Directed by:
Gary McKendryScreenplay:
Matt SherringCinematography:
Simon DugganCast:
Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Robert De Niro, Dominic Purcell, Aden Young, Yvonne Strahovski, Ben Mendelsohn, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Lachy Hulme (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
Based on a true story, Killer Elite races across the globe from Australia to Paris, London and the Middle East in the action-packed account of an ex-special ops agent (Jason Statham) who is lured out of retirement to rescue his mentor (Robert De Niro). To make the rescue, he must complete a near-impossible mission of killing three tough-as-nails assassins with a cunning leader (Clive Owen). (Entertainment in Video)
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Reviews (7)
Compared to the trailers, it's quite a decent bit of entertainment, which is surprisingly brought down by not being as dumb as it originally looked. However, the grafting of a tangled plot, with political intrigue in the background, onto a through-and-through B-movie concept, brings down the impressions quite dramatically, although in each position separately the film is quite decent. Statham's physical abilities have once again found proper use for once, and De Niro is finally in a role that suits him after a hell of a long time. In the end, we are left with a decent silly film that doesn't completely offend but also leaves us with a slightly awkward impression from the two-hour runtime.
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In the movie, there is quite a solid lineup of action actors, among whom Robert De Niro is the most prominent. Jason Statham is trying the same stunts again. In addition, the story is not one of those groundbreaking ones. On the other hand, action is not lacking and the three stars handle the film very easily. It was fine, but I would easily shorten it to about 80 minutes, which would be full of action and not 116 minutes, during which some boring stuff was also partly addressed.
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Thanks to the storyline additions in the second half, this movie seems longer than it actually is. But
thanks to the greater presence of Clive Owen’s character, the second half is better than the uninteresting and
boring first half. Without Owen, who is a worthy adversary for Jason Statham, the movie stagnates at first. De
Niro’s presence is just for show. Using a blonde in strange rubber boots in an attempt to humanize
Statham’s character slows the movie down unnecessarily. The action scenes are nothing out of the
ordinary. The old-school atmosphere is fine; Gary McKendry is clearly a fan of John Frankenheimer.
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When something looks and functions like a B-movie, then it is a B-movie. The concept could have been handled more seriously and could have resulted in a significant sociopolitical drama in the style of Paul Greengrass' works, but Gary McKendry chose the path of pure entertainment. Killer Elite is one of the few cases where I not only don't mind the genre definition of a B-action film, but I also actually quite enjoy it. The solid cast also plays a part in that, with Jason Statham capable of delivering a performance and Clive Owen being at the top of his game. The title represents essentially the same thing to me as, say, Commando does to someone else (which would be unbearably dull for me). I enjoyed the battle between mercenaries and members of the elite British SAS, and for that, I will reward it with a 75% overall impression.
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When someone has such aces in their hands, like Jason Statham, Clive Owen, but primarily Robert De Niro, it must take talent to not make something worthwhile out of it. Gary McKendry showed that such potential can easily be killed, without even batting an eye. Well, he had a story in his hands that wants to present itself as a political thriller with lots of killers, but in reality, it's a shooter set in the 80s, which one can basically only tell by the fact that most guys have a mustache or heavily overgrown sideburns. However, I still think that the director should be there to give it some juice if he finds it boring. McKendry obviously refused to put more into the film than necessary. He chose great actors, made a few nice scenes, especially action scenes, but everything drowned in a single plotline that completely lacks twists. I basically saw the film as a flatline that appears on the monitor when a patient dies. At first, it may have seemed like defibrillation would work, but in the end, the doctors had to confirm that the patient was dead and nothing would help him. It only remained to cover him with a blanket and record the time of death. What a pity. Robert De Niro has several great scenes. More: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2012/07/runaways-rok-jedna-nedotknutelni-johnny.html
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