Name : Lou Lumenick / Alias : New York Post
Considerably more fun than the rather lethargic original.

Name : Mick LaSalle / Alias : San Francisco Chronicle
To the extent it makes sense, it's a collection of time-honored cliches, and to the extent that it's original, "The Mechanic" is insane, bordering on gloriously insane.

Name : Joe Morgenstern / Alias : Wall Street Journal
Mr. Statham, the specialist in English tough guys who was so affecting in "The Bank Job," has more to offer than "The Mechanic" has the grace to receive.

Name : Mark Jenkins / Alias : NPR
Betrayal, sympathy and regret are central to the story, but there's hardly any room for such feelings amid the clockwork carnage.

Name : John Anderson / Alias : Washington Post
"The Mechanic," 2011 edition, is a striking-looking work, combining an arty inkiness with a retro-graininess that more or less screams 1970s, albeit without the cliches and flatness. If only you liked the people in the picture.

Name : Steven Rea / Alias : Philadelphia Inquirer
It's about gunplay and pricey sports cars bursting into flames while three or four cameras capture the moment. In slo-mo. Cue the cool music.

Name : Todd McCarthy / Alias : Hollywood Reporter
Frantic, numbing redo of the Charles Bronson original for hardcore Statham and action fans only.

Name : Una LaMarche / Alias : New York Observer
The Mechanic is like a Beretta loaded with blanks - quick and brutal but ultimately empty.

Name : Liam Lacey / Alias : Globe and Mail
There just isn't enough consistent energy to light up the glum, generic plot or enliven the one-dimensional performances.

Name : Leah Rozen / Alias : TheWrap
Statham, he of the chiseled physique and sexily receding hairline, holds his own here, doing what he has to in scenes and no more - which is perfect for a movie like this.

Name : Brian Miller / Alias : L.A. Weekly
The Company Men with guns, but no families or pensions. All they have is their job, and retirement literally equals death.

Name : Rene Rodriguez / Alias : Miami Herald
Haven't we already had enough movies about solitary, enigmatic hit men? Is there anything possibly left to do with the genre that's new?

Name : Joe Williams / Alias : St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Even by the sloppy, soulless standards of hit man movies, "The Mechanic" is a mess.

Name : Derek Adams / Alias : Time Out
With its unrelenting violence and obligatory bonking sessions, this is one for avid 'Stath' fans only.

Name : Bill Goodykoontz / Alias : Arizona Republic
Statham is, in his understated way, a satisfying action star, stoically going about his business. Foster is just a flat-out good actor, as anyone who saw his work in "The Messenger" or "3:10 to Yuma" can attest.

Name : Tom Long / Alias : Detroit News
Jason Statham needs to get a tune-up, switch gears and hit the gas.

Name : Keith Uhlich / Alias : Time Out
Depth of character is traded for bloody broad strokes.

Name : Manohla Dargis / Alias : New York Times
A sputtering remake in need of a more powerful recharge.

Name : Stephen Whitty / Alias : Newark Star-Ledger
The new stunts are explosive, over-the-top and a sign of the times - action fans aren't happy these days, it seems, unless at least one scene involves a jackknifing 18-wheeler and a fireball.

Name : Roger Ebert / Alias : Chicago Sun-Times
"The Mechanic" tells a story as old as "Hamlet" in a style as new as unbaked bread. What's the point?

Name : Peter Travers / Alias : Rolling Stone
The result is just good enough to pass as an action flick you watch with the forgiving gaze that comes from too many beers and too little sleep.

Name : Tom Russo / Alias : Boston Globe
An intermittently arresting, mostly standard action entry that deals death noisily more than cleverly - a lot like the original.

Name : J. R. Jones / Alias : Chicago Reader
While that pop mythology was still relatively fresh back in Bronson's day, it's so played out at this point that not even the enjoyably no-nonsense Statham can pump any life into it.

Name : Michael Phillips / Alias : Chicago Tribune
Let's not denigrate the term "action film" by applying it to the remake signed by director Simon West. This is a violence film, not an action film.

Name : James Berardinelli / Alias : ReelViews
The Mechanic is adequate light entertainment for those who enjoy thrillers, but it is uneven and the underwhelming ending will disappoint those who enjoyed the delicious irony served up by its predecessor.

