The Mechanic is a decent little movie starring Jason Statham as an assassin who is betrayed by his employer, tricked into killing his mentor, then trains up his dead mentor’s son who eventually attempts to kill Jason’s character in revenge when he discovers who killed his own father. That’s the plot in a nutshell, with a few interesting assassination scenes.
Jason Statham is his usual self – a cold to luke-warm character with a generally serious demeanour, athletic in fighting and kitted out with some good equipment. His trainee and would-be killer is played by Ben Foster who does a fair job – not amazingly captivating but not a terrible actor either – just somewhere in between. There aren’t really any other actors in this movie who get a good amount of screen time, it’s really quite simplistic. I rate it slightly lower than Assassination Games since that movie had two stars in one movie, and slightly better mood setting especially around Van Damme’s home, but it was a similar genre and had a similar level of action, entertainment value and plot busyness.
Don’t miss the stronger sequel
If you enjoyed The Mechanic (2011) don’t forget to watch the sequel, Mechanic Resurrection (2016) where Jason Statham returns in a similar role but with a more interesting plot, and is joined by Jessica Alba and Tommy Lee Jones. I’d say the sequel comfortably better than the original.