Now we all know I have a little soft spot for the British Bad Boy done good, Jason Statham, but how does his latest film stand up? Check our Blu-Ray Review of Killer Elite
TITLE – KILLER ELITE YEAR – 2011 DIRECTOR – GARY MCKENDRY CAST – JASON STATHAM, CLIVE OWEN, ROBERT DE NIRO WRITERS – MATT SHERRING, RANULF FIENNES AMAZON – DVD / BLU-RAY
I want to make this very clear from the outset of this review, this film is not a remake of the Sam Peckinpah flick of the same name. This film is based on actual events that occurred around 1980-81 and involves a small group of former SAS soldiers and the activities of a Omani oil baron. Adapted from Sir Ranulph Fiennes supposedly true account of shady secret societies and dodgy deals made by both the British and Omani government at the time, The Feather Men.
Jason Statham plays Danny, a hit man who decides to call it a day after a hit in Mexico goes wrong. He tell’s his partner and mentor, Hunter played by De Niro that enough is enough, to which Hunter replies
‘Maybe Killing isn’t finished with you’
Twelve months pass and Danny is now settled in Australia trying to rebuild his old family home and getting on quite nicely with neighbour Anne. Things are looking quite settled for the once élite hitman. But Danny get’s a call announcing that HUNTER is now in trouble. He is being held captive by a Omani Sheik who wants Danny to do one last job and restore honor to his family name. Danny has to film confessions from the killers of his three sons before killing them and making it look like an accident. All of this flags up an alert with the super secret society, The Feather Men, and they send one of their own to try to stop Danny from killing the former SAS Soldiers.
Killer Elite isn’t actually a bad film, it is a lot better and more intelligent than most of the mercenary/gun for hire action flicks out there. Unfortunately with the amount of car chases, gun fights and explosions and skips from country to country it is ultimately very hard to keep up with what is going on with the story, also it is probably a good 15 mins longer that it really needed to be. Statham plays his usual character, hard as hell and a total bad-ass. I don’t care what you say about the guy, he is closest thing we have to a proper old school action star. Clive Owen is pretty good as well as the crazy madman with a bad case of OCD, special kudos should be given to his mustache too. Robert De Niro is really starting to show his age now, which is a shame. I love him as an actor but I did find it hard to believe he could actually do some of the stuff he did in the film.
For a début feature I think McKendry did a pretty stand up job. He certainly can set up a good action sequence, but he is let down a bit by his sluggish approach to story telling. With a snappier edit and a shorter running time this could have been quite a good film indeed.
We are promised the creme-de-la-creme of British conspiracies and espionage, but unfortunately we are left with a very average affair that breaks no new ground. The story is definitely an interesting one, but it isn’t told in a very interesting way here, which is a shame.
FRC Rating
KILLER ELITE IS RELEASED NATIONALLY ON BLU-RAY AND DVD IN UK ON 16TH JANUARY 2011
Have you seen this film? Are you interested in SAS stories? What about Statham? Comment below..
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20 comments
January 11, 2012 at 2:13 pm (UTC 0)
Good review. I felt it tried to be a bit like Munich, but then Munich has a must stronger real life story behind it. Like you said… A good watch, but nothing exceptional.
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January 12, 2012 at 10:45 am (UTC 0)
Thanks Raghav, I can completely understand your points…thanks for popping in
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January 11, 2012 at 6:44 pm (UTC 0)
Cool review, shame about the weak story as it sounds like it has potential.
Kudos to Owen’s beard, also
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January 12, 2012 at 10:46 am (UTC 0)
HAHA thanks Mike. The story is great, the execution was not quite as good!!
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January 11, 2012 at 7:01 pm (UTC 0)
I was also hoping this would be pretty good, i like all three of the actors and it looked like it had potential. I’m a big fan of Clive’s tache though!
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January 12, 2012 at 10:47 am (UTC 0)
I was hoping for more too Tom. Ah well, at least we have Owen’s Tash!!
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January 11, 2012 at 8:17 pm (UTC 0)
Sorry matey but even the hunky Clive Owen won’t entice me to see this one. It just looks bad. Plus my interest in Statham has worn off long ago.
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January 12, 2012 at 10:48 am (UTC 0)
HAHA I understand Ruth. I would not have said this was your cup of tea!!
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January 11, 2012 at 8:18 pm (UTC 0)
I have this one sitting on the shelf ready to watch, but I just haven’t gotten around to it. Looks like I don’t need to hurry!
But man, you’re soooo right with the line about Statham being our only real throwback to a proper action star. Spot on.
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January 12, 2012 at 10:49 am (UTC 0)
I am so happy that you agree with me on Statham. He get’s a bum rap… but he is filling a hole that has been left blank for ages!!
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January 11, 2012 at 11:18 pm (UTC 0)
I wanted to go see it in the theater but decided to wait for it to hit BD. I don’t expect much from it, as long as it contains good amount of shootouts and hand to hand combat, I think I’ll enjoy it.
Nice that you mentioned that it’s not a remake of Peckinpah’s film, when the project was announced, I thought it was going to be a remake.
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January 12, 2012 at 10:50 am (UTC 0)
Thanks Ted. It may well have confused a lot of people with the same title and all!!
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January 12, 2012 at 8:13 am (UTC 0)
3/5? Considering a lot of other critic reviews that rating actually really makes me happy
I am still looking forward to this one, the cast is just too good to pass up. Heck, I’m interested in “Contraband” releasing this week…
Good review Scott!
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January 12, 2012 at 10:53 am (UTC 0)
Thanks Matt. I hope you can get something out of it too
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January 12, 2012 at 11:07 am (UTC 0)
Started watching this but couldn’t finish it (was too late), tried to continue a few days later and wasn’t able to remember much about it, so I will have to restart it again.
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January 12, 2012 at 12:55 pm (UTC 0)
I will be interested to hear your thoughts on it Nostra!!
Thanks for popping in
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January 12, 2012 at 5:02 pm (UTC 0)
Hmm… I might give this a rental someday. I won’t be expecting too much though. Good review, Scott!
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January 13, 2012 at 9:40 am (UTC 0)
A rental is a good idea Eric. I look forward to seeing if you felt the same about it as I did.
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January 13, 2012 at 3:12 am (UTC 0)
In a film that had De Niro, Owen, and Statham in one film, I was expecting something incredibly awesome but to be honest, what I got was just another Statham action-vehicle with a good villain role but a role for De Niro that had no reason for even being in here. Good review Scotty.
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January 13, 2012 at 9:41 am (UTC 0)
Scotty? Scotty? LOL Actually i like being called that, makes me feel younger.
It definitely is a bit less than I was hoping for. Still fairly enjoyable, if a bit muddled up.
Thanks for the comment matey
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