The thing about Jason Statham movies is that they tend to be so similar, they could be sequels to his other films.
But a quick jaunt to the Internet Movie Database confirms my suspicions that he has only actually made sequels to two of his films: "Crank" and "The Transporter" (though he's made two sequels to the latter, so it could be said he's actually made three, but that's not important right now).
Is "The Mechanic" Statham's great departure from the usual wingtips-and-roundhouse formula? No, but it's a tick or two superior to most of his movies.
"The Mechanic" sees Statham as Arthur, a silent, badass contract killer with a reputation for being able to do jobs cleanly. Arthur has an awesome house (with a sweet retro turntable) that he must take a boat to get to (but has an old roadster he's fixing up in the garage). He's meticulous and a loner in both work and play, except when he meets up with Harry, Arthur's mentor/boss (Donald Sutherland) or strolls out to the bars for a booty call.
Then he gets a missive from his employer (Tony Goldwyn), the owner of the company he works for: Harry has gone double agent and must be killed. Arthur does the job, making Harry's death look like a carjacking gone wrong, but is left to his own guilt and to pick up the pieces of Harry's life, namely Steve, Harry's semi-estranged, ne'er-do-well son (Ben Foster), who has lacked his own focus.
Steve, it turns out, is full of piss and vinegar, as they say, and wants to take up the family business. Arthur is reluctant at first, but trains Steve to be the killer his pops always knew he could be.
The relationship that builds between Steve and Arthur is really what adds that extra layer to this film. Yes, it's the fight sequences that carry things, but it's that sorta-sibling rivalry that carries it to the next level.
At it's best, "The Mechanic" is as giddily ludicrous as any action film can be, where the fights are crazy and can come on at any moment, but can also be conducted in public with no one seeming to notice. One fight takes place in a well-lit bus at night in front of an airport. In Chicago. Where two guys are smashing windows and throwing things at each other.
There's a certain inventiveness to Arthur's work, and movie protocol dictates we not really ask how he, say, manages to get into the swimming pool of a drug lord, then kill him without his armed henchman noticing, make it look like an accidental drowning, then walk away scot-free while the henchmen wonder what went wrong.
But there's still plenty of fun to be had as Arthur watches bemused as Steve hones his craft, making the mistakes all Mechanics make (culminating in a brutal brawl between the diminutive Foster and his burly target).
At times almost comically brutal, the fight scenes are well-done, and the intrigue is well-executed if a touch on the predictable side. But there's also a nice quietness to the film when things aren't being blown up (or people thrown through windows). And Arthur makes one heckuva case for tossing my iPod in the trash and going back to vinyl.
Of course, Statham's chief acting range seems to vary between "I'm very angry" to "I'm not going to laugh, no matter what you do." But Foster, who has made a living off of playing second bananas (check him out as Russell Crowe's lieutenant in the remake of "3:10 to Yuma"), is a talent, and it's only a matter of time before he finds his way into some starring roles.
So come for the action scenes, and stay for the intrigue. I promise, even if you can see it coming, you'll have a great time getting there.