Is it just me or does the machanic look like a follow up to.....well every jason statham film ever made? in regards to the email sent on last weeks show about the comment made at the end of titanic "who wrote this rubbish?" during a screening of lord of the rings the fellowship of the ring i sat beside a very irritating person who at the key sceane when the dwarf gimli breaks his axe while trying to distroy the ring, frodo rises and takes the challange the bring the ring to mordor, aragorn reply's "you will have my sword" legolas replys "and my bow" and gimly reply's "and my axe" to witch the very irritating person to my right reply's with a voice that the entire cinema can hear "but his axe is smashed to pieces what goods he?" rest assured he did not acompany me to the last to rings movies.

The teenagers were right. There are some quite boring bits in it particularly at the start. All the characters are loathsome and where were HPD at the end?

Surely 'Crank' is the high water mark of Jason Statham.

Mark-a quick call back to last year, thanks for turning me on to Possession. Just the sort of bizarre and twisted, yet intelligent horror film I've seen recently. Probably the most successfully Lovecraftian film ever and it's not even directly adapted from any of his work. On another note, how in the hell does Jack Black get away with such crimes against cinema as Gulliver's Travels? I can't sdeem to find your review of it on YouTube but I'm hopin' there's a rant involved.

THe original version of The Mechanic is a brilliant film, I refuse to see this.

@3: I agree - the scene where Statham drives a car really fast, having just shot some badasss gangsters, all whilst being ['trucked'] off in the driving seat has a ludicrous internal logic all of itself... as well as probably being the ultimate fantasy of hormonal, "Max Power"-reading, braggart teen males.

@ IanSchultz. I am in complete agreement with you Ian. The original "The Mechanic" with the late, great Charles Bronson and Jan Michael Vincent was a brilliant movie. A moody, interesting piece of cinema. Lovely to see the two protagonists try to outwit each other.



Like yourself, I indeed have no intention to see this remake/reinvention (call it what you will). Yes, another one.



In fact, I can proudly say, I've not seen a Jason Staham movie in my life and probably never will.

Haven't caught this and doubt I even will given that it all looked a bit sub Crank -surely Statham's best post Snatch effort? One for blu-ray rental, perhaps.



Did manage to see John Carpenter's 'The Ward' and, perhaps given my somewhat lowered expectations after career lows Escape From L.A, Village of the Damed and Ghost of Mars, I can report a solid entry into the Carpenter canon. Many of the stock Carpenter trade marks -limited cast, limited location, prowling steadicam POV's and masterful shock moments- are present and correct but also a well acted, tightly constructed story that has smarts that play out nicely in the third act.



If, like me, you thought you'd seen the best of Carpenter with the late 80's double whammy of Prince of Darkness and They Live, that he'd been in semi -sit around, watch the Lakers, sell back catalogue remake rights- retirement. well, you might be pleasantly surprised.



Welcome back JC. Now, if we can just have another run of solid gold genre classics? Pretty please.

6 @Joel_Cooney.



Just a nod to you sir RE:Reviewing The Ratings System post. I did reply. Thanks.

They only good news that came from the opening of the Mechanic was that director Simon West let slip in an interview that he intended to film a sequel to Con Air- his first and best feature.





------------------------------------------------------------------------



https://www.obsessedwithfilm.com

I probably won't be seeing this one. Although I like Jason Statham, I generally have not cared for his films.



However, I did see "Trauma" (as the Good Doctor suggested to your listeners). While I agree that Firth was very good in it, I don't think he's nearly as good as in his role for "The King's Speech". I think what's required of him in that film is far more difficult than what he has to do in "Trauma". Firth is one of those actors that elevates whatever he's working on anyway. Case in point: I saw him many years ago in a film called "Femme Fatale" (I believe) with Billy Zane and the lovely Lisa Zane. I had no idea at the time who Firth was, but was impressed by him as an actor. It was a dog of a movie, with subpar 'cheap looking' cinematography, listless pacing and a less than inspired story revolving around a woman with a multiple personality disorder, BUT... Firth was good. He was believable in a less than believable film, more to the point.



I liked "Trauma" to some degree, but I don't think the film itself was worthy of any awards by any stretch of the imagination. I don't think that an actor should ever win a Best Actor award in a mediocre film, though, such as Denzel Washington in "Training Day" or especially Al Pacino portraying Foghorn Leghorn in "Scent Of A Woman". Those are probably bad comparisons, since Firth wasn't nearly so hammy in his "Trauma" role as those two were in their films. I think Firth winning for "Trauma", would have been like giving an MVP award to a player on a losing sports team. IMHO, anyway.



And one last thing. Is it just me or is the blog preview picture that is selected for "The Mechanic" very unStahamlike? He looks like he's trying out for a part in a version of "Black Swan"... with guns.

I wasn't much struck on The Mechanic, and maintain that the first Transporter movie is the Statham "vehicle" par excellence. I suspect that if Jason Statham ever discovered his feminine side, he'd shoot it.



Spoilers: https://streetrw.blogspot.com/2011/02/mechanic.html

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Here's a note to the techies. It seems like the threads are being cut off at 101 posts.



look at the "When is a remake not a remake?" and "How 3D Really Works threads". They are only showing 101 posts but the summary shows that more entries have been posted to each.



thanks

@Alina My word what did you say to get the comment removal I wonder?! :D



@Crash Landen Love the comment about a role in Black Swan, made me laugh!



I love an action movie, but for some reason I have never been the slightest bit interested in seeing a Statham movie. I've caught bits here and there and they just haven't drawn me in. He just appears like a subpar, wanna-be Bruce Willis to me, and in my humble opinion no one has topped Bruce.

Not my cup of tea, shall we say.

@MargeGunderson



I have no idea. I was basically LOLing at Crash Landen's comments re: Foghorn Leghorn and Black Swan with guns and suggesting that he should check out Colin Firth in Apartment Zero and tell us what he thinks. I did use the term "buttoned-up" to describe Firth's character in AZ and this was in close proximity to a reference to people of the British Isles so maybe they got me on cultural vilification.

Ah, I've figured it out now - I made reference to Robert Downey Jr's character's comments in Tropic Thunder on the secret to gaining an Oscar when portraying people with intellectual disabilities, never go full...

@MargeGunderson That is a good point, Statham wants to be Bruce Willis but that is way outside his range. I mean Willis was the most protagonist-like character in Sin City, and he was the protagonist in The 6th sense, 12 monkeys and 16 blocks(which I think is a marvelous and very underrated film). Can you possibly imagine those films with Statham instead of Willis? Him mumbling in cockney all the narration of Sin City? “Oi! Look at skinny Nancy Callahan. She grew up, mate! Filled up!” He probably is looking up to Willis, but while John McClane is part tragedy, part action, Statham is half muscle, half mumble, all pistol.

The original “Mechanic” was an existentialist piece of art, dealing with escapism, seclusion and detachment. The action suited the plot perfectly, while in this film the actual plot is a half-forgotten element of who-knows-what because Jason Statham is just so awesome and he likes shooting and punching people and that is just perfect because all great movies are about that right? Who could have imagined that the man who directed Con Air and Lara Croft: Womb Wrangler could mess up the remake of a great classic? Curse you Simon West, you abominable beast of suffering and decay.

Bruce Willis is old school tough. Statham isn't, and has a whiff of failure about him.

@ Crash Landen,



Perhaps this explains the mechanic's love for classical music



https://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/spotlights/2009/rtuk_feature_jamie_bell_05.jpg

Mark, have you seen 'Crank II'..? If you haven't I suggest you do. I think you'll love it. It certainly left me thinking that Statham has a sense of humour and prepared to take the urine out of his on-screen persona. Incidentally, I despise all other Statham produce.