The Killer Elite
- Year:2011
- Rating:MA
- Director:Gary McKendry
- Cast:Robert De Niro, Clive Owen, Dominic Purcell, Jason Statham, Yvonne Strahovski
- Release Date:July 18, 2012
- Distributor:Walt Disney
- The Film:4.0
- The Disc:3.5
“...a crackling thriller of the first order.”
Though it might look like another standard action potboiler from Brit hardman, Jason Statham, Killer Elite (wholly unrelated to Sam Peckinpah's similarly titled 1975 thriller) is much, much more. Directed with admirable terseness and restraint by impressive first timer, Gary McKendry, and based on the acclaimed non-fiction book by Ranulph Fiennes, Killer Elite is constructed on shifting thematic sand, with the line between good and evil blurred almost to the point of non-existence.
Jason Statham is Danny, a tough-as-nails mercenary forced into a dangerous assignment in order to save his imprisoned mentor and best friend, played with more commitment than usual by Robert De Niro. In a bizarre twist, Danny's targets are all SAS men, usually the good guys in these types of action flicks.
This puts Danny into direct conflict with vicious operative, Spike (played by Clive Owen with the kind of controlled menace that seriously suggests that he should do full time duty as a big screen bad guy), leading to a series of bone-crunching action sequences.
Exciting, relentlessly paced, and always coherent despite its meandering plot, the Aussie-shot Killer Elite is a crackling thriller of the first order. Special features include deleted scenes and a making-of featurette.
