“The Mechanic” which came out last Friday, is the remake of the 1972 action-thriller of the same name.

Jason Statham stars as Arthur Bishop, an assassin who is looking for the person who ordered the death of his best friend. Along the way, Bishop reluctantly takes on a protégé who is the son of his friend looking for revenge Steve McKenna, played by Ben Foster.

Despite how it may seem, this movie has little to do with Statham’s usual action flicks, at least initially.

The majority of the film is focused on Bishop and McKenna covertly killing their targets, as McKenna learns all he can from Bishop with the ultimate goal of finding his father’s killer and exacting revenge.

The story takes some rather cliché turns, but makes up for it with its twist ending.

The last 30 minutes of the movie shifts gears and goes from being “quiet and stealthy” to a theme of “guns blazing, kill everyone, let God sort them out.” This is not unwelcomed as the stakes in the story are high enough where explosive action seems fairly appropriate.

However, Statham has played this role before. He plays a hitman in the majority of his movies, so he’s got the cold calculated killer character nailed at this point.

Foster’s character goes from being a nobody to a murderer in seemingly no time at all, which makes him seem a bit unbelievable.

While much of the early movie is him being trained, it does not explain why exactly he is even more deadly than a room full of very experienced assassins.

The disbelief washes away fairly quickly because deep down the audience is rooting for McKenna, especially in the face of rather insurmountable odds.

I went into the theater to see “The Mechanic” with fairly low expectations. While Statham movies like “Crank” and “The Transporter” have pretty much covered this ground, the inclusion of Foster goes a long way in making this feel like its own unique entity.

The early kill sequences are rad, the eventual shoot-outs do not disappoint and the movie’s ending will leave the audience with a good sense of closure (with a twist the audience may or may not see coming). All in all the movie did not disappoint.

Jon Posch can be reached at 581-7944 or

[email protected].