Name : Greg Quill / Alias : Toronto Star
Standard Statham stuff.

Name : John Hartl / Alias : Seattle Times
West's slick, fairly faithful new remake gives partial screenplay credit to Lewis John Carlino, who wrote the original "Mechanic." But the picture isn't likely to do for Jason Statham what the 1972 film did for Bronson.

Name : Glenn Kenny / Alias : MSN Movies
The Mechanic is my kind of action movie: nasty, brutish, brisk and ass-kicking.

Name : Bruce Diones / Alias : New Yorker
Statham is a model of control; he's steely and graceful in his action scenes, and his interplay with the wiry Foster delivers the goods.

Name : Mary F. Pols / Alias : TIME Magazine
The interplay between dry Arthur and crazy, caustic Steve is what makes the movie fun.

Name : Scott Bowles / Alias : USA Today
The first legitimate action film of 2011.

Name : Rafer Guzman / Alias : Newsday
Clinging to false heroism and terrified of anything too dark, The Mechanic is a tough-guy movie for wimps.

Name : Josh Modell / Alias : AV Club
Statham and Foster play off each other nicely, and director Simon West strikes a playful balance between carnage and conviviality, gore and gregariousness.

Name : Dana Stevens / Alias : Slate
The Arthur/Steve relationship at the movie's heart is what lifts The Mechanic above the common run of kablammo! action thrillers.

Name : Owen Gleiberman / Alias : Entertainment Weekly
The Mechanic is ham-fisted pulp, like Robert Rodriguez's Machete taking itself seriously.

Name : Brian Lowry / Alias : Variety
It proves middling, and occasionally muddled, on almost every level.

Name : Christy Lemire / Alias : Associated Press
Statham, the British star of the Transporter and Crank films and an old favorite of Guy Ritchie, has a quietly fierce physicality, a stylish masculinity that makes him appealing to both men and women.

Name : Kyle Smith / Alias : New York Post
A serviceable if somewhat redundant horror sequel that dribbles out its secrets slowly, "Sinister 2" doesn't have a particularly satisfying end - it's somehow both too drawn-out and abrupt - but it's got creepiness galore.

Name : Bilge Ebiri / Alias : New York Magazine/Vulture
This sequel, as rough as it is, might be more worthwhile than its 2012 original.

Name : James Berardinelli / Alias : ReelViews
Although Sinister 2 continues the story begun in Scott Derrickson's creepily effective Sinister, it feels more like an unnecessary retread than an organic extension of the original.

Name : John Semley / Alias : Globe and Mail
Nothing in Sinister 2 comes across as believably scary.

Name : Robert Abele / Alias : Los Angeles Times
Nothing about "Sinister 2" comes close to the feel-bad ode to literally and figuratively dark interiors that distinguished the title-earning original.

Name : Katharine Pushkar / Alias : New York Daily News
Baghuul . looks like the lead singer in a Norwegian forest metal band.

Name : Keith Uhlich / Alias : AV Club
Not a moment of Sinister 2 is convincing or frightening, mostly due to the uber-stilted child acting and the flat, overlit visual palette, which pales in comparison to what Derrickson and cinematographer Chris Norr achieved on the shadow-laden first film.

Name : Kyle Anderson / Alias : Entertainment Weekly
Sinister 2 doesn't know what it wants to be, and doesn't add up to much.

Name : Wesley Morris / Alias : Grantland
There comes a point when you have to say no to these horror sequels. There's no skill or idea visible anywhere, just the sound of money being sucked from your pockets.

Name : Rafer Guzman / Alias : Newsday
Creepy kids and sick jokes make for meager scares, but Ransone is likable as the film's beleaguered hero.

Name : Andrew Barker / Alias : Variety
Anyone who found the original a cut above the average horror pic will likely leave the theater disappointed, if not downright insulted.

Name : Justin Lowe / Alias : Hollywood Reporter
Sinister 2 comes up a bit short on creative resources, although director Ciaran Foy probably gets enough right to entice those partial to the original.

Name : Andy Webster / Alias : New York Times
Despite Mr. Ransone's goofy charm, "Sinister 2" can't claim the same finesse, substituting pedestrian plotting and a more graphic gore for the original's restraint.