Reviewed
by Lamar Kukuk
12/29/11
I root
for Jason Statham: the former Olympic diver turned kickboxing male
model turned actor clearly has that special something that makes a movie
star, but he has only occasionally been able to escape the ghetto of third-rate
action movies into films more elaborate (The
Expendables), commercial (The Italian Job) or dramatic (The
Bank Job). So, when you hear he’s going to make a movie with
Clive Owen and Robert De Niro, fans can’t help but have high hopes.
And, indeed, the three stars are the primary reason Killer Elite
is worth watching. But make no mistake, this sluggishly diverting
thriller is more of a step down for Owen and De Niro than a step up for
the Transporter.
In
1980, hitman Danny Bryce (Jason Statham) kills a man in front of his own
son and almost dies trying to get away, inspiring him to retire.
But one year later, he’s summoned by a mysterious Agent (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje)
to Oman, where his mentor Hunter (Robert De Niro) is being held hostage.
It appears that Hunter took a 6 million dollar job to assassinate the former
SAS agents who killed a terminally ill tribal leader’s three sons during
a military operation but failed to finish the job. If vengeance is
taken, the family honor will be restored and the leader’s son (Firass Dirani)
will regain control of his region. So Danny is given a choice:
finish the job before his employer dies or see Hunter killed instead.
So he assembles a team and gets to work, but this attracts the interest
of a secret society of former agents called The Feathermen. They
dispatch Spike Logan (Clive Owen) to clean up the mess, but when the body
count begins to rise, try to call off their dog just as Danny begins to
question his own mission. The Killer Elite are simply pawns in the
games played by the powerful, and Danny, Spike and Hunter will need to
make the right moves if any of them is to survive.
More
than a few snickers greet the notion that Killer Elite is “Based
on a True Story”: there was a book written by Sir Ranulph Finnes
in 1991 alleging the Feathermen’s existence and, well, that’s about it.
But Elite certainly has the feel of a movie in love with its connection
to the truth, and a deliberate pace that luxuriates in every period detail
including some pretty wild 1980-era haircuts (Dominic Purcell, as a member
of Danny’s team, takes the cake here).
Any
leisurely-paced character study is going to come down to the quality of
those characters and the performances that bring them to life, and here
Elite fares well for a retro action movie. Statham brings his usual
mournfully cool bearing and effortless physicality to the party and De
Niro is cheerfully ruthless as his friend and mentor. It’s Owen who
has the meaty role, as Spike is no longer physically fit for active duty
but continues to relentlessly pursue the carved-in-stone righteousness
of whatever side he finds himself fighting on. I really liked the
way he can never entirely give that up, not even when his superiors play
him for a patsy, and the final confrontation between he and Danny has a
feel of emotional truth not usually found in this sort of action flick.
I also really liked Yvonne Strahovski as the girl Danny has to keep leaving
back home and finally can no longer let out of his sight. While there’s
a certain amusement to the chaste nature of their relationship in such
a bone-crunching enterprise, they make a sweet couple.
Killer
Elite isn’t particularly memorable: ultimately, it’s a big-budget
version of what most low-budget action flicks are: a delivery system
for strong tough guy actors outperforming their material. So if you
like Statham, Owen or De Niro, you’ll probably like Killer Elite.
You may have to be a Featherman to love it. And the search for Jason
Statham’s mainstream leading man breakthrough role continues. |
