Screen Junkies » The Mechanic

Weekend Box Office Report: ‘The Rite’ Stuff

Joseph Gibson — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:05:46 +0000

No one had very high expectations for the Anthony Hopkins horror movie The Rite. Well, look who’s laughing now! It turns out that The Rite has broken the record for highest opening gross OF ALL TIME* (*for Anthony Hopkins in a top-billed, non-Hannibal Lecter role) with a $15 million opening weekend. Suck it, haters!

2nd place was last week’s “can sex friends be best friends?” romantic comedy No Strings Attached, which got $13.6 million from audiences but didn’t ask for a big commitment or anything. The third place slot being filled by Jason Statham replacing busted carburetors in The Mechanic, with$11.5 million.

More deliriously exciting box office numbers can be found at Box Office Mojo.

The Ultimate Jason Statham Movie Quiz

Jame Gumb — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 21:13:59 +0000

Welcome to the ultimate Jason Statham movie quiz. I made this quiz to celebrate the release of Statham’s new film, The Mechanic, and as a sign of my undying love for the British action star. How much do I love him? Well, let’s just say that when I sit and daydream about having sex with beautiful women, I always picture myself as Jason Statham. And when I sit and daydream about having sex with Jason Statham, I also picture myself as Jason Statham. Wow, just thinking about that makes me want to go Crank some Expendables. There’s a Snatch joke in there somewhere, but I’m too lazy to make it.

Obviously, if you’ve come this far, you think you’re a fan. Well, I guess it’s time to nut up or shut up. The quiz below contains ten pictures of Jason Statham in various poses. Actually, it’s the same pose over and over again, but it’s from ten different movies. Correctly guess which film a picture is from, and you get a point. Guess incorrectly, and you don’t. It’s that simple. So without further ado, it’s time to take Screen Junkies’ Ultimate Jason Statham Movie Quiz. Good luck.

(Note: If you’re a pussy, click on the images to enlarge.)

Free game created on Quizz.biz

Review: The Mechanic

Fred Topel — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 16:45:29 +0000

The Mechanic 550″ src=”http://www.screenjunkies.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Jason-Statham-The-Mechanic-550.jpg” alt=” width=”550″ height=”350″ />

The Mechanic has the right tone for an action movie. The characters take it all seriously, but the story just goes wildly over the top for the sake of creating awesome set pieces. It’s not a joke, but it has a sense of humor about what we expect to see in genre movies.

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.

Mini Anden

Reza F. — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 18:59:43 +0000

There’s a good chance you’re wavering on whether or not to go see The Mechanic. It’s just Jason Statham with a gun after all, a sight you’ve seen so many times now you’re beginning to wonder why he doesn’t just get a damn glock surgically affixed to his arm. However, the fact that Swedish model Mini Anden is the film’s girl of interest should be enough to spawn some consideration. She’s tall, exceptionally good-looking, and I’m assuming she has some sort of insanely attractive accent that makes the whole package that much better. Take a look through this gallery and then decide whether a night of Statham-driven explosions, gunfire, and adrenaline is in your future.

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.”

The Mechanic

Reza F. — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 22:55:33 +0000

The Mechanic 550″ src=”http://www.screenjunkies.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Jason-Statham-The-Mechanic-550.jpg” alt=” width=”550″ height=”350″ />

DIRECTOR: Simon West

CAST: Jason Statham; Ben Foster

SYNOPSIS: An action-thriller centered on an assassin and his apprentice.

‘Mechanic’ Red Band Trailer Features Nipples, F-Bombs

Jame Gumb — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 01:42:36 +0000

Think you’ve already seen the trailer for Jason Statham’s new film, The Mechanic? Think again! Unlike the lame trailer you already saw, this new red band version has f-bombs and nipples. And I’m not talking about guy nipples; I’m talking about the good kind.

For those of you who don’t already know, The Mechanic is a remake of a 1972 Charles Bronson film of the same. The plot follows the exploits of a hit man as he does what hit men do. People are thrown from moving vehicles, old men are drown in swimming pools, and one guy even gets stabbed with a fishing spear. Also, there are date-rape jokes. All-and-all, it seems to be a well-balanced film.

The Mechanic hits theaters January 28th.

Jason Statham Kills Some Dudes in ‘The Mechanic’ Trailer

Jame Gumb — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 18:36:27 +0000

Could this finally be the year that Jason Statham gets his first Oscar nomination? If the trailer for The Mechanic is any indication, no. However, he should definitely be nominated for “The Actor Most Likely to Give You a Non-Homosexual Man-Crush Boner” award. There is such a thing as a non-homosexual man-crush boner, right? And they do give awards for them, right?

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!

Ben Foster Bites Jason Statham’s Style in ‘The Mechanic’ Trailer

Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

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….