Rated R for strong violence, language and some sexuality/nudity
Cast: Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Robert De Niro, Yvonne Strahovski, Dominic Purcell, Adelwale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Director: Gary McKendry
There's nothing really awful about "Killer Elite" yet there's nothing really great about it, either. The movie is competent enough; just not terribly interesting. It prefers motion over emotion and viewer interest. In the end, what does that really leave us with?
The story is supposedly based on truth. The film makes a point of telling us this, but doesn't seem too caught up in proving its veracity. (The title of the book upon which the movie is based was "The Feather Men" but the filmmakers, I imagine, didn't hesitate to scrap that possible title for the more macho-sounding "Killer Elite" even though it might invite confusion with Sam Peckinpah's film of the same name.)
Jason Statham plays Danny, a hired assassin who quits the business after executing a target before the innocent eyes of the man's child. He retires to Australia, renovates a home and takes up with an extremely cute Aussie (Yvonne Strahovski) who could cure any lifelong hit man from an addiction to blood lust. It's only when Danny's longtime mentor, Hunter (Robert De Niro) is held hostage by an exiled sheik (Rodney Afif) that our protagonist is forced to re-enter the killing scene. To free Hunter, Danny must locate three SAS soldiers who participated in the execution of the sheik's sons as part of a war to procure oil, force them to confess to the killings on tape, then dispose of them. To accomplish the task, Danny reassembles his old team, including a skilled marksman named Davies (Dominic Purcell) and an explosives expert named Meier (Aden Young).
The subsequent hits capture the attention of Spike Logan (Clive Owen), a former SAS agent forced into early retirement after losing an eye in the field. He is contracted out as an enforcer of sorts for a secret society of ex-SAS who call themselves "The Feather Men" because, if I understood correctly, their touch is sooo light. (They now engage in various activities, many of which are illegal. It's all kind of murky.) Spike took such enormous pride in his days as an SAS agent, to the point where he knows about some of the illegal activities of the Feather Men yet remains loyal. It affords him a way to get back into the field. A showdown between Danny and Spike is inevitable.
I don't mind stories based on truth, but I grow tired of films that mold themselves with overly derivative and cliched elements, then attempt to justify it by falling back on the supposed non-fiction origins of the story. This one runs the cliche gamut... a hit man with a heart of gold, an exasperated lover who can't understand his double life, a job that goes wrong, and so on. Oh, but you can't criticize it 'cause it's based on truth! Yeah, okay... and "Moneyball" could have been a sleep-inducing docudrama involving nothing but numbers and statistics, but the filmmakers there found the humanity in the story and made a magnificent picture. Sorry, but "based on truth" isn't a sufficient excuse for embracing cliche.
I sense Jason Statham is capable of much greater acting range, yet I fear at this point we'll never get an opportunity to find out. All his roles seem to be merging into one. Robert De Niro is always a welcome sight, yet his role here is too insignificant to make much of an impact. Unless he owed a fellow cast member or crewman a favor, I'm not sure what he's doing in this film. Clive Owen is the most fun to watch; his fiery intensity and unbridled loyalty to "the cause" elevates the scenes he occupies.
I don't know. Action aficionados might like the movie. It just didn't do much for me. The characters spend so much time globetrotting and pulling double-crosses on each other that my interest eventually wore out. It's an admirable effort to make something more "substantial" than your typical throwaway action pic. Sadly, it's no more interesting.
* * out of * * * * stars
The story is supposedly based on truth. The film makes a point of telling us this, but doesn't seem too caught up in proving its veracity. (The title of the book upon which the movie is based was "The Feather Men" but the filmmakers, I imagine, didn't hesitate to scrap that possible title for the more macho-sounding "Killer Elite" even though it might invite confusion with Sam Peckinpah's film of the same name.)
Jason Statham plays Danny, a hired assassin who quits the business after executing a target before the innocent eyes of the man's child. He retires to Australia, renovates a home and takes up with an extremely cute Aussie (Yvonne Strahovski) who could cure any lifelong hit man from an addiction to blood lust. It's only when Danny's longtime mentor, Hunter (Robert De Niro) is held hostage by an exiled sheik (Rodney Afif) that our protagonist is forced to re-enter the killing scene. To free Hunter, Danny must locate three SAS soldiers who participated in the execution of the sheik's sons as part of a war to procure oil, force them to confess to the killings on tape, then dispose of them. To accomplish the task, Danny reassembles his old team, including a skilled marksman named Davies (Dominic Purcell) and an explosives expert named Meier (Aden Young).
The subsequent hits capture the attention of Spike Logan (Clive Owen), a former SAS agent forced into early retirement after losing an eye in the field. He is contracted out as an enforcer of sorts for a secret society of ex-SAS who call themselves "The Feather Men" because, if I understood correctly, their touch is sooo light. (They now engage in various activities, many of which are illegal. It's all kind of murky.) Spike took such enormous pride in his days as an SAS agent, to the point where he knows about some of the illegal activities of the Feather Men yet remains loyal. It affords him a way to get back into the field. A showdown between Danny and Spike is inevitable.
I don't mind stories based on truth, but I grow tired of films that mold themselves with overly derivative and cliched elements, then attempt to justify it by falling back on the supposed non-fiction origins of the story. This one runs the cliche gamut... a hit man with a heart of gold, an exasperated lover who can't understand his double life, a job that goes wrong, and so on. Oh, but you can't criticize it 'cause it's based on truth! Yeah, okay... and "Moneyball" could have been a sleep-inducing docudrama involving nothing but numbers and statistics, but the filmmakers there found the humanity in the story and made a magnificent picture. Sorry, but "based on truth" isn't a sufficient excuse for embracing cliche.
I sense Jason Statham is capable of much greater acting range, yet I fear at this point we'll never get an opportunity to find out. All his roles seem to be merging into one. Robert De Niro is always a welcome sight, yet his role here is too insignificant to make much of an impact. Unless he owed a fellow cast member or crewman a favor, I'm not sure what he's doing in this film. Clive Owen is the most fun to watch; his fiery intensity and unbridled loyalty to "the cause" elevates the scenes he occupies.
I don't know. Action aficionados might like the movie. It just didn't do much for me. The characters spend so much time globetrotting and pulling double-crosses on each other that my interest eventually wore out. It's an admirable effort to make something more "substantial" than your typical throwaway action pic. Sadly, it's no more interesting.
* * out of * * * * stars
