6.6/10
132,768
189 user 257 critic

The Mechanic (2011)

Trailer
2:21 | Trailer
Follows an elite hit man as he teaches his trade to an apprentice who has a connection to one of his previous victims.

Director:

Writers:

(screenplay), (screenplay) | 1 more credit »
Reviews
Popularity
2,656 ( 195)
1 nomination. See more awards »
Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

Safe I (2012)
Action | Crime | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.5/10 X  

Mei, a young girl whose memory holds a priceless numerical code, finds herself pursued by the Triads, the Russian mob, and corrupt NYC cops. Coming to her aid is an ex-cage fighter whose life was destroyed by the gangsters on Mei's trail.

Director: Boaz Yakin
Stars: Jason Statham, Catherine Chan, Chris Sarandon
Action | Adventure | Crime
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.7/10 X  

Arthur Bishop thought he had put his murderous past behind him, until his most formidable foe kidnaps the love of his life. Now he is forced to travel the globe to complete three impossible assassinations, and do what he does best: make them look like accidents.

Director: Dennis Gansel
Stars: Jason Statham, Jessica Alba, Tommy Lee Jones
Transporter 3 (2008)
Action | Adventure | Crime
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.1/10 X  

Frank Martin puts the driving gloves on to deliver Valentina, the kidnapped daughter of a Ukranian government official, from Marseilles to Odessa on the Black Sea. En route, he has to contend with thugs who want to intercept Valentina's safe delivery and not let his personal feelings get in the way of his dangerous objective.

Director: Olivier Megaton
Stars: Jason Statham, Robert Knepper, Natalya Rudakova
Parker (2013)
Action | Crime | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.2/10 X  

A thief with a unique code of professional ethics is double-crossed by his crew and left for dead. Assuming a new disguise and forming an unlikely alliance with a woman on the inside, he looks to hijack the score of the crew's latest heist.

Director: Taylor Hackford
Stars: Jason Statham, Jennifer Lopez, Michael Chiklis
Transporter 2 (2005)
Action | Crime | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.3/10 X  

Mercenary Frank Martin, who specializes moving goods of all kinds, surfaces again this time in Miami, Florida when he's implicated in the kidnapping of the young son of a powerful USA official.

Director: Louis Leterrier
Stars: Jason Statham, Amber Valletta, Kate Nauta
Action | Crime | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.8/10 X  

Frank is hired to "transport" packages for unknown clients and has made a very good living doing so. But when asked to move a package that begins moving, complications arise.

Directors: Louis Leterrier, Corey Yuen
Stars: Jason Statham, Qi Shu, Matt Schulze
Action | Crime | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.2/10 X  

Chelios faces a Chinese mobster who has stolen his nearly indestructible heart and replaced it with a battery-powered ticker that requires regular jolts of electricity to keep working.

Directors: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor
Stars: Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Clifton Collins Jr.
Crank (2006)
Action | Crime | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7/10 X  

Professional assassin Chev Chelios learns his rival has injected him with a poison that will kill him if his heart rate drops.

Directors: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor
Stars: Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Carlos Sanz
Death Race (2008)
Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.4/10 X  

Ex-con Jensen Ames is forced by the warden of a notorious prison to compete in our post-industrial world's most popular sport: a car race in which inmates must brutalize and kill one another on the road to victory.

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Stars: Jason Statham, Joan Allen, Tyrese Gibson
Blitz (2011)
Action | Crime | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.2/10 X  

A tough cop is dispatched to take down a serial killer who has been targeting police officers.

Director: Elliott Lester
Stars: Jason Statham, Paddy Considine, Aidan Gillen
Killer Elite (2011)
Action | Crime | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.5/10 X  

When his mentor is taken captive by a disgraced Arab sheik, a killer-for-hire is forced into action. His mission: kill three members of Britain's elite Special Air Service responsible for the death of his sons.

Director: Gary McKendry
Stars: Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Robert De Niro
Action | Adventure | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.6/10 X  

Mr. Church reunites the Expendables for what should be an easy paycheck, but when one of their men is murdered on the job, their quest for revenge puts them deep in enemy territory and up against an unexpected threat.

