THE MECHANIC (West, 2011, C) - Yup, that’s a guy coolly walking away from an explosion. A guy who is, furthermore, played by Jason Statham, who’s steely-eyed and unflappable as ever (seriously: nothing flaps him). In other words, this is a real B-movie, laden with clichés, which, if I did letter grades, would probably get a B. It’s kind of sad, in a way, that’s I’m already grateful if an action movie doesn’t rely on bad CGI, has workman-like but decent direction, and doesn’t dither. Sad, because so many movies don’t meet even this modest standard.
I’ll say it: I like looking at Statham. Despite his rather impassive, brutish face, he’s got a certain grace to him, and he doesn’t look bad without his shirt. What I didn’t like so much is the tendency to exaggerate the vilification of his victims: not only are they cartel leaders, hit-men (wait…) or arms dealers, they’re coded as “other” in other ways too: one is brown, one is gay, one is fat (and a lecher). I don’t mind that the plot and the action are schematic - but it would be nice if the characterizations would less blatantly play on prejudice.
