Action
Rod Lott
Whether “The Transporter” or now “The Mechanic,” Jason Statham has one job in Hollywood, but he does it quite well: being cinema’s most reliable action star of the 21st century.

Action
Rod Lott
Preceding the start of The Expendables 2 is an ad for its tie-in video game. Why bother playing such a thing when so many sequences of the the movie make you feel like you're doing so already? I mean that as a compliment, because as directed by Simon West (The Mechanic), the sequel’s 15-minute prologue is so unrelenting in nonstop action that it’s likely to turn you giddy.

Action
Rod Lott
While it's admirable that Parker is dedicated to the memory of Donald E. Westlake, the legendary crime author who wrote two dozen novels about the character under the Richard Stark pen name, this Parker is not his Parker. It's Taylor Hackford's, and the director continues to apply his nondescript, workmanlike touch to average material (see Love Ranch, Ray, Proof of Life, etc.). He neither improves it nor harms it; he simply keeps it afloat.