Director: Simon West
Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Liam Hemsworth, Randy Couture
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
...
...
Burke
...
...
Jorge Lara
...
Lara's Guard (as Eddie Fernandez)
Joshua Bridgewater ...
Car Jacker
...
Vaughn
...
Kelly
Joel Davis ...
Husband
Mark Nutter ...
Mr. Finch (as Mark Anthony Nutter)
Ardy Brent Carlson ...
Bell Hop
...
Mrs. Finch
Edit

Storyline

Arthur Bishop (Jason Statham) is a 'mechanic' - an elite assassin with a strict code and unique talent for cleanly eliminating targets. It's a job that requires professional perfection and total detachment, and Bishop is the best in the business. But when his mentor and close friend Harry (Donald Sutherland) is murdered, Bishop is anything but detached. His next assignment is self-imposed - he wants those responsible dead. His mission grows complicated when Harry's son Steve (Ben Foster) approaches him with the same vengeful goal and a determination to learn Bishop's trade. Bishop has always acted alone but he can't turn his back on Harry's son. A methodical hit man takes an impulsive student deep into his world and a deadly partnership is born. But while in pursuit of their ultimate mark, deceptions threaten to surface and those hired to fix problems become problems themselves. Written by Anonymous

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

Someone has to fix the problems.

Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong brutal violence throughout, language, some sexual content and nudity | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

27 January 2011 (Israel)  »

Also Known As:

Ha'mehonai  »

Filming Locations:

 »

Edit

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$11,422,006, 30 January 2011, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$29,121,498

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$76,347,393
See more on IMDbPro »

Company Credits

Show more on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

| |

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

Michael Douglas was originally sought for the lead role. See more »

Goofs

Mic is visible when Arthur calls Dave from the conference room in the building. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Arthur Bishop: What I do requires a certain mindset. I do assignments; designated targets. Some jobs need to look like accidents. Others must cast suspicion on someone else. A select few need to send a clear message. Pulling a trigger is easy. The best jobs are the ones nobody even knows you were there.
See more »

Connections

Referenced in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #19.78 (2011) See more »

Soundtracks

MISSISSIPPI KKKROSSROADS
Written and Performed by Chris Thomas King
Published by Young Blues Rebel Music (BMI)
Courtesy of 21st Century Blues Records
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

 
This film is broken, no wonder they need a mechanic.
8 February 2011 | by See all my reviews

This remake has managed to do what very few films have accomplished, it made me stop watching it. With no feelings I might miss something and perfect assurance I could have been doing something better than watching a rock video for serial killers. Instead of following the formula that worked in the past the producers and director, this time around decided that it had been missing graphic and brutal depictions of murder, so they fixed it. But ended up breaking something that didn't need fixing.

If your thinking that I am just not into violent films, you would be wrong. Many films have brought the fictional representation of violence to the level of fine art. This is not one of them. In fact I had not it was a remake even. I did see the original though. I caught it late at night just as it started in 1983 on HBO.The film was riveting. I have often thought back to it through the years as a fine example of American action suspense film.

Halfway through this Redux of fail, I began wondering why I was watching it at all. Then I caught a post from a young man reviewing it here, Which said( this film is so lame >>>>> so on and so on.). But what got me was the end of his review. "The movie they based this on must suck to, I will never watch the original." That is pretty damn sad.

I had different issues than the angry young man had with this film. Over all it is well made. I think the director lost his mind and forgot he was making a movie though and attempted to make The Mechanic into the first Blockbuster Snuff Film. The assassinations depicted for these so called professional killers are very close to torture. Long involved scenes of merciless stabbing, choking, crushing, and slicing the contracts they are paid to terminate left me queasy.

By halfway through the film I had lost all consideration for any kind of plot. I no longer cared for, or could root for either of the main characters. Once you start thinking that your main heroes should both be lobotomized and incarcerated for life because they are sociopaths, its pretty hard to care if there is a story .

All I remember is how bad I felt for the people I was supposed to not care about or even dislike; as they died. So in my opinion, this film was wretched, and forever tarnished the good name of a foundational piece of American Cinema.


37 of 73 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?
Review this title | See all 189 user reviews »

Contribute to This Page

Paul Scheer on Why There Are No Bad Movies

Paul Scheer discusses The Disaster Artist and his love of awesomely bad movies. Plus, we dive into the origins of midnight movies and explore how The Room became a cult classic.

Watch now