Its been awhile since I've gotten some advanced screening passes but I just saw THE MECHANIC at the Theaters at MOA this past Monday.
I almost didn't make it in to this screening as I stepped out of line waiting for my friend to make it through the traffic and snow to get to the Mall of America, however, he got lost and ended up in a neighborhood nowhere near the mall, and I made it into one of the last remaining seats.
Despite being a Minnesota resident for 20 years of my life, this was only my third movie at Mall of America and I haven't really figured out where the best viewing areas are, but then again my choices this time around were limited and I ended up in the middle section about halfway back which wasn't that bad considering my options when I wandered in.
This was my first Jason Statham movie I'd really had exposure to (I have been aware of his films but just never have ended up at one). So, I have nothing really to compare this to, however I don't think fans of his will be disappointed in this film.
Personally, I felt like the beginning of this film wandered around a bit, and didn't really have much of a sense of direction. I felt like the film could have gone any number of different directions in regards to story and style.
However, once the film finally found its legs I was on board with it. There was definitely plenty of action, and a number of very cool explosions - which one would expect from this genre - but it certainly did not lack there. There was also an added layer of conflict which drove the story when Statham takes on the adult son of someone who he had just killed because the son wants to be trained to become a mechanic (one who is hired for assassinations is trained to make them look like accidents and their presence is ideally never discovered).
I liked how it ended, but once again the pacing issues I had with the beginning of the movie resurfaced as I felt it all sort of wrapped up too quickly. And it made me wish that some of the time that I felt stretched out the beginning could have been used to let the end breathe it little bit more.
All in all, THE MECHANIC brings what Statham fans are looking for with some good action and an interesting idea behind the action, but I felt the film was designed around the action sequences and what would look cool and then a story was almost an afterthought.
But there isn't that much out there right now in the action/adventure genre so this should definitely satisfy your need for cool explosions and guns.
2.5/5 stars
The Mechanic is in theaters tomorrow 1/28/11
-Dav3
