The Mechanic is a 2011 American action thriller film directed by Simon West, starring Jason Statham, Ben Foster, Tony Goldwyn, Donald Sutherland, James Logan, Mini Andén, Jeff Chase, and Christa Campbell. Written by Lewis John Carlino and Richard Wenk, it is a remake of the 1972 film of the same name. Statham stars as Arthur Bishop, a professional assassin who specializes in making his hits look like accidents, suicides and petty criminals’s acts. It was released in the U.S. and Canada on January 28 2011 where it was praised for its action sequences and Statham’s performance. A sequel, Mechanic: Resurrection, was released on August 26, 2016.
Hitman Arthur Bishop sneaks into the home of a Colombian cartel boss and drowns him in his own pool. Upon returning home to Louisiana, he meets with his friend and mentor Harry McKenna. Bishop is then assigned by his employer Dean to kill Harry. Dean tells Bishop about a failed mission in South Africa, in which several assassins were killed, the details of which are known only to Dean and Harry. Reluctantly, Bishop kills Harry and makes it look like a carjacking. At Harry’s funeral, Bishop encounters Harry’s son Steve, whom he later stops from killing a would-be carjacker in rage.
Steve asks Bishop to train him as a hitman. Bishop instructs Steve to take a chihuahua to a coffee shop each day at the same time, catching the attention of his would-be target, Burke. As Steve settles into a routine, Bishop takes him to observe a contract killing. Burke eventually invites Steve for drinks. Ignoring Bishop’s instruction to overdose Burke with Rohypnol, Steve goes to Burke’s apartment. When Burke begins to undress, Steve attempts to strangle him with a belt, imitating Bishop. Burke fights back, and Steve barely manages to kill Burke after a lengthy fight. Dean expresses disapproval of Bishop’s usage of Steve, which violated the rules of contract arrangement.