Actor : Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Robert De Niro, Dominic Purcell, Aden Young,
Running Time : 116 minutes
Customer Reviews
By
Ronald Belton
In 1980, a wealthy Omani business man in exile hires retired contract killer Danny, played by Janson Statham, to kill the SAS soldiers who killed his sons. A private organization of ex SAS men tasks Spike, played by Clive Owen, with protecting them. Unlike most action movies this one has a good plot, and is perfectly cast. It also contains one of the best fight scenes on film.
By
Jerome Gotti "JG" (Montreal Canada)
don't know what the bad reviewers are talking about, this, in my opinion, is a 5 star movie. action packed from the beggining to the end, plus it's in the 80's. i liked itUPDATE : after watching it for the second time, it's a 4 star movie
By
Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)(VINE VOICE)(TOP 50 REVIEWER)(REAL NAME)
KILLER ELITE is a true story taken from the book 'The Feather Men' by Sir Ranulph Fiennes, adapted for the screen by Matt Sherring, and directed with an eye toward speed by Gary McKendry. The bit of history that the film addresses is the aftermath of the Dhofar Rebellion launched in the province of Dhofar against the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman, which had British support, from 1962 to 1976. It ended with the defeat of the rebels, but the state of Oman had to be radically reformed and modernized to cope with the campaign. The fact that three sons of the Sheik of Oman were killed by the British leaving the Sheik with a strong need for revenge so that he can regain his kingdom by sending his remaining son to a safe land is the springboard for the film's plot.Before the film's action begins, the Sheik has taken hired assassin Hunter (Robert De Niro) captive because he failed to kill the murderers of his three sons. The film opens in 1980 the exiled Sheik (with his remaining son Bakhait - Firass Dirani) hires Hunter's pupil Danny (Jason Statham), a retired member of Britain's Elite Special Air Service, to kill the three assassins of his sons. A private organization of ex SAS tasks men headed by Spike (Clive Owen) is assigned to protect the British assassins. Covering the globe from Australia to Paris, London and the Middle East, Danny and Hunter, two of the worlds' most elite operatives, are plunged into a highly dangerous game of cat and mouse - where the predators become the prey. There is plenty of incredible action in the form of one-on-one fights between Statham and Owen, car chases, and other acts of derring-do to keep the film rolling. At times the plot gets muddy and some of the characters are not well defined - those played by Domenic Purcell, Aden Young, Ben Mendelsohn and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje in particular. And of course there is the requisite romance between Statham and Yvonne Strahovski, which helps soften the film periodically. But basically this is an action film; the main reason it is of such interest is the fact that it is based on a true story - a story whose history is shared in the closing credits. Definitely a film for Statham/De Niro/Owen fans! Grady Harp, January 12
By
J. Bradley (Charleston, WV USA) (REAL NAME)
Within two weeks of September 2011 we had as many remakes of Peckinpah's weakest era of movies - "Straw Dogs" and then "Killer Elite". At least this pretty much just takes the title and runs with it. It mixes in a bit of history from the late 70's and early 80's (this movie takes place in 1980) involving "The Feather Men" an organization within the British government that, using their "light touch" on geopolitics, were involved in the killing of a shiek's sons in Oman. In this version Jason Statham is a mercenary hired by a dying shiek to kill the British SAS guys w ho killed his sons. This way the family honor will be returned and his one living son can take his place in the hierarchy and the British government will ultimately reap the political and economic rewards for helping to bring all this about. He accomplishes these tasks but now, Clive Owen, playing the SAS guy employed by "Feather Men", wants to get back at Statham's character for killing three of his SAS guys. The movie's a pretty good mix of more believable "spy stuff" and action that's still pretty hyper-stylized. I kept thinking about movies like "The Wild Geese" and "Dogs of War" which came out about the same time this movie takes place and it struck me how this IS kind of like those movies but with the hand-held camera "this is happening right now" Jason Bourne type action, from this current era. All in all I don't come away with an overall strong impression of what makes this movie stand out from the other action movies this year. "Hanna" was sort of an "art action mov ie" and "Colombiana" was a slicked-up, modern grindhouse movie. This has some great sequences like Statham fighting off two guys while cuffed to a chair, but this mix of Bourne era movie action and post-Watergate/pre Iran Contra conspiracy stuff ultimately just all blurs together. The parts are greater than the whole. Still though as remakes of 70's Peckinpah go, this one could be seen, as the more elite compared to it's original, but then even that wasn't quite at the top its form.
By
Ed
Robert DeNiro is one of my favorite actors but he was just phoning in his performance in this stinker of a movie. The writing was sophomoric at best. The plot? Well there was sort of a plot but it seemed to be more of a thin thread to link a series of action sce nes. The dialogue was one cliché after another. The director and writers might want to brush up on their skills at developing the characters and creating a story line that was clear and had a modicum of believability. I guess DeNiro just needed the money. I am sure he was brought into this project to add more star power. Sorry, even the $3.99 rental fee was too much for this one.
![Killer Elite [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/516mUHd1D8L.jpg._SL300_.jpg)
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