The Mechanic
(Starring Jason Statham, Donald Sutherland, Ben Foster, Tony Goldwyn)
This remake may be energetic and elaborate, but it also staunchly steers away from complex characterization. Humanity gets thrown out the window and gratuitous sex and gore fuel this well-oiled but heartless espionage thriller.
Statham is good at what he does. He’s a cold but lonely killing machine. His one possible friend is an underworld boss, Sutherland. However, the call comes down from Statham’s other boss (Goldwyn) that Sutherland needs taken out for double-dealing. Statham is a professional, but the grief from the job motivates him to adopt Sutherland’s dangerous prodigal son, Foster, as a protégé. This new duo takes on several other intricate assignments, Statham training Foster to epic proportions in mere weeks.
The film aims low and hits its mark well. The many convolutions are tight and unexpected, and the undercover bits are entertaining. The error is that the violent, soulless characters never inspire much more than a rudimentary fascination. Logic also leaves; apparently this is a world with no police whatsoever, and two people can scale a Chicago building in broad daylight without being seen.
Statham is a pro at this genre (The Transporter films, the Crank films). However, The Mechanic makes a point of showing that his life is hollow. Just when it seems our assassin is starting to care about something, the filmmakers switch gears, deciding this vehicle needs less emotion and more well rendered carnage, sex and explosions.
The Rite
(Starring Anthony Hopkins, Colin O’Donoghue, Rutger Hauer)
There’s a certain audience for exorcism horrors. This crowd likes the magical battle of light and dark replete with body-twisting effects and flaming crosses. They get a thrill out of the simplistic Catholicism of good versus evil, of personal weakness and otherworldly strength. This movie—with its lugubrious start and turgid plotting—won’t even please them.
O’Donoghue is a mortician’s son who escapes his creepy father (Hauer) by entering seminary school. Before he can also escape the Church, he gets sent to Rome to study exorcism. There he meets an enigmatic priest (Hopkins) who may or may not be the real deal battling actual demon possessions.
Thematically, it’s the same area that The Exorcist films trod—only now it’s almost four decades later. Yet director Mikael Håfström is telling the same tale with the same tricks and an even more funereal pace. The Italian setting is pretty and gothic, the cinematography is passable, and no one can chew scenes like Hopkins.
However, the film fails because it doesn’t really make any sense. If there is a God that forsakes mere children to demon possession, how loving and “good” is that divine being? And if the devil starts telling you private things about your life and leaving jewelry on your doorknob, maybe the time for doubting his existence has passed. In sum total, The Rite is just a self-flagellating Middle Ages commercial seemingly aimed to scare us into the Catholic Church.
ON DVD
Winter’s Bone
(Starring Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes)
If you’re not for the brainless offerings above, it’s a good time to see a few Oscar nominated films. Winter’s Bone is stark, creepy and supremely depressing, but there is also no question whatsoever as to why it earned two acting nominations, for the superbly understated Hawkes and for 19-year-old newcomer Lawrence.
Lawrence plays a high school student in the impoverished, backwards Ozarks. Her mom is terminally depressed, and her absent father is wrapped up in the meth business. This leaves Lawrence to raise her two siblings. A deputy shows up one day to explain to Lawrence that her daddy needs to be found for a court date—either that or a bondsman will come take the crappy house and scrubby land, the only assets this family have. So the brave, taciturn Lawrence goes on a hunt through the poverty-stricken, drug-dealing underbelly to locate her dad, dead or alive. Perhaps the only person who can help her is her tortured, addicted uncle (Hawkes), her dad’s only brother.
With the hillbilly setting in deep economic depression, there’s a risk of Winter’s Bone slipping into caricature. However, director Debra Granik takes a subtle, thoughtful approach with every barren shot. More importantly, Lawrence, Hawkes and the other actors refuse to debase the story; they all inhabit these lower income people with fearless respect and understated stoicism. Despite their grim surroundings and insurmountable situations, these two actors create light within their quiet.
