Foster doesn’t look the type out of the gate, but give him Gotti’s black hair and a quick spray tan, and they might be on to something here. Junior Gotti took over for his father following the Senior Gotti’s passing in 2002.

Interestingly enough, it’s Gotti Jr. that sold the rights to his family’s story to Fiore, a smaller, production company that he felt would create a less sensational film than a bigger studio. I don’t know if you can consider anything with Al Pacino and John Travolta “less sensational” than anything, but we’ll find out whenever this thing finally gets made.

The Mechanic

The mechanic is Arthur Bishop (Jason Statham). He specializes in clean kills that look like accidents, everything from drowning to autoerotic asphyxiation. He checks in for assignments by responding to encrypted ads on Kansas Klassifieds (I guess Craig doesn’t get royalties for his list this time.) Only one day the target is his old pal Harry (Donald Sutherland). He even check with his boss Dean (Tony Goldwyn) who explains how corrupt Harry has gotten, and since it’s Tony Goldwyn, you kind of want Arthur to be a little more suspicious.

Anyway, Harry’s son Steven (Ben Foster) wants to learn Arthur’s skills so he can get revenge for his father (oh, if only he knew the whole ironic story.) It becomes a gay The Professional which is fantastic. You’ve all heard the rumors that The Transporter is gay. How progressive to do the mentor/protégé hitman story with men. Maybe in the sequel they’ll kiss. Yeah, Arthur has a lady he has sweaty sex with, but we’re taking baby steps for the equality movement. One of the targets is a gay pedophile, so Steven has to seduce him. That might be more homophobic than supportive but at least gay characters are kicking ass.

For an overdone generic setup like the professional killer, The Mechanic really shows some skills we haven’t seen before. A swimming pool hit? Awesome. Harry’s attempted escape in a wheelchair is really suspenseful. The strangulation is not original but it’s efficient and the payoff is that the most mundane cover story can be the best.

The action doesn’t really pick up until Steven starts messing up, because when Arthur’s on his game nothing ever goes wrong. But with Steven, fight break out and bullets get fired. This movie tears through every rod, pole, window or seat on a bus, every pipe or scaffolding in the walls, every appliance in a house. Arthur throws dudes off buildings (and you see the splat) or in front of cars. You know the cliché where someone breaks a bottle in a fight? Steven uses a whole six pack! They almost maim innocent victims but aren’t quite awesome enough to go that far. I guess I’ll have to wait for Crank III for that.

Haters may pick apart the logic of it all, but I think The Mechanic celebrates the lunacy of the action fantasy. When Dean threatens to put out so many expensive contracts on Arthur that his own reflection will want to shoot him in the face, I think Goldwyn knows he’s just trying to be the most evil suit out of the 1000s of evil suits in this kind of movie. That’s wonderful bravado. There are more “realistic” action movies (as if Jason Bourne isn’t fantasy but that’s the pretense anyway) and they’re great. This is one of the other kind and I’m so glad it exists.

A word from Mini: “If [filmmakers] ask you if you can ride a horse and you can sort of ride a horse you’ll say you can ride a horse.”

Foster has proven himself to be a versatile talent as of late, taking on popcorn films like the third X-Men film as well as thoughtful indies like Oren Moverman’s The Messanger. It’s not every day that an actor goes from shooting everyone in the face with Jason Statham to making dramas with Oscar winning pedigree. That hasn’t happened since Amy Smart went straight from Crank 2: High Voltage to her starring role in Precious. (Deadline)

Ben Foster and Giovanni Ribisi are close to smuggling their way into the cast of Contraband, Variety is reporting. If the deal goes through, the pair will join Mark Wahlberg and Kate Beckinsale, who have already been cast in the thriller.

The film, a remake of a 2009 Icelandic film about a security guard who is dragged back in to his former life of crime, is being directed by Baltasar Kormakur, who also co-wrote, produced and starred in the original. Without question, it is the finest Icelandic film I’ve ever come across. No, really. It wins, hands down.

In the film, Statham plays a mechanic, but not the kind of mechanic that fixes cars and stuff. He’s the kind that fixes people’s heads…with bullets. Wait a minute, that’s not a mechanic at all. What an irresponsible title!

The trailer for The Mechanic has all the hallmarks of a Jason Statham film — cars, guns, explosions, unintelligle growl-mumbles, and the Cowgirl Position. A remake of the 1972 original, Statham steps into the Charles Bronson role. Except in this version, women aren’t disgusted by the thought of touching the lead actor. Ben Foster co-stars as his ward in the killing people for money game, which appears to be an industry where you don’t want the other gu knowing your trade secrets. Much like blogging (nothing like blogging).

The film opens December 15th and also stars Donald Sutherland and Christa Campbell, who you more than likely know from the very important film, Cool Dog. 

Watch the trailer after the jump….