Jason Staham
and Clive Owen is a dream pairing made in movie heaven. Throw Robert De Niro in there too and KILLER ELITE should have
been a really fun film. Instead we get a few good action scenes, too little screen time between Statham and Owen as
Owen's character, Spike, looks to stop Danny (Statham) from caring out his mission. Danny is forced to kill three
ex-SAS men who killed a few sons of the leader of Yemen in exchange for the freedom of Danny's mentor, Hunter (De Niro).
It is the early 1980s where a secretive group of ex-military men and businessmen called the Feather
Men look to control the oil in the Middle East. The mission starts out pretty simple as to get filmed confessions and
make the killings look like accidents. Soon Danny finds it sin't so easy as he finds the Feather Men are on his trail.
KILLER ELITE should be
an interesting thriller which is based on a non-fiction book, but instead it takes the background facts that are the basis
for everything going on in the world (at the time) and turn it into a so-so action drama. We don't get to know
enough about Danny, Hunter, or Spike. The film starts with the moment where Danny decides to quit and goes from there.
You get flashbacks of his life from where he left being a special forces killer to where he is forced to do the mission
to save Hunter. It revolves around a woman he falls in love with and you get the usual relationship cliches played
to better effect in other movies. You see brief glimpses into the personal life of Spike and Hunter mentions a little
about his life (without showing us anything).
The film drags at points until you get to the next action set
piece. Clive Owen and Jason Statham spend too little time together in the film. I hope another film utilizes
them together more than the KILLER ELITE did so too briefly (the chair fight is even too brief). Jason Statham, Robert
De Niro, and Clive Owen do their best with what the screenplay gives them. Robert De Niro mostly plays
the damsel in distress role and I would have loved to have seen a couple of flashbacks to the missions him and Danny were
on together. Instead, KILLER ELITE isn't the best movie for any of the talent involved and yet it is neither the worst
they have been involved in during their careers. Wait for the DVD or Blu-ray.
this movie review is
(c)10-4-2011 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com
