The Mechanic

This may seem unexpected and unusual, but I have to admit that Ben Foster is one of my favorite actors.  To be brief, I define a Top Actor by his versatility in the roles he is capable of playing.  Along with Foster, I also place actors such as Liam Neeson and Edward Norton in this category.

Anyway, despite my affinity for Foster this movie just didn't cut it.  Most of the time it seemed like Foster, and co-star Jason Statham, were just going through the motions and not invested in the dialogue or characters at all.  Without giving too much away, the premise is that Statham is a hit man who due to circumstance ends up taking his mentor's son under his wing and teaching him the trade.  Based on that you might think there would be a lot of fun "this is how you become an assassin" montages but no such luck.

However, the movie was compelling on some levels and I would not consider it a complete waste of time.  The plot was more creative than most bang-bang-explosion action, and while sometimes it was entirely too predictable or implausible it still kept my attention to the end.

There are worse action flicks out there...