Summary
AJason Stathamaction movie sequel doubles as the best adaptation of a classic video game. Over the last 20 years, Statham has done a nice job of building franchises around himself. While he’s a big part of both theFast & FuriousandExpendables, mostJason Statham franchisesare solo affairs. This includes his breakthrough inThe Transportermovies, which transformed his career almost immediately from the star of Guy Ritchie gangster films into the unlikely successor to actors like Sylvester Stallone.
One of Statham’s most underrated offerings is 2011’sThe Mechanic, a glossy remake of a Charles Bronson film. This cast Statham as an assassin who specializes in making his kills look like accidents, though it quickly abandons this premise in favor of his character Bishop punching/kicking/shooting his way out of trouble. The film was successful enough to spawn a sequel in 2016, thoughMechanic: Resurrectionhas so little connection to the first filmit may as well have been a standalone project.
That’s not to say there isn’t fun to be had withMechanic: Resurrection, where Statham’s Bishop is forced out of retirement to save his lover (played by Jessica Alba). Bishop is tasked with pulling off three elaborate hits and must make them all look like accidents. It’s notStatham’s best action movie, but it’s an enjoyable piece of pulp with an overqualified supporting cast, which includes Michelle Yeoh and Tommy Lee Jones. It’s also the best adaptation of theHitman: Agent 47video game series.
That includes the two actualHitmanmovies that were produced in 2007 and 2015, respectively. BothHitmanandMechanic: Resurrectionfeature bald assassins with legendary reputations who engineer their killings to look like accidents. The extended sequence where Bishop sneaks into a high rise and shatters the glass bottom of a target’s overhanging swimming pool could be a mission lifted right out of theHitmanseries.
The games give players the freedom to approach a mission however they choose. They can absorb every detail of a map and design elaborate, Rube Goldberg-esque ways of terminating a target, or they can pick up a machine gun and mow everybody down.Mechanic: Resurrection’sBishop takes the same approach, being stealthy one moment or shooting his way out the next.It’s this blend that makesResurrectionfeel like theHitman: Agent 47film fans of the game have clamored forsince the series began.
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When 2007’sHitmanmovie was announced, Vin Diesel was meant to both star and producethe movie. Diesel later fell out of the film, and Jason Statham as Agent 47 was the next logical choice, but soon passed. The star has seemingly never given an official comment on why he rejectedHitman, thoughStatham reportedly felt the character was too similar toThe Transporter’sFrank Martin. Both are professionals that wear nice suits, keep their emotions in check and follow strict codes when it comes to work.
Both theHitmanfilm andThe Transporterwere also co-produced by Luc Besson, with Statham even prepping forThe Transporter 3around this period. It appears the filming dates forHitmanand the star’s crime thrillerThe Bank Joboverlapped slightly, so scheduling could have been another issue. Statham could have also decided that the casting was a littletooperfect and was perhaps growing tired of being offered the same type of roles.
Why None Of The Actual Hitman Movies Worked
Neither Hitman adaptation understood what made the games great
Timothy Olyphant later explained why he didn’t makeHitman 2, admitting he took the original andLive Free or Die Hardbecause he had just bought a house, and afterDeadwoodwas canceled, so he needed money. He later gave an unflattering but hilarious comment on his decision to star in the video game movie toRolling Stone, and how it led to him being more selective moving ahead.
Find yourself bald in Bulgaria doing some pile of s***, that will get you up a little earlier in the morning and make you work a little harder.
Rupert Friend later took the titular role in the soft rebootHitman: Agent 47, and while both films turned comfortable profits, neither received direct sequels.Olyphant is a great actor, but he was utterly miscast inHitmanfor several reasons. By design, Agent 47 is a stern, near-emotionless character. That’s obviously tough to translate for a mainstream audience, but the movie tried to take the opposite approach by giving him a love interest and being more openly emotional. This robbed the character of mystique, while the film was more of a straight-ahead, gory action movie that rarely featured the killer getting creative.
Hitman 3: Will A Third Movie Happen?
Hitman 3 was in development at 20th Century Fox, but after Disney acquired the studio, could the video game movie still happen at the House of Mouse?
Hitman: Agent 47is arguably the better of the two live-action movies, with Friend milking some dry humor out of the hitman’s trademark stoicism. Still, the emphasis was once again on overblown setpieces, and Agent 47’s creativity when it came to assassinating targets was again ignored. Without really trying,Mechanic: Resurrectionprovided a rough blueprint for what a faithfulHitmanmovie could look like, but since the franchise has been quiet for some time, series devotees might be waiting a while for a third attempt to finally get things right.
Mechanic: Resurrection
Cast
Arthur Bishop thought he had put his murderous past behind him when his most formidable foe kidnaps the love of his life. Now he is forced to travel the globe to complete three impossible assassinations, and do what he does best, make them look like accidents.
