Mechanic: Resurrection   Starring: Jason Statham, Jessica Alba, Tommy Lee Jones and Michelle Yeoh Distributor: Lionsgate Home Entertainment RRP: £TBC Certificate: 15 Release Date: 26 December 2016

The world most prominent hit man has decided to retire and turn his back on his past, but his past has not forgotten him. A notorious crime lord, Crain needs three men killed and he needs it to look like an accident. His first approach to Bishop ends violently so he baits him with a honey trap. Even though Bishop knows it’s a trap it does not stop him for falling for Gina, which gives Crain just the leverage he needs to get Bishop to fulfil his reluctant contract...

Mechanic: Resurrection (2016. 1 hr, 34 min, 35 sec) is an action thriller directed by Dennis Gansel from a script by Philip Shelby and Tony Mosher.

The film is based around the three set piece killings with a ‘B’ plot involving Bishop (Jason Statham) falling in love with Gina (Jessica Alba). Given that the film has a relatively short runtime, there was little room for the relationship to either develop or for the audience to buy into the idea that such a cold killer would fall for the girl who was deliberately sent to entrap him. In this he shows a distinct lack of healthy scepticism.

Bishop's nemesis, Crain, has little enough screen time, so has little choice when it comes to his portrayal, and Sam Hazeldine does what he can but comes over like a second-rate Bond villain.

So, the love interest is meh... which only leaves the three killings, surely the film's centrepiece. The first killing, in a prison, fail spectacularly if it was supposed to be an accident. It would take about thirty seconds to realise that the manner of death was a murder and when Bishop escapes he may as well have worn a shirt emblazoned with “I killed him”.

The second, and more satisfying, death has Bishop scale a skyscraper. It’s the film's only satisfying hit. The last has Bishop sent to kill Max Adams, as played by an off-the-leash Tommy Lee Jones, who steals every scene he is in making you wish the film had been about Max and not Bishop.

There is nothing terribly wrong with the film as a bit of throw away entertainment, but then again there is little here that hasn’t been seen before and for the most part better executed.

The DVD comes with both an audio description as well as subtitles, both are optional. On the extras side, you get Engineering The Sequence: Inside the Mechanic: Resurrection (9 min, 29 sec) which is an extended promo for the film where everybody involved say nothing but positive things about the movie.

Scoring the Action Film with Mark Isham (8 min, 37 sec) looks at the scoring of the film and fair do’s the score is one of the good things about the movie. The Malaysian Prison (1 min, 17 sec) is a quick look at the prison setting. Michelle Yeoh, Secret Ally (1 min, 10 sec) has the actress talk about her role. And lastly Stratham on Stunts (1 min, 18 sec) has Stratham talking about doing his own stunt work.

There are good things about the film, the locations and Yeoh and Jones steal their scenes, but there remains little that is original and this lets the film down.

6

Charles Packer