The Punisher Goes to Russia!

Throughout the noughties and beyond, washed-up action stars have earned their paycheques by starring in low-budget direct-to-DVD action films, the majority of which are of a low standard. Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme are a couple of DTD stars that immediately spring to mind, and in addition to these names is Dolph Lundgren (Universal Soldier, Showdown in Little Tokyo). Despite his period in DTD prison, Dolph appears to have the potential to rise to star status once again. After demonstrating his directorial abilities with 2004's The Defender, Dolph capitalised on his strengths behind the camera for 2005's The Mechanik (also known by the generic and lousy title The Russian Specialist). Just by glancing at the DVD cover, it's easy to discern the sort of movie that The Mechanik is: an intense, fun, old-fashioned shoot-'em-up revenge flick, wherein a thin story gives way to a copious amount of action. With The Mechanik, Dolph has dived into his second directorial gig with guns fully loaded to deliver a thrilling, hardcore ride into conventional territory.

In the film, Dolph Lundgren stars as retired Russian Special Forces hitman Nikolai Cherenko who witnesses his family being slaughtered by Russian gangsters after a drug deal goes wrong. Subsequently, he illegally immigrates to the United States in order to commence a new life as a car mechanic that's free of violence and war. However, Nick is soon approached by a woman knowledgeable about his past who offers him a large sum of money to rescue her kidnapped daughter. Nick is initially reluctant to accept the job until he learns of the identity of the kidnapper: the same Russian crime boss who murdered his family years earlier. Nick wakes up the cold-blooded soldier inside him in order to settle the score.

From this point onwards, The Mechanik is merely a simple revenge saga. Dolph's Nikolai Cherenko - a stoic, wordless threat - is pitted against a cabal of unsavoury Russian gangsters, and several action sequences flow from this. The fact that Nick's objective is to rescue some hapless girl is beside the point - in actual fact, beyond a handful of brief dialogue exchanges, this relationship is fairly subdued. Like most similar action films, the girl's kidnapping is a means to an end - and in this case, that end is a surplus of dead Russian gangsters. Nothing deep is at play here; basically, it's just Dolph with a shotgun declaring "It's on". Needless to say, Cherenko is cut from the same cloth as the cold-blooded action heroes of the '80s such as Dutch Schaeffer, John Matrix, John Rambo, and Marion "Cobra" Cobretti. If you want a deep character study of a tortured hero reluctant to use firearms, watch Batman Begins. For a nourishing dose of über-macho shot-gunning, watch The Mechanik.

While action is the order of the day here, there are scenes within The Mechanik which focus on developing the characters, and this is a quality rarely seen in the genre. Meanwhile, Dolph's skill as an action director is palpable throughout; his direction is refreshingly blunt and hardcore during the exciting set-pieces. There are awesome, gory shootouts galore here, culminating with a satisfying, blood-soaked Western-style climax. Elia Cmiral's accompanying score is suitably intense and riveting, too; occasionally reminiscent of the composer's work on 1998's Ronin. However, Dolph's over-reliance on flashy cinematic techniques (most notably during the first half) is at times detrimental, with a bit too much slow motion and wacky colour saturation. It ultimately comes off as gimmicky (think Tony Scott meets John Woo). The Mechanik is flawed in other areas too. The characters are predominantly just shallow bullet fodder, the minuscule $5 million budget is relatively obvious from time to time, and the gaps between the action scenes occasionally suffer from sluggish pacing. The climax is too long, as well - it isn't chaotic enough and it outstays its welcome.

In spite of its flaws, The Mechanik is far better than one would expect. As far as I'm concerned, Dolph can continue churning out these types of action films if he wishes. With its decent script, stylish directing, above-average performances and unrestrained violence, The Mechanik supplies the best macho "you killed my family, now I kill you" experience in years. The movie may not entirely circumvent the action movie clichés, but Dolph is savvy enough to realise that nothing satisfies like a blood-soaked dosage of served-cold revenge yarn. It's baffling that Sony Pictures dumped this serviceable film into the direct-to-DVD realm while allowing horrific dirge like Are We Done Yet? and Crossover to pollute theatres across the globe. The Mechanik isn't a perfect movie or even a masterpiece of its genre, but this could have been Dolph's much-awaited theatrical comeback if it was given a bigger budget and a bit more attention.

7.2/10