MECHANIC: RESURRECTION Review

I saw the 2011 Simon West re-make of the seventies era Charles Bronson film, The Mechanic, starring Jason Statham as an elite assassin with a unique talent for eliminating targets and making it look like it was an accident. I'm pretty sure I saw that one. I did. I know I did because I generally enjoy these no-brainer action flicks Statham pops out randomly once or twice a year, but why this admittedly forgettable re-make from five years ago needed a sequel is unclear. Unclear really isn't the right word though, as this thing is totally unnecessary and that's obvious from the get-go. There is no ambition behind the product, there is no flair to the fight sequences, and the bigger action "spectacle" looks so cheap this may as well have run after Sharknado 7 on the Syfy network. Still, we have Mechanic: Resurrection because why not at this point? If one is interested in this sequel it will undoubtedly be due to the fact they either love seeing Jason Statham beat people up or they have a general affinity for bad movies. The thing with Mechanic: Resurrection though is that it's not even a good bad movie. Guilty pleasures, if you will, give audiences something to enjoy despite the obvious shortcomings of the overall product whereas with Mechanic: Resurrection there is very little to enjoy at all. So sure, I like to think of myself as a Statham fan especially when he's given the opportunity to take these archetypal action heroes and turn them into brooding bad asses that actually are action heroes with none of the nonsense that differentiates him from say, the James Bond franchise. Statham doesn't normally mess with the fancy gadgets or the outlandish cars, but more he goes in, takes care of business, and escapes before the cops show up. In short, he's no nonsense, but that's all Mechanic: Resurrection is. Still, I can feel that for people who only venture out to the movies once or twice a year and will for some reason pick this as one of those two movies to see will inevitably find it to hit all the right spots and send them home happy due to the fact it met their expectations for an action movie with an evil European villain, but to them I say, "please spend your money on anything else-Hell or High Water if it's playing near you or Star Trek Beyond if it hasn't disappeared from theaters yet." Both are prime examples of B-movies done right; utilizing their genre restrictions in fun and refreshing ways whereas the only B-word to describe this latest Statham movie is bad. Just plain bad.

First Trailer for MECHANIC: RESURRECTION Starring Jason Statham

Anyone remember the Jason Statham flick from five years ago where he played one of his many hit man characters with the twist that in this flick his character teaches his trade to an apprentice who has a connection to one of his previous victims. No? Well it was called The Mechanic and apparently it made enough money to justify a sequel because we're getting one in a couple of months. The original, produced by CBS films, only made $62 million worldwide on a $40 million budget so it must have done well on home video and with its television rights as $22 million minus the marketing costs doesn't exactly signal that audiences were clamoring for more. With Lionsgate and Summit co-producing this sequel though I imagine they have kept the budget low and with the movie opening in August and the promotional campaign just now kicking into high gear I also imagine they did the same with that marketing budget. Still, there is a sleekness and rather expensive looking quality to the visuals we get in this first trailer as Statham has returned as Arthur Bishop as he tries to put his murderous past behind him, but naturally has to return for one last job when his most formidable foe kidnaps the love of his life. The original film was directed by action veteran Simon West (Con Air) and penned by a two-man writing team that included the original screenwriter from the 1972 Charles Bronson version from which the 2001 version was adapted, but this sequel sees none of that creative team returning. Instead, a few writers with few to no credits have been enlisted as has a director who has little more than what seem to be direct to video offerings in his filmography. These credentials combined with the addition of Jessica Alba don't exactly boost confidence in a Mechanic sequel being any good, but Statham doing his thing and Tommy Lee Jones going all out for the first time in a long time is enough to get me interested. Mechanic: Resurrection also stars Michelle Yeoh, Natalie Burn, Sam Hazeldine, and opens on August 26th, 2016.

THE HUNTSMAN: WINTER'S WAR Review

The biggest fight this unnecessary sequel was always going to battle was the one for purpose. In 2012's Snow White and the Huntsman there was much to admire in terms of visually stunning design and creativity for the functionality of much of those designs, but both the story and the characters felt thin, cobbled together from different mythologies, and thrown together in hopes of becoming a new take on an old tale. With The Huntsman: Winter's War the film once again faces something of an identity crisis-wanting to be a number of things, but never focusing on one single aspect enough to actually be about something. As the first film was an attempt to capitalize not only on the idea of turning well-known fairy tales into live-action adventures, but on swinging the Hollywood pendulum towards more female-centric action vehicles the focus is still very much on the ladies. This is all well and good until you realize that once again this Huntsman film is simply pulling from other stories to try and cobble together a legend of its own to no avail-giving extremely talented actresses nothing to work with. While not a direct sequel or even a full prequel, Winter's War is a spin-off of sorts that encapsulates all of the previous film and intends to add a broader scope and depth to the proceedings. In doing this we are offered a take on recent female Disney characters such as Elsa's Ice Queen from Frozen in the form of Queen Freya (Emily Blunt) and Merida from Pixar's Brave in the form of Sara (Jessica Chastain). Done in the hope that telling a darker, more action packed story would appeal not only to the kids who enjoyed those movies, but to the adults who've likely seen them on repeat and might find it interesting to see variations on such characters in live action form it's a fine enough strategy. At the very least this strategy provides some kind of template for the film to build strong female characters upon, but as a final product the film does nothing interesting with the majority of its characters in a story so scattered and with one too many lulls that even the beauty of both the visuals and actors isn't enough to distract from the weariness of it all.

'71 Review

Despite the fact '71 was put together by newcomers to the world of feature films you wouldn't know it from the hard-boiled style and breathless pacing that enables it to become an intriguing tale of a single soldier. Led by Jack O'Connell (Unbroken) this is not the movie you might expect given the promotional material or even the synopsis. Instead, this is a veritable history lesson that breaks an event down to its most human element. To give you a sense of just how basic the film gets is to know that within the first twenty minutes our main character is holding bits of one of his comrades brains in his hand. There is a close-up of this. It quickly reiterates to O'Connell's Gary Hook how close he is to death, that separating him from the unknown is simply how fast he can run from those who have killed his mate. It is his immediate reaction to flee the scene that sets him on a course for a night of unexpected challenges and consistent life-threatening experiences that test his will to live and his faith in mankind. These larger themes are hinted at, sure, but only if you choose to take them away from the film. The beauty of this rather simple tale though is that, if you wish, you can take it as it is and for what it offers in its most basic of senses with that being a historical action film that just so happens to genuinely strike a chord. While there isn't much to it other than atmosphere and performances director Yann Demange has managed to pull out the details of this ongoing divide in Northern Ireland to create a compelling study of humanity that speaks volumes about the larger situations at hand. While O'Connell does fine work as a British soldier cut off from his unit and left to survive alone on the streets of Belfast it is the films ability to manage the multiple storylines going on within the different mindsets and allegiances that really stands out. And while I enjoyed '71 more than enough to recommend it I still can't say it struck me as something exceptionally substantial, but more as something of note due to its attention to The Troubles, an issue I didn't have much knowledge of prior to seeing the film and something I imagine many others on this side of the pond will have in common with me.