Killer Elite Poster

Killer Elite (2011)

Action | Thriller 
Rayting:   6.5/10 124.3K votes
Country: UK | Australia
Language: English | Arabic
Release date: 24 November 2011

When his mentor is taken captive by a disgraced Arab sheik, a killer for hire is forced into action. His mission: kill three members of Britain's elite Special Air Service responsible for the death of his sons.

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User Reviews

PWNYCNY 25 September 2011

This movie is first-rate entertainment. It is one of the better action movies. Jason Statham and Clive Owen are great as operatives who try to out-fox each other, taking them all over the world. As for Robert DeNiro, he is, as usual, great. Although he's in a supporting role, his presence definitely adds to the movie's entertainment value. Yet the best feature of the movie is the story, which is clever, straightforward, and engages the audience. This movie has an unusual plot in that one is never certain who are the good guys and the bad guys. In fact, by the end of the movie, that question is still unanswered but by then it really doesn't matter because the story is more than just about good versus bad.

Theo Robertson 15 November 2012

Fmovies: Robert DeNiro was the greatest actor of his generation. He brought a new intensity to method acting during the New Hollywood era of American film making . His star started fading in the early 1990s and by the turn of the century critics would be scratching their heads as DeNiro would appear in cameo roles in films that would surely have gone straight to video . Why he did this no one knew . It certainly couldn't have been to do with the simple reason of money but