The actor has starred in several action films, including The Transporter, The Italian Job, Crank, The Mechanic, The Beekeeper, The Expendables, The Meg, and the Fast & Furious franchise. His most recent role was in Shelter, which centers on a retired government assassin who gets pulled into the center of the action when he tries to protect a child from danger.
A decade ago, though, Statham starred in Mechanic: Resurrection, which is currently streaming on Fawesome, a free ad-supported streaming service. The film was a hit at the box office, grossing $125.7 million against a reported budget of $40 million. Despite its financial success, though, the action thriller was widely panned by critics and eanred 29% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The franchise first began in 1972 with The Mechanic, in which assassin Arthur Bishop mentors an apprentice named Steve McKenna. A fracture develops between the two as secrets about the assassin's past come back to haunt him. Bishop is an expert at making his kills look accidental.
Almost 40 years later, Simon West, who had helmed films like Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and When a Stranger Calls, directed a remake of The Mechanic, with Statham succeeding Charles Bronson in the role of Bishop. During its theatrical run, the movie grossed $76.1 million and earned very mixed reactions from critics, with a 54% Rotten Tomatoes score (compared to 50% for the 1972 version).
Statham reprised Bishop for 2016's Mechanic: Resurrection, which was directed by Dennis Gansel from a script by Philip Shelby and Tony Mosher. The sequel sees the character come out of hiding when he's given a new task and three new people to kill. This sets off a chain of events that involves him rescuing a love interest after she's kidnapped.
Statham's co-stars in the film are Jessica Alba, Tommy Lee Jones, Michelle Yeoh, Sam Hazeldine, John Cenatiempo, Toby Eddington, Femi Elufowoju Jr., and Francis Tonkala Tamouya.
After Mechanic: Resurrection, Statham returned to the Fast & Furious franchise in The Fate of the Furious, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, F9, and Fast X, and appeared in The Meg, Meg 2: The Trench, Wrath of Man, Expend4bles, A Working Man and Shelter, among others. He can next be seen in Mutiny, which releases in theaters on August 21, and The Beekeeper 2, which comes out January 15, 2027.
Until those films are released, though, viewers can revisit Statham's 2016 action thriller now that Mechanic: Resurrection is available to stream on Fawesome.
Release Date
August 26, 2016
Runtime
99 minutes
Director
Dennis Gansel
Writers
Philip Shelby, Tony Mosher, Brian Pittman, Rachel Long, Lewis John Carlino
Producers
David Winkler, John Thompson, William Chartoff, Robert Earl
English (US) ·