Blu-ray Review – Mechanic: Resurrection – “Briefly threatens to be the greatest film ever made”

Directed by Dennis Gansel (We Are the Night) Mechanic: Resurrection is a sequel to 2011’s The Mechanic. Jason Statham (The Transporter) returns as hitman Arthur Bishop, and is joined by Tommy Lee Jones (The Fugitive), Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and Jessica Alba (Sin City).

Bishop (Statham) is “the mechanic” – a top of the range contract killer who specialises in making his hits look like accidents. Highly dubious and suspicious accidents. After turning down a job from an old friend, Crain (Sam Hazeldine – Peaky Blinders), Bishop goes into hiding on ex-satisfied client, Mei’s (Yeo) island. Here he quickly falls in love with Gina (Alba), before Crain kidnaps her and blackmails Bishop into doing the job anyway.

If he wants to see Gina again, Bishop must kill three people in three countries in three days – and make them all look like accidents. This brilliantly translates to: poisoning an arms dealer on a Malaysian prison island in shark infested waters; Tom Cruise-ing up a skyscraper to drill a hole in the bottom of a sex trafficker’s balconette swimming pool; and taking out a soul patch-sporting Tommy Lee Jones in his secret submarine bunker.

After a Rio pre-title sequence that features Bishop escaping some goons by jumping from the Christ the Redeemer cable car onto a passing hang glider, Mechanic: Resurrection briefly threatens to be the greatest film ever made. However the disappointing portrayal of women and victims of domestic violence, the poor green screen and CGI, and the criminal waste of Michelle Yeoh, make it feel more like a Roger Moore era Bond film.

But the non-stop Statham shenanigans are super satisfying. He sizzles a baddie’s face on a barbecue, headbutts people in four different countries, and hits a henchman in the face with a table. We also get a bit more of Bishop’s backstory, and plenty of proof that Jason Statham is both the last modern action hero AND the calmest man in the world when shot at by machine guns.

The Blu-Ray features fine video and audio encodes, as well as an audio descriptive track for the blind – or those who like to shut their eyes and be told Jason Statham bedtime stories – and subtitles for the hard-of hearing. There is also a small handful of extras: a making of, a piece on the score, a deleted scene, a brief chat with Jason Statham about stunts, and an interview with Michelle Yeoh that is longer than the amount of screen time she has in the film.

Mechanic: Resurrection is released on VOD, DVD and Blu-Ray in the UK on the 26th December 2016.