Jason Statham

The Mechanic

  • Title: The Mechanic (2011)
  • IMDb: link

Remakes, Hollywood’s second favorite shortcut (after sequels) for quickly churning out mediocre flicks. If I have seen the original 1972 film with Charles Bronson and Jan-Michael Vincent I don’t remember it. And there’s nothing in the remake that makes me think I’ve missed anything.

This version stars Jason Statham as hitman Arthur Bishop who takes on the son (Ben Foster) of a old friend (Donald Sutherland) he was forced to kill.

As action flicks go this version by director Simon West is average at best. There’s plenty of poor decision making and plot holes where the story is sacrificed for more action scenes. I also found the film’s main villain (played by Tony Goldwyn) to be rather bland. His near limitless supply of generic soldiers are even less memorable than he is. If a movie is only as good as its villain The Mechanic is pretty damn forgettable.

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Transporter 3

  • Title: Transporter 3
  • IMDB: link

That’s right Transporter 3 stands for 3 razors. Seriously it does what it sat out to accomplish: 1. Lots of ass-kicking action (clothing optional) 2. Car chases, crashes, floating and train jumping and last, but not least 3. Independent films have an action hero and his name is Jason (OMG he so hot) Statham. No seriously Transporter 3 is just that, part 3 to a chain of films that rock on the choreographed fight scenes, but come up short in content and quality acting.

I simply can’t go into this review from a serious point of view; Transporter 3 is a wonderful release to the melodrama and uptight contender season. Something that all action fans can set back and enjoy without thinking a whole lot.

Rule #1. Never change the deal. And that is exactly what the director did, he didn’t change a thing. Cuter girl, maybe, a little more adventurous car scenes, for sure and a certain amount of new humor, but overall it’s like the rest, simply a little better.

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A Convict’s Wet Dream

  • Death Race
  • IMDb: link

“So do what you do best.  Drive.”

Hitting the theaters in the ass-end of summer (not good for an action flick) comes Death Race.  I’m not sure what Joan Allen is doing here, or even Jason Statham, but there’s little that justifies the remake of the Harvey Corman film or yet another tale about convicts killing each other for the camera.  But at least it’s better than The Condemned (read that review).

The economy of the United States has collapsed.  In this near future (roughly four years from today) prisons are run by cooperations, for a profit.  Though what type of cooperation would go for this is never explained (gee, I wonder why Budweiser wouldn’t want to be marketed in the film?).

Unemployment is out an all-time high and the most watched program on the air is a pay-per-view Internet program which involves prisoners fighting for their lives.  Hmm… haven’t we seen something like this before, once, twice, three times, or more?

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