Action Opening Scene Analysis: The Mechanic

Action Opening Analysis: The Mechanic

The character are introduced straight away as their stories are being told so the audience are able to see the protagonist and the antagonist in the 2 minutes opening. The first character presented is the wealthy rich guy with his comrade who must obey him and work for him, which suggests the he's the evil guy as rich guys are stereotyped as the bad guys in the action movies. His wealth is shown by his transports as it's introduced in the beginning of the film. The protagonist is introduced and seen ad the villain when he kills someone however the audience believes that he has a reason. The good guy is a stereotypical action hero because he's muscular, seems tough, as he shows no emotion when he kills the villain. 

In the first scene a wide shot is used to show the opening of the door then the camera turns into a low angle shot of the aircraft which shows dominance and make the viewer seem smaller as it tries to show off the wealth of the man. There is a wide shot used to present more shots of the air crafts which informs the viewer about the lifestyle of the rich man however we are not able to see him up close when he exists out of the car which creates suspense because we don't know much about him. The importance of the character is show when there is a long shot of the expensive cars going past but the camera focuses on the villain then the camera zooms into a close up to his face allowing the audience to get to know more about him. 

The setting seems sunny and there are happy people laughing and socializing however once he enters the location there is violence, which suggest that he's rich because he does bad things for having a wealthy lifestyle so he's confirmed as a villain. Whilst the violence is occurring the camera turns into a close to show his emotionless expression toward the mayhem he's causing. The large steel doors begins to open whilst the titles appear on the screen, this creates suspense, as the audience will want to know what's happening. 

There is non-diegetic foreign music when the wealthy foreign character the plane, which he owns. There are birds tweeting whilst the sun is shining which represents peaceful and happy feeling however the scene is very short so it could suggest that the happiness won't last long. There is silence as he enters the swimming pool to get the audience's attention because something is going to happen, so the scene builds up anticipation because there is no music so the viewers will begin to get curious about what's going to happen next. The music gradually becomes suspenseful before the action occurs, then the man swimming is murdered so the music enters the scene, it is fast paced, low pitch music to match the scene. When the music slowly stops it suggests that the character is dead so the atmosphere becomes silent giving it an eerie effect. Whilst the main protagonist hurries and escapes out, the music speeds up which creates tension as the dead body is discovered.


The genre of the film is action; in the first 2 minutes of the opening we are able to see wealth as Aircrafts are introduced. There is a stereotypical location for a fight or conflict between the good vs. evil characters. Usually action films have a character of substantial wealth that is killed right at the beginning, this will gain attention from the audience, as they will become curious about why the character was killed.