The Mechanic

Two writers share credit on Simon West’s remake: Richard Wenk and Lewis John Carlino, who wrote the 1972 original. Michael Winner’s Charles Bronson version is remembered for letting 16 minutes pass before anyone speaks. This one drowns its first target in the man’s own pool and sends its hero home well inside that span. In Carlino’s 1972 draft the bond between the two killers was openly a love affair. Financing stalled and actors including George C. Scott refused the part until it was removed; Carlino called that one of the great disappointments of his life. The charge between mentor and apprentice survives here, unnamed. The finale restages the 1972 ending with almost the same device, reversing the outcome. Jason Statham took the bridge jump himself, saying his diving background let him do it for real rather than use a lookalike. He adds that most of his films land on a softer certificate, and he wanted a hard one here. Shooting began around New Orleans on 26 October 2009; the film opened on 28 January 2011. A good fit if you want the 1972 machinery sped up and hardened rather than its silent, slow build. Not for you if you expect the mentor and apprentice bond to be the real subject and mind it wedged between fights and car work.