Mechanic: Resurrection—Jason Statham Won’t Stay Dead

Ever wondered about the cost of replacing dead henchmen? Presumably, some sort of settlement must be provided to the next of kin. Plus, it would be awkward interviewing replacements: “Can you tell me why my predecessor wanted to leave your shadowy organization?” “He didn’t want to. He was impaled with a harpoon and pulled through shark-infested waters.” “Well, that’s fine then.” There are many, many occasions for such speculation when Jason Statham cuts down minor accomplices like Judge Judy slicing through weak excuses in Dennis Gansel’s Mechanic: Resurrection (trailer here), which is now playing in New York.

The ninety-three minutes of Mechanic 1 basically boil down to Arthur Bishop was a mob assassin, specializing in hits that look like natural causes, who faked his own death. He is now living the good incognito life in Rio, until he is tracked down by representatives of Riah Crain, an international arms dealer. Bishop knows Crain only too well, so he wants no part of the three hit jobs he is offered. Not to be deterred, Crain’s people force the innocent Gina Thorne to act as bait in the honey trap they intend to set for Bishop. Of course, he sees through their clumsy scheme, but he still falls for Thorne, so they just kidnap her back to force Bishop to do their bidding.

As we would expect, each target is ridiculously inaccessible, forcing Bishop to take extreme measures (as seen on the one-sheet). However, his third target, Max Adams the Bulgarian-based arms dealer to underdogs and lost causes might be a sleaze ball he can forge an alliance with.

So yeah, you basically know what you are getting here. It is more or less on par with most Jason Statham action movies (better than some, not as good as others). The only real disappointment is Michelle Yeoh does not have a fighting role. Instead, she just glides in periodically as Mae, Bishop’s old pal and the hostess with the mostess of his favorite Thai scuba resort.

Frankly, the real weak link here is Jessica Alba, who as Thorne, mostly just bites her lip and acts passive. In contrast, Thai star Yayaying Rhatha Phongam (recognizable from Only God Forgives) shines in her action scene as Crain’s courier (her role definitely should have been expanded). Sam Hazeldine is just okay as Crain, but Tommy Lee Jones absolutely devours the scenery as crafty old Adams.

It is hard to get why Resurrection was hidden away from critics. It would not have received rave reviews by any stretch, but it is pleasantly presentable. Gansel (who previously helmed The Wave and We Are the Night), keeps things moving along and soaks up the exotic backdrops as much as he can. Action fans should find it an enjoyable trifle, but they can safely wait for DVD or Netflix streaming. For now, it is screening nationwide, including the AMC Empire in New York.

Gansel’s The Wave

Any experiment in social control that deliberately exploits obedience and conformity is cause for concern. In Germany, it is all kinds of disturbing, for obvious reasons. As Libertas readers are well familiar through Patricia Ducey’s recent review of the documentary The Lesson Plan, the so-called “Third Wave” classroom exercise was actually the brainchild of American leftist Ron Jones, who converted his Palo Alto high school into a fascist mini-state in 1967. The incident subsequently inspired Morton Rhue’s young adult novel and Dennis Gansel’s adaptation, the Sundance standout The Wave (trailer here), which opens this Friday at the ReRun Gastropub on a double bill with his hipster vampire noir We Are the Night.

Mr. Wenger is the popular teacher. He lets kids call him Rainer and reminisces about his time on the barricades. He is all geared up to teach a special topics class on anarchism, but a senior faculty member nips that in the bud. Instead, Wenger is stuck with the autocracy course. Yet, low and behold, the topic inspires him. Suddenly, it’s “Mr. Wenger” again, but only during autocracy class. Surprisingly, the students also take to the new discipline he dishes out, embracing the rather stylish white button-down shirt and blue jeans as their uniform. As befits a collective, they also adopt an ominous sounding name: The Wave. Yes, they even have their own special salute.

Naturally, students who are not part of The Wave, feel keenly excluded. Those not enrolled in Wenger’s class are still able to join, provided they blindly submit to the rules of the budding cult. A few, like Karo, the formerly popular ex-girlfriend of Marco, the star water-polo player, recognize the insidious nature of the Wave. Yet, as long as they are not too outrageous in their tactics, the administration condones Wenger’s ill-conceived project.

