MECHANIC: RESURRECTION (2016)

Mechanic: Resurrection (2016)
Directed by: Dennis Gansel
Written by: Brian Pittman, Lewis John Carlino, Philip Shelby, Rachel Long, Tony Mosher
Starring: Jason Statham, Jessica Alba, Michelle Yeoh, Sam Hazeldine, Tommy Lee Jones

MECHANIC: RESURRECTION (2016)
Directed by Dennis Gansel

Bishop’s life as Otto Santos in the exotic landscape of Rio de Janeiro is short-lived when former associate Crain locates him and forces him to kill three people in exchange for the life of the beautiful Gina.

If you’re looking for mindless, shallow action, then MECHANIC: RESURRECTION is just the ticket! Over-the-top stunts that would make James Bond shit himself and most definitely result in death seem to be a walk in the park for Jason Statham’s Arthur Bishop, a skilled assassin for hire. Despite leaving that world behind in the hope of a new, quieter life, it seems he can’t stop his past from catching up with him: Crain. Unable to outrun him, he comes across Crain’s bait in the form of charity worker Gina who’s been forced to ensnare Bishop otherwise witness the slaughter of all the women and children she looks after at a rescue centre in Cambodia. Before either of them can escape the clutches of Crain’s henchmen, Gina is kidnapped and Bishop realises he has no choice but to do the hits that Crain requires of him else risk the life of Gina and those innocents under her care. An African warlord, a former trafficker and an arms dealer are all on Crain’s hit list and to save Gina’s life, Bishop must make their deaths look like an accident…

Many people say Jason Statham plays the same character in all his movies and MECHANIC: RESURRECTION is a fine example of this. Statham’s attempt at Portueguese is about as convincing as Allo Allo’s Officer Crabtree’s French. His London accent seeps through and you just want to face-palm though even one of the characters in the film recognises Bishop’s incompetant accent. This weak trait continues as Bishop “falls in love” after 5 minutes with mysterious woman Gina who he knows was sent by Crain to seduce him. He even goes as far as entrusting Gina with his father’s watch, an item he’d never taken off his wrist. I mean, would you do that after knowing a woman for a day or two? And would you also make yourself sitting ducks just to have said woman kidnapped so you have to assassinate the three men on your enemy’s hitlist? Logic seems to have gone out the window for a supposedly as smart a man as Bishop, a man who can create explosives and formulate poisons, not to mention hang off the side of buildings, Tom Cruise style, to destroy some rich guy’s swimming pool whilst he’s in it. When it comes to killing, he’s a whizz with some pretty tasty hand-to-hand combat scenes, but common sense on the most simplist of plots seems to have gone out the window. Even Jessica Alba’s character becomes little more than an empty love interest, there to look pretty alongside the muscular Statham. Yeah, they make a sexy couple but their romance is as shallow as their characters.

I understand that MECHANIC: RESURRECTION is meant to be pure exhilarating entertainment and not much else, which is a good job because the plot is wafer thin, but the lack of a meaty storyline, characters and villain leaves the film nothing more than a series of flashes and bangs set in a various global locations. Even roping in Tommy Lee Jones fails to propel this movie and it makes you wonder why Alba and Jones agreed to do it in the first place as both actors are worth more than this meagre effort.

This is one for action fans only – no brain cells needed.

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