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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Name : Alan Scherstuhl / Alias : Village Voice
It's a sharp-enough political drama, building to a Lincoln-like public vote, and it's a surprisingly restrained cancer picture, an affecting one that nonetheless doesn't demand that we agonize at each step of the patient's decline.

Name : Peter Rainer / Alias : Christian Science Monitor
The early scenes, when Laurel and Stacie first meet and court, are charming, and the performers' contrapuntal acting styles here ring true. But when the diagnosis arrives, all the predictable buttons are pushed and righteousness reigns.

Name : Benjamin Mercer / Alias : AV Club
It doesn't quite feel like the prestige pictures that blow through theaters this time of year; it's a drama often dignified by its workmanlike approach, one that feels relatively judicious with its uplift.

Name : Justin Chang / Alias : Variety
At times plays like a period piece, populated by cardboard bigots, flamboyant gay crusaders and other hoary relics of a less enlightened past. That may be cause for celebration, but it's hardly a compliment.

Name : Lou Lumenick / Alias : New York Post
Well-meaning but fairly predictable tear-jerker.

Name : Ann Hornaday / Alias : Washington Post
The drama that "Freeheld" unsuccessfully strives for ultimately can't compete with the far-more-compelling facts that inspired it.

Name : Adam Graham / Alias : Detroit News
It's a stiff, overly calculated piece of awards bait that has all the elements of an Academy Awards triumph - except a beating heart.

Name : Richard Roeper / Alias : Chicago Sun-Times
It's just a shame Freeheld couldn't state its case without STATING ITS CASE so often.

Name : Kenneth Turan / Alias : Los Angeles Times
You would have to be a stone to be completely unmoved by "Freeheld," especially with Moore as the star. But having its heart and mind in the right place is not enough to make this a better movie than it is.

Name : Calvin Wilson / Alias : St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Freeheld" is a snapshot of a notable American moment.

Name : Mick LaSalle / Alias : San Francisco Chronicle
"Freeheld" is formulaic, but some formulas are good if you do them right, and it helps knowing that it all really happened, or most of it.

Name : David Ehrlich / Alias : Time Out
Just because anyone would agree with its message doesn't mean this glorified Lifetime movie does a worthy job of conveying it.

Name : Alonso Duralde / Alias : TheWrap
The real-life story is moving and stirring enough to carry over the film's tendency to coddle its straight audience's perceived inability to be outraged over Laurel's plight.

Name : Manohla Dargis / Alias : New York Times
A television movie of the week gone uninterestingly wrong .

Name : Rex Reed / Alias : New York Observer
It's a poignant, relevant and beautifully made film that must not be missed by anyone with a heart and a social conscience.

Name : J. R. Jones / Alias : Chicago Reader
The story is more worthy than watchable - part chest-thumping issue drama, part disease-of-the-week tearjerker.

Name : Peter Travers / Alias : Rolling Stone
This film about a headline-making LGBT rights case simplifies when it most needs to stay knotty, but keep your eyes on Julianne Moore and Ellen Page and you'll know your seeing the truth.

Name : Moira MacDonald / Alias : Seattle Times
In the end credits, we see photos of the real Laurel and Stacie, in happier days, and you can see love glowing around them. Too bad that the movie, well-intentioned as it is, never quite catches that spark.

Name : Liz Braun / Alias : Toronto Sun
[Freeheld] is sincere, to be sure, but unlikely to win any prizes. For starters, the most memorable character in this important story of a courageous woman is a man; that's a problem.

Name : Simon Houpt / Alias : Globe and Mail
Page and Julianne Moore, who plays Hester, have an easy if not electric chemistry, but they seem hamstrung by the movie-of-the-week tropes and Peter Sollett's plodding direction.

Name : Leah Greenblatt / Alias : Entertainment Weekly
For all its clumsiness, the story resonates-and the photos that run over the final credits are a poignant reminder of the real life, not just the political legacy, that Laurel left behind.

Name : Jocelyn Noveck / Alias : Associated Press
It's a well-made but matter-of-fact account of a gripping story, one made more poignant by the advances made in gay rights in the decade since.

Name : Ty Burr / Alias : Boston Globe
"Freeheld" is a disappointingly flat affair, plodding in its pacing and predictable in its story beats.

Name : Stephen Whitty / Alias : Newark Star-Ledger
In spite of itself . "Freeheld" still delivers emotionally.

Name : David Rooney / Alias : Hollywood Reporter
Freeheld underwhelms even as it more or less delivers .

Name : Bruce Demara / Alias : Toronto Star
It hits the right sentimental moments but doesn't truly touch hearts as it settles into courtroom drama mode.

Name : Steve Pond / Alias : TheWrap
It isn't a great movie, but it's a great story told with affection and heart.

Name : Bill Goodykoontz / Alias : Arizona Republic
A well-meaning movie whose sterling intentions, timely and provocative subject and terrific cast are muted to near oblivion by uninspired storytelling and direction.