Review: The Mechanic

The Mechanic is a fun hitman in training film that features a solid relationship between its leads, good action beats, and tight filmmaking that doesn’t really waste a minute.

Arthur Bishop is the man.  Working for a covert government(?) agency, Bishop is tasked with the hardest of the hits that come across their plate and most of the time he has to make things look natural.  Hit after hit goes off without a hitch, but when he is asked to take out his mentor/contact with the agency, Harry McKenna, for being a mole, Arthur, is put into a very tight spot.  Bishop respectfully completes his task, but when McKenna’s son, Steve, comes to Bishop to learn his ways Bishop reluctantly decides to take him up on the request.  The two train and carry out a couple of hits along the way before the South African conspiracy that brought down Harry rears its ugly head again.

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Review: The Expendables

Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables is a man on a mission, action all stars extravaganza being sold as an explosion a minute yarn.  But if it wasn’t for a solid final 25 minutes or so of non-stop action then this film would have been a colossal failure of its potential.

Now I hate to feel a little burned by a film’s marketing, as that happens a tad too much in Hollywood if you ask me, but look at the cast Stallone has assembled here!  I mean, just reading the cast’s names is a promise of big things. Stallone, Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Steve Austin, and the list goes ever on.  These guys should be beating the shit out of each other from frame one; right?  Well sadly that isn’t the case and after a brief “actiony” opening sequence the film is pretty dry on fighting and action for sometime.  Now I am all for character building, but after about 2/3 of the way through the movie we have been treated to one action beat that consisted of quick shoot out, a lame car chase, and a cool gimmick on a dock; that’s it.

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Review: The Bank Job on DVD

The Bank Job is one of the better films of 08 and a lot of people missed it this spring. It is out to rent now and I think you guys should definitely check it out. Here is my theatrical review!

The Bank Job

Roger Donaldson’s latest is one of his more successful filmmaking endeavors that serves as a classic bank heist film that while not doing anything dramatically new still serves as an excellent star vehicle for Jason Statham.
We quickly learn that Terry, (Statham) is an entrepreneur trying to make a big deal to get his family secure and out from under a debt to the types you don’t want to be in debt too. When an old, almost a, flame comes calling for his help, he is asked to round up the old crew to do a one time job that will get Terry free of his troubles and set for years to come. What Terry doesn’t know is that the job isn’t as simple as it seems and certain Royal Entanglements are actually behind the heist revolving around a plot to take out Michael X, a black power fundamentalist that could damage the thrown. [Read more...]

Review: The Bank Job

Roger Donaldson’s latest is one of his more successful filmmaking endeavors that serves as a classic bank heist film that while not doing anything dramatically new still serves as an excellent star vehicle for Jason Statham.
We quickly learn that Terry, (Statham) is an entrepreneur trying to make a big deal to get his family secure and out from under a debt to the types you don’t want to be in debt too. When an old, almost a, flame comes calling for his help, he is asked to round up the old crew to do a one time job that will get Terry free of his troubles and set for years to come. [Read more...]