THE MECHANIK / THE RUSSIAN SPECIALIST (Dolph Lundgren, 2005)

[leigh1975]

I've just re-watched this, and only just realised Olivia Lee is in it as a fairly main character. So what, all you non UK-ers say? Well, Olivia Lee is a very successful comedienne over here... like, her very own TV show successful (called Dirty Sexy Funny). She also regularly appears on numerous UK shows such as Balls of Steel. Not terribly interesting, but it does give the Mechalik thread a bit of life again

[Jox]

[Geoff]

ok one for Jox I think.

How many diffrent cuts are there of this film. I have the UK verison and one I got from germany (I think) but with the ending I have now seen three diffrent verisons? are there more cuts than first thought? in the main I am reffering to when Nickoli kills Sasha. One verison sees the shot and a lot of water and blood (like that one) Ive seen another where you dont see that final shot and the one I watched the other night you dont see anything at all, just Nickoli walking back. Is it normal to ahve that many diffrent cuts on release?

[Jox]

There's really one cut but It's just the Germans who have the bad habit of cutting violent films (MEN OF WAR has a version of 75 mins instead of 100 I think) and made two or three different cuts rated like 16, 18 etc. So the only legitimate German edition of this film is marked "uncut".

[Mosquito]

According to the OFDB there's only one uncut version:

http://www.ofdb.de/film/86876,The-Mechanik

Label: Kinowelt (SPIO/JK)
Published: 20. Februar 2006
EAN/UPC: 4006680034041

[Nikolai Cherenco]

I love this film. Especially here Dolph proves that he has great talent as a director.

[Sgt.AndreaScott]

Bein' in a crazy shoppin' frenzy yesterday, I ordered the UK blu-ray version of this flick...without checkin' the aspect ratio. *faepalm* I hope they blu-ray's in 16:9...

[leigh1975]

Bein' in a crazy shoppin' frenzy yesterday, I ordered the UK blu-ray version of this flick...without checkin' the aspect ratio. *faepalm* I hope they blu-ray's in 16:9...

It is!

[Sgt.AndreaScott]

Thanks for the info. I was up to cancel my order.

[leigh1975]

It's only got 2.0 sound though, but if you have a good enough surround system, the sound 'fakes' a decent track anyway...

[Ivan, Jr.]

Cover for a DVD sold in China... hummmm
http://www.amazon.cn/mn/detailApp/ref=s ... 2I&sr=8-24

Now that's funny they use a promo pic of Dolph as Gunnar from "The Expendables" for the cover of "The Mechanik". It's more common for the companies to use pics of him from previously released movies while they are first promoting it and still use it when released on DVD. Like one cover of "Direct Contact" used a pic of D from "The Mechanik/The Russian Specialist"

[Jox]

DP Ross Clarksson on TM:

That was Dolph’s second directing one. He let me have a lot of influence on him. He accepted a lot of ideas. We spoke about everything a lot. Worked through it all. The story, camera angles, everything. It showed. It’s a good-looking film.

http://www.outlawvern.com/2013/09/18/in ... d-j-moore/

[bomaz]

The more I watch it, the more it's becoming my favorite Dolph's post 2000 movie.

[Jox]

720p trailer

[Jox]

I had never seen Kevin Costner's OPEN RANGE but I had heard about it and it's pretty clear that Dolph was influenced by it in the final shoot out of THE MECHANIK. Not only had it just been released the year prior it and Dolph is a fan of westerns (and Costner), but some of the shots and ideas are similar (yet not just "copied and pasted").