The Mechanic

You could edit snippets from any of Jason Statham’s hard-nut capers into one long sequence and not notice the joins. The same goes for this latest round of degeneracy – a remake of Michael Winner’s awful 1972 film – in which he plays a hitman (surprise!) of such expert precision that he leaves no evidence of his kills. As in the original, which starred Charles Bronson, Arthur Bishop (Statham) is a skilful, classical-music-loving, superhuman contract killer hired by his boss to off old friend Harry (Donald Sutherland, coasting). At which point Harry’s young hitman-wannabe son Steve (Ben Foster, not bad) enters the frame and pleads with Arthur to coach him in the ways of the modern assassin – unaware that Arthur is his father’s killer – and so we launch into an episodic spate of contrived and implausible hits. With its unrelenting violence and obligatory bonking sessions, this is one for avid ‘Stath’ fans only.