark role in his normal way, nothing new. He's still a likeable action hero though. I'm not a fan of Ben Foster's but he performs well. Both actors share most of the screen time in the movie together, unfortunately there is no chemistry between them. Donald Sutherland is competent in a brief role. Tony Goldwyn is unconvincing.
The direction provided by Simon West is just about average only due to the exciting action choreography. The editing is abrupt and quite a high movie budget (about $40,000,000) seems to have been wasted as the money isn't justified on-screen.
The background music score by Mark Isham is classy and a highlight of the movie.
The remake fails to match the originals quality but still is watchable.
'The Mechanic', The Problem and The Fix are all straight-forward in the film. The only thing that's missing is a straight-forward audience. In the end, no harm watching this time-pass actioner and completing the job.
The story centres around Arthur Bishop (Jason Statham), a professional assassin who starts to mentor an apprentice (Ben Foster) who is related to one of his victims.
The movie has an interesting start and progresses at a fast pace with good action set-pieces. There are a few subtle twists throughout and also a couple in the climax.
The flaws are the predictable storyline, lifeless characters, pivotal scenes that are a bit rushed and a number of pointless/sleazy scenes.
Statham performs his trademark role in his normal way, nothing new. He's still a likeable action hero though. I'm not a fan of Ben Foster's but he performs well. Both actors share most of the screen time in the movie together, unfortunately there is no chemistry between them. Donald Sutherland is competent in a brief role. Tony Goldwyn is unconvincing.
The direction provided by Simon West is just about average only due to the exciting action choreography. The editing is abrupt and quite a high movie budget (about $40,000,000) seems to have been wasted as the money isn't justified on-screen.
The background music score by Mark Isham is classy and a highlight of the movie.
The remake fails to match the originals quality but still is watchable.
'The Mechanic', The Problem and The Fix are all straight-forward in the film. The only thing that's missing is a straight-forward audience. In the end, no harm watching this time-pass actioner and completing the job.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
the mechanic
a typical jason statham film. high paced and good action scenes. very good movie to watch as a group or on your own
Published 19 hours ago by Ian C. R. Davidson
An excellent thriller.
A remake of the famous film by Charles Bronson with the same name. This is an excellent film with a real twist. It keeps you entertained throughout the film. Read more
Published 23 days ago by Christine Jackson
"..BRILLIANT!!..STATHAM DOING HIS THING...."
This is yet again another quality Statham movie, plenty of violent bloody action and carnage as he plays a top assassin know as a mechanic! Read more
Published 1 month ago by S. Drury
Usual Statham Action i.e. little dialog
First of all the plots of Jason Statham movies are never the reason I go see the films but a warning to anybody with any common sense this movie makes no sense, no sense at all. Read more
Published 1 month ago by ekb
Didn't work properly
Gave this DVD as a Christmas gift and the recipiant of this gift has only just watched the film, unfortunately the picture and sound freeze at some of the action scenes. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Sue
disappointed
The movie was ok, not the best, i was very disappointed as i thought the ending really wasnt great following the story line!
Published 4 months ago by holly
Not bad at all
THE MECHANIC (2011) is a remake of the 1972 movie of the same name starring Charles Bronson.
In this 2011 version, Jason Statham (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,... Read more
In this 2011 version, Jason Statham (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Valerie J.
Somewhat lacking in the action department.....
I think a lot was expected from this film, give that Statham films are normally action packed and have a pretty fast pace to the plot. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Louise Roberts
Desapointed because of the sound
A good movie but the sound was so low that I couldn't hear it and I had to read the subtitles
Published 6 months ago by Juan
The Mechanic
The action moves long at a swift pace and the whole enterprise is highly polished, if somewhat predictable. I thought Ben Foster acted well. Statham was, well ... Statham. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Dean
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
