Mechanic: Resurrection, while not awful and at times passably entertaining, had not reason to even exist, although from my memory was I guess a tad better than its predecessor. The only reason to even sit through this is for Jason Statham who still possesses great charm, otherwise the stunt work isn’t the best and the plot is incredibly thin.
Mechanic: Resurrection
(2016)
Genre(s): Action
Summit | R – 105 min. – $42.99 | November 22, 2016
Date Published: 11/19/2016 | Author: The Movieman
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THE MOVIE — 3.0/5 |
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Example #158 of unnecessary and more or less, unwanted sequels. The first Mechanic wasn’t great but with Statham I found it to be moderately entertaining but ultimately forgettable (and honestly, I can’t remember much about it except Ben Foster played the villain). Mechanic: Resurrection, lazy title aside, is probably on par with the first though this one goes more outlandish compared to the first (which I think was darker in tone IIRC) but does garner some entertainment value. The story picks up some time after the first movie. Arthur Bishop (JASON STATHAM) is living, in obscurity, leaving his former life behind until he is contacted, via a courier, by an old partner, Crain (SAM HAZELDINE), who wants Bishop to carry out three contract murders, making each look like an accident or else he will expose to the underworld that he is alive. Well, Bishop doesn’t take too kindly and declines fighting his way through a plethora of off-the-rack goons.
Managing to escape, he hopes to hide out on a remote resort island run by Mei (MICHELLE YEOH) who has held his bungulo which, of course, contains much needed equipment: high-tech laptop and a surplus number of weapons and ammo. But just when Bishop might in the clear, in comes the lovely Gina (JESSICA ALBA) and one night, when her boyfriend attacks her on a yaught, Bishop, urged by Mei, reluctantly swims to save the day, in the process killing said asshole boyfriend. However, come to find out, upon inspecting Gina’s cell phone, finds a picture of himself; she reveals she was blackmailed to have Bishop fall for her, she’d get kidnapped and then Bishop would be forced to carry out the contract killings… which is outlined when, well, he falls for her, she gets kidnapped and he’s taken to Crain. So, kind of went according to plan after all! The premise is basic and outside of maybe the pool draining scene, which every trailer showed, there’s not much here that’s exactly memorable, heck, some might as well been written for a Transporter movie than anything, though even this movie is grounded in more reality compared with that franchise.
From a screenplay by Philip Shelby and Tony Mosher, Mechanic: Resurrection was independently financed (after the first film disappointed at the box office) with Jason Statham wanting to play lead again after several supporting roles (Furious 7 & 8, Expendables 2 & 3), this really wasn’t that good of flick, though Statham is perhaps the only reason it’s even tolerable. The supporting cast, despite some OK talent, isn’t fully utilized. Jessica Alba serves more as eye-candy, as she did nearly a decade ago with Into the Blue (and really, the characters are interchangeable); Tommy Lee Jones is somewhat of a highlight with his 60s-esque wardrobe but his screen time is woefully limited; and Michelle Yeoh is basically a cameo appearing for maybe 5 minutes. This sequel was helmed by German-born Dennis Gansel marking, I think, his premiere Hollywood film. And what a debut. Meh. Yeah, I used that term. On some level I was a bit disappointed as I do like Statham as an action actor — and he was sorely missed in Transporter Reloaded, of course that flick was worse than this — but with its limited budget the CGI was bad looking, even laughable, and the stunts, albeit impressive given how much of it Statham did himself, wasn’t terribly noteworthy.
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SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.0/5 |
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This release comes with the usual UHD, glossy slip cover. Inside is a redemption code for the Digital HD copy. Engineering the Sequel: Inside Mechanic: Resurrection (9:55; HD) is a behind-the-scenes featurette on the characters and features interviews with members of the cast and crew. Scoring the Action Film with Mark Isham (9:00; HD) – The composer takes viewers through the process of scoring the film. The Malaysian Prison (1:22; HD) – This is a very short EPK like featurette looking at the prison sequence, but it’s nothing more than some interviews cut to scenes from the film. Michelle Yeoh, Secret Ally (1:14; HD) is another short a featurette focusing on Yeoh and her small role. Statham on Stunts (1:23; HD) checks out the stunt work done on the film and how the actor likes to do his own stunts when possible. Previews – Criminal, Hell or High Water, Our Kind of Traitor, Wild Card, The Expendables 3 |
UHD VIDEO – 4.75/5, BD VIDEO – 4.25/5
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| Mechanic: Resurrection is shown with a 2160p ultra high-definition transfer and presented in its original 2.40 widescreen aspect ratio and although I don’t think this is the best looking UHD title released, it at least still features fantastically sharp detail throughout and colors are generally vibrant and skin tones appear natural looking. The Blu-ray meanwhile, looks fine but nothing extra ordinary. This 1080p high-definition transfer isn’t quite as sharp compared with other recent releases, and compared with the UHD disc, but colors were bright all through. |
AUDIO – 5.0/5 |
| Both UHD and Blu-ray discs come with a robust and incredible Dolby Atmos track (decodes to TrueHD 7.1 for older receivers). This is where the Atmos gets the most work done with a basically all-out action flick where there are numerous explosions, gunfire galore and Mark Isham’s Bond-lite score blaring through each available channel with fantastic excess… if that makes any sense. |
OVERALL – 3.25/5 |
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Overall, Mechanic: Resurrection, while not awful and at times passably entertaining, had not reason to even exist, although from my memory was I guess a tad better than its predecessor. The only reason to even sit through this is for Jason Statham who still possesses great charm, otherwise the stunt work isn’t the best and the plot is incredibly thin while supporting talents like Tommy Lee Jones and Michelle Yeoh were outright underutilized. This might work as a rental, but nothing more. The UHD combo pack offers great video and audio transfers but the features were limited. |
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.