MECHANIC: RESURRECTION (Rated R)

The studio behind British action star Jason Statham’s “Mechanic: Resurrection,” tagged with an R rating for “violence throughout,” decided not to have an advance screening for critics.

This was probably a wise choice because the Statham action brand, evidently on full-throated display in the “Transporter” and “Crank” series, appeals to an audience indifferent, at best, to the opinions of professional couch potatoes.

I confess to enjoying the guilty pleasure of ludicrous action films that are the trademark of the charismatic Jason Statham. The absurdity of a one-man army run amok taking down henchmen and thugs of all stripes can be a lot of fun.

Give credit to the British thespian for actually starring in more creative films such as “Snatch” and “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” and that he displayed a knack for comedy in Melissa McCarthy’s “Spy.”

Even those predisposed to enjoy “Mechanic: Resurrection” must be reminded that Statham’s role of assassin-for-hire Arthur Bishop originated in a remake of the Charles Bronson “The Mechanic” just five years ago.

Admittedly, I remember Statham’s version of “The Mechanic” but not how it ended. The enjoyment of the sequel won’t suffer by failure to have seen the original, where Bishop faked his death to find a new life in Rio.

Indeed, this new “Mechanic” opens amidst the visually stunning beauty of Brazil’s most popular seaside city that even NBC’s Olympics coverage could not fully capture on such a grand scale.

Living off the grid, Bishop now goes by the name of Santos, living on a nice boat he’s only too willing to blow up if necessary to escape the clutches of nefarious actors seeking his services.

To be expected, trouble comes looking for him in the form of a femme fatale, dressed ominously in black, who interrupts his quiet meal at his favorite outdoor restaurant perched on a cliff high above Rio.

The mystery woman arrives with a proposition from an international arms dealer named Crain (Sam Hazeldine) that requires his services to eliminate three targets of dubious value to civil society.

To show his displeasure with an unwanted offer, Bishop is forced into the first of a series of hand-to-hand combats with a legion of henchmen that are easily dispatched while the restaurant suffers major damage.

Now that he is no safer than the average resident of a favela, Bishop relocates to a scenic, remote island in Thailand where the blue skies, clear water and sandy beaches prove most welcoming.

It is here that he reconnects with old colleague Mei (Michelle Yeoh) who now caters to the tourist trade.

Bishop soon becomes enamored with a pretty, mysterious young woman named Gina (Jessica Alba) who has escaped a bad relationship.

What Bishop doesn’t know is that Gina is an unwilling pawn in Crain’s sick game to get Bishop to commit to staging the deaths of three villainous people for reasons not immediately clear.

To raise the stakes, Crain has Gina kidnapped so that he can extort Bishop in carrying out the assassinations lest something terrible happen to the new love interest who only wants to get back to running an orphanage in Cambodia.

The first victim is an African warlord locked up in a prison more remote and inaccessible than Alcatraz. Bishop’s job is to infiltrate the prison, make the death look accidental and then manage an impossible escape.

At this point, “Mechanic” is being to look inspired by the old “Mission: Impossible” television series, where nifty gadgets, sleight-of-hand and a huge measure of cunning and guile are required to complete the objective.

What comes next is a visit to Sydney to orchestrate the accidental demise of a vile human trafficker surrounded as usual by an army of bodyguards and ensconced in an impenetrable fortress in a high-rise penthouse.

The film’s most unique ploy is how a cantilevered swimming pool protruding high above the city streets factors into an elaborate scheme of staging an amazing catastrophe.

The best victim is saved for last, this one being an arms dealer hiding out in Bulgaria in the type of villain’s lair one would expect to find in a James Bond film. Indeed, Tommy Lee Jones, looking an aging rocker, shows up as a better match for Bishop.

Despite the fact that he is, after all, a killer for hire, Bishop comes off the hero because he just happens to be eliminating some really, really bad people. And besides, he’s always the good guy, even if compromised.

“Mechanic: Resurrection,” though perhaps an imperfect vessel, is still fueled by the formula of high-octane action that makes just about any Jason Statham gritty action film something to be enjoyed on a B-movie level.
  
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.