Indeed, Gansel deftly maintains the appropriate foreboding of violence, without letting things escalate too precipitously as to alarm the adults (such as they are). While it is a bit of a slow build as a result, Wave is frighteningly convincing when it gets where it is going.

Rather than a megalomaniac, Jürgen Vogel plays Wenger as a truly tragic leftwing everyman figure, undone by vanity stemming from his popularity with his students. His arc of character development is quite compellingly turned, but pretty scary to witness. Though it predates Gansel’s Night by a few years, both his films share several common cast members, including the very Aryan looking Max Riemelt as Marco, who effectively conveys his successive conversions to and from Wavism. Unfortunately, most of his fellow students are nearly indistinguishable, even before they start wholesale conforming.

Wave is definitely a challenging film, particularly when showing how easily class warfare and environmentalist rhetoric fit within an explicitly fascist context. A cautionary fable with real world credibility, it is definitely well worth seeing along with the hugely entertaining hedonism of Night, when the Gansel double feature kicks off this Friday (5/27) at the ReRun Gastropub in Brooklyn.

Gansel’s We Are the Night

Could there be a more hospitable city for vampires than Berlin? With an architecture mixing Soviet drabness with faded Art Deco, even its Western quarters are pretty depressed looking. Yet, despite its dark and deadly history, the city has quite a nightlife that a small pack of women vampires enjoys to the fullest in Dennis Gansel’s We Are the Night (dubbed trailer here), which opens this Friday at the ReRun Gastropub as part of an old fashioned double feature with Gansel’s Sundance buzz-generating The Wave.

Lena is a pick-pocket with a record. Tom Serner is a police detective on the job for the adrenaline rush. You could say they meet cute if Run Lola Run is your idea of cute. Though she temporarily gives him the slip, she makes quite an impression. Unfortunately, she also attracts the attention of Louise, a centuries-old vampire searching for the reborn spirit of the vampire who turned her. Believing Lena might be her, she gives the young woman the transforming bite. Of course, Louise has been down this road before, as her fellow vamps Charlotte and Nora can attest.

Turning men is a big no-no. Only women vampires remain undead. The men were either killed off by us mortals or the women themselves. They were just too messy and conspicuous. However, Louise’s pack has been getting somewhat sloppy lately and their taste in cars is hardly discreet. Naturally, a cop like Serner will start putting together the pieces. Perhaps more ominously, he also stokes Louise’s jealousy. Carnage will ensue.

Night’s MVP might just be its location scout, who found some incredibly photogenic sites that put CGI and matte paintings to shame. The film gives viewers a visceral sense of both the energy and the oppressiveness of the city. That Berliner environment seems to fuel the film, as Gansel gleefully careens from amped-up urban action sequences to high gothic horror.

As Louise, Nina Hoss (recognizable to American audiences from German imports like A Woman in Berlin and Jerichow) is a far icier vampire than the Anne Rice standard, in an appropriately Teutonic way. Yet, she certainly conveys the vampire’s appetites in no uncertain terms. In fact, Hoss digs into the scenery and the gore in a manner worthy of Hammer Horror at its most indulgent. Jennifer Ulrich is almost equally creepy as Charlotte, a former silent film star falling into a Norma Desmond-like depression, while Anna Fischer plays Nora, the vampy ingénue, to the coquettish hilt. Unfortunately, Karoline Herfurth’s Lena is a bit too passive and retiring for a good supernatural protagonist. However, Max Riemelt exceeds the expectations for a thankless part like salt-of-the-earth Det. Serner, displaying some legit action cred and a surprisingly degree of screen presence.

Make no mistake, these vampires are not in Berlin to brood sensitively. They mean business. Loaded with noir style and featuring some clever riffs on traditional vampire mythos, Night is just such a welcome respite from the current crop of teenaged vampire films and television shows. Enthusiastically recommended, Night is top-flight genre entertainment. It opens this Friday (5/27), properly subtitled with Gansel’s Wave, at the ReRun Gastropub Theater in Brooklyn.