I was disappointed with the Hollywood style typical movie ending, how did this differ from the original?
I thought the original ended obviously, and was waiting for a repeat of this. So I quite appreciated the change.
share*** SPOILERS *****
... but, if you read the 1st questions you expect spoilers now don't you?
The original ended about the same.
The main two differences are:
1) Bronson died
2) Bronson left a note to the Jan Michael-Vincent on the dashboard of the car. JVM reads it and the car blows up.
The only reason Statham lives is to leave an opening for a sequel. Let's just call THE MECHANIC a prequel to the Transporter films. He's basically the same guy. They should have killed him off in this but you know HOLLYWOOD....
share[deleted]
lol ya u know hollywood... cbs films probably tricked statham into a 3 movie contract deal like the transporter series. he will probably be in crank 3: even higher voltage!
shareguess the original is better, I thought it would have been just to kill Bishop in the movie
p.s. this forum lacks clear seperation of ones signature
In the original there is no relation between the two. Jan Michael Vincent just wants to be an assassin. For vanity, hubris and the fun of it. One of his vanities is to squeeze a ball of wax to strengthen his hand.
In the end, he assassinates Charles Bronson, for fun, hubris or whatever.
But Bronson proves he is still the better Mechanic because Jan Michael Vincent is too predictable. Bronson puts an explosive in the wax ball that is triggered by being squeezed until a wire breaks. There is a recording in Vincent's car's tape deck by Bronson telling him he knows he's been assassinated by Vincent and that he's going to die too. Vincent has been squeezing the wax ball while he's been driving. He looks at it and tries to get out of the car but too late.
All in all the original was a better movie. More subtle, more psychological, better motivations.
In the original, Bronson has killed JMV's father. JMV doesn't know this but he kills Bronson in Italy poisoning the wine Bronson loves. Bronson asks (dying) was it for for yur father? JMV says no, I thought he just died.
When JMV gets back to the house and appropriates Bronson's lifestyle he gets into the car and begins to start it up and sees a note hanging from te rearview mirror which, if you are looking you can read as JMV is actually enetering from the shot through the back window, then Bronson1s voice over cuts in reading it out loud
"if you're reading this I didn't make it back. It also menas you broke an eleven second proximity fuse. Bang, you're dead" JMV grabs for the door handle...
From JMV opening the door to the explosion, it's exactly eleven seconds!
Great film, rewatch any time it's on. Always someting new to see.
One of [Jan Michael Vincent's] vanities is to squeeze a ball of wax to strengthen his hand.
Actually, it was Bronson's character, Arthur, who did the thing with the ball of wax. And it wasn't vanity, but for a very practical purpose -- to strengthen his hands. Most murder victims aren't going to passively allow their executioners to kill them, and sometimes it's necessary for a hit man to hold the victim down or choke him or whatever.
Jan Michael Vincent just wants to be an assassin. [...] In the end, he assassinates Charles Bronson, for fun, hubris or whatever.
The story was supposed to have some sort of deeper philosophical ramifications, but they tended to get lost in the shuffle among all the killing. The book is somewhat more detailed on this point, from what I recall. But even in the movie, Steve McKenna (played by Vincent) explains to Arthur Bishop (played by Bronson) that although Bishop pretends to stand apart from society's standards while answering only to his own moral code, he really isn't -- Bishop has just traded the usual constraints and controls that govern the rest of us for a new set, the orders, customs, and rules of his employers. McKenna kills Bishop to free himself from that set of constraints, so he can truly be completely independent -- killing who he pleases, answering only to his own conscience, living entirely by his own rules.
At least that's the idea that was supposed to come across. However, it's difficult to watch the movie without concluding that Steve was just an ungrateful twerp who repaid his mentor's efforts by killing him, just to prove some silly point to himself.
But Bronson proves he is still the better Mechanic because Jan Michael Vincent is too predictable.
Well, I don't know about "better" -- Arthur knew that Steve had targeted him (he found Steve's written notes), and yet Steve still managed to kill him.
Bronson puts an explosive in the wax ball that is triggered by being squeezed until a wire breaks. There is a recording in Vincent's car's tape deck by Bronson telling him he knows he's been assassinated by Vincent and that he's going to die too.
That's the right idea, but as others have mentioned, it was a delayed explosion triggered by Steve opening the car door, and a note attached to the car's mirror.