I'm struggling to see how we got to the point that there should have been a second movie for The Mechanic, named Mechanic: Resurrection. I get that we all remake everything, and the film was inspired by the 1972 film with Charles Bronson and Jan-Michel Vincent. But when the remake dropped, it make just over $75 million, with two-thirds of that total from international receipts, off a $40 million production budget. So what exactly was the cause to spur on a sequel? I dunno.

Dennis Gansel (We Are The Night) directs the film based on a screenplay written by Philip Shelby (Survivor) and Tony Mosher. Jason Statham (War) reprises his role as said mechanic/assassin named Arthur Bishop, living in Brazil after faking his own death. He is given an offer to complete three jobs, with the proviso that they all look like accidents. He declines, but when they kidnap a recent acquaintance named Gina (Jessica Alba, Sin City), Bishop is thrown back into action one more time.

So, let's talk about the good things associated with Mechanic: Resurrection, um, well, Gansel at least disposes of the superficial plot mechanisms early so that people can get in on the action and the reason why they're there, which is to see Jason Statham get into fights and/or kill people, which he does to maximum effort. He climbs buildings in Australia, invades a Malaysian prison and a submarine yard underground in Bulgaria to do so, but by God he does them whether he likes it or not. On a side note, having no earthly idea what went down and how in the first movie, does Statham do a ton of hand to hand combat in that too?

In items (well, item) of the weird, the Mechanic films are starting to inhabit a weird space where talented and/or recognizable names land roles in low first tier/high second tier action films. The first had Donald Sutherland for instance, and this film, along with Alba's presence, Tommy Lee Jones (Oscar-winning Tommy Lee Jones) appears as one of the last targets for Bishop to kill. He fits that mold onto himself with his filmography, and appearing in shades, a goatee and slippers? Seems like fairly peak TLJ to be honest. Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) appears as Bishop's friend and does Michelle Yeoh things.

Ultimately, Mechanic: Resurrection walks along through its character conflict deliberately, but there is not a lot within the Bishop character that makes the journey worth giving a damn about. Statham's performance seems like it does not counter to what our idea of what an assassin does, or at the very least runs counter to at least Bronson's original portrayal. Bronson's portrayal had some depth or at least mystery to him. At least when it came to Bronson you had some idea of why he did what he did, Statham just plays the quiet killer with an occasional emotive façade.

On the flip side, there does appear to be a good reason why Mechanic: Resurrection saw the light of day: production budget unknown, though surpassed $100 million worldwide, 80% of which was on international receipts. This virtually ensures that a third Mechanic film will see the light of day, no doubt to take on the political climate in America or something else implausible. It will barely be seen here but will be by a lot of people overseas, because God knows there are questions left to answer.

The AVC encode that befits Mechanic: Resurrection and its 2.40:1 presentation is a good one, which seems to serve as an excuse to show off multiple gorgeous locales. And it's not a complaint either, the Brazilian beaches have a wonderful blue hue next to the white sand, the Malay and Thai shots have swatches of brown and yellow in them, all looking good with little compression or noise problems. The black levels are just as striking and consistent through the feature and haloing or macroblocking are at a minimum. This is a nice looking disc for sure.

The 7.1 Dolby TrueHD soundtrack is an active one from the start whether it is a boat exploding or more environmental sounds of the Brazil and Thai exteriors. Listening to Bishop's job of making an outdoor pool rupture is excellent with rumbles of water pressure as things crack and eventually give way. In a separate sequence of gunplay, a helicopter whirs from the back of the theatre to the front. Dialogue is consistent throughout, and Lionsgate treats this movie well, regardless of your thoughts on it.

Pretty much your run of the mill extras here; "Engineering the Sequel" (9:55) gets the thoughts on the story from the cast and crew, characters and production, "Scoring the Action Film" (9:00) looks at the intent and challenges of getting the music right, while separate quick looks at the Malaysian Prison (1:22), Michelle Yeoh (1:14) and Statham on his stunts (1:23) round things out.

Sure, it's nice to think about Charles Bronson for even a minute when it comes to either of the modern-day Mechanic films. That said, Mechanic: Resurrection is one of the more forgettable and unnecessary films in my recent experience, even for a sequel. The technical merits for the disc are a stunner, though the extras are underwhelming. It's worth checking out if you've seen the first one I guess?