Mechanic: Resurrection

We are nearing the end of the summer film season, so what better type of film to be in the offing but "Mechanic: Resurrection"? The next installment to 2011's "Mechanic" is fraught with all the trappings of the quintessential summer flick-- explosions, action, high adrenaline, sex ,revenge all with a good vs. evil plot. Can you say get those 18-34 year old single males in those theater seats, ca-ching? I thought you could.

World renown hitman Arthur Bishop (Jason Statham) is forced out of retirement, and through a formidable foe, Crain (Sam Hazeldine), has to commit three extremely difficult assassinations of some very bad men, Krill (Femi Elufowoju Jr.), Adrian Cook (Toby Eddington) and Max Adams (Tommy Lee Jones) in order to rescue his kidnapped lover, Gina (Jessica Alba). The hardest part of this challenge? He must make all the killings appear to look accidental. Bishop has just so many hours in which to succeed this demand. Will he succeed as he's fighting the clock, or are the cards stacked against him?

Others to round out the cast are Michelle Yeoh as Mei, John Cenatiempo as Jeremy, Anteo Quintavalle as Frank, Rhatha Phongam as Courier and Bonnie Zellerbach as Headmistress.

This was intensely and grittily directed by Dennis Gansel ("Girls on the Top" '01, "Before the Fall" '04, "The Wave" '08, "We Are the Night" '10, "The Fourth State" '12) plus shorts. This film was presented in a slick, fast, energized way that definitely comes from the direction. No doubt that this filmmaker has four other projects in process. FOUR! Considering his imminent future, to say he'll go far is obviously an understatement. This was written by Philip Shelby and Tony Mosher based on a story by Shelby which is based on characters created by Lewis John Carlino. After I viewed approximately 20 minutes of the running time, I could tell these writers were not well-honed, and after I researched this film after watching it, I was surely right. Both writers have limited experience, which doesn't necessarily constitute poor writing. Have you ever heard of naturals? But these guys are not naturals, however given more experience in, let's say, TV, then they definitely will be able to make that mark. The problem with this is it becomes too busy in spots so the script gets a bit bogged down. There are some places where it gets strategic, but it still falls into the predictable fare. Mosher does have a screenplay coming in 2017, so we'll see how he does with that. The real star here is the stunt coordinator, Allan Poppleton in which the stunts were seamless.

If action-packed fluff with an escape clause is your thing, this will rock for you. However if you're looking for something a little meatier--just a little, you might opt to Netflix this installment of the Mechanic series.

Out of 4 Stars: 2.5                              Rated: R                                 109mins.