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Mechanic Resurrection? Well, yes, Jason Statham‘s character pretended to die at the end of the first one, but no-one really tries to bury a potential franchise from the off. Still, would it make any difference either way, since the guy plays the same person in every film he makes.
Five years after the first movie, no-one was really clamouring for a sequel, but why not go with a character that’s already established and which takes its initial setting in gorgeous Thailand? (and also films other scenes there, whilst pretending to be in a different country, not to mention the fact that Phuket doubles for Koh Lipe). This time round, Arthur Bishop is up against someone from his past with a grudge, Crain (Sam Hazeldine), and he’s given the option to either die, or carry out three assassinations on his behalf, one being Max Adams (Tommy Lee Jones playing Tommy Lee Jones, but with a bit of facial hair just under his bottom lip). So, it’s basically what a Hitman movie should’ve been, instead of the dreadful Hitman: Agent 47, which managed to be even worse than 2007’s Hitman.
Army chick Gina (Jessica Alba) gave that up to become a humanitarian mission worker, teaching children at a school in Koh Lipe, but while she gets some screen time early and late in the film – including a bit of kicking and punching, there’s a big chunk during the second act when she’s offscreen and I was expecting her to be teaming up with Statham a hell of a lot more, not spending a daft amount of time in the ‘crying love interest’ role.
I expected not an awful lot out of Mechanic Resurrection, but Dennis Gansel (Berlin, I Love You) proves a very capable action scene director, keeping the scenes tight and putting together a 99-minute movie which doesn’t outstay its welcome. It won’t win any Oscars, but it does make for a decent evening’s entertainment.
Oh, and at one point, Bishop causes a huge gas explosion, but I don’t remember him being CORGI-registered? 😉
The film is presented in the original theatrical ratio of 2.35:1 and in 1080p high definition, and there’s no issues with the print whatsoever. It looks stunning as you’d expect for a modern movie, and I’m watching on a Panasonic 50″ Plasma TV, connected to a PS4.
The audio is in Dolby Atmos or DTS HD MA 5.1, depending on your set-up, and it’s punch, kick, explosion with a modicum of dialogue. Again and again and again, for 99 minutes.
The extras aren’t huge, but the first two pieces are worth a look:
- Engineering the sequel: Inside Mechanic Resurrection (9:54): A fairly standard making-of with chat from the cast and crew mixed in with clips from the film. They talk about how it’s similar to James Bond, but based on the last few 007 movies, Statham’s Mechanic movies are BETTER than Bond!
- Scoring The Action Film with Mark Isham (8:59): The composer gives his view on the score which, for a film like this, I hadn’t even considered.
- The Malaysian Prison (1:21): Short and sweet and… oh, it’s finished.
- Michelle Yeoh, Secret Ally (1:13): And anoth… oh, it’s also finished.
- Statham on Stunts (1:22): Well, we had two reasonable featurettes, so it’s just a shame that the three that follow are more ‘ette’ than ‘feature’. They’re so short, it does make you wonder why they just weren’t put into the main making-of than made to look like they were cheating to beef up the numbers.
- Audio description: Does exactly what it says on the tin.
The main menu is mostly a pedestrian static affair of the cover artwork, but with snippets of clips hiding behind the ‘Mechanic’ word in the title. There are subtitles in English only, and just a bog-standard 12 chapters, while I always work on the rule of thumb of one every five minutes.
Mechanic Resurrection is released today on Blu-ray, 4K Blu-ray, DVD and Mechanic 1 & 2 Blu-ray boxset, and click on the packshot for the full-size versions.
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FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
7 10 9 3 |
| OVERALL | 7 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 99 minutes
Year: 2016
Distributor: Lionsgate
Cat.no: LIB95368R0
Released: December 26th 2016
Chapters: 12
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Languages/Audio: Dolby Atmos, DTS HD MA 5.1
Subtitles, English SDH
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1 (Red Epic, Red Scarlet X)
Disc Format: BD50
Director: Dennis Gansel
Producers: William Chartoff, Robert Earl, John Thompson and David Winkler
Screenplay: Philip Shelby, Tony Mosher, Rachel Long and Brian Pittman (based upon the characters created by Lewis John Carlino)
Music: Mark Isham
Cast:
Arthur Bishop: Jason Statham
Gina: Jessica Alba
Max Adams: Tommy Lee Jones
Mei: Michelle Yeoh
Crain: Sam Hazeldine
Jeremy: John Cenatiempo
Adrian Cook: Toby Eddington
Krill: Femi Elufowoju Jr
Frank: Anteo Quintavalle
Courier: Rhatha Phongam
Headmistress: Bonnie Zellerbach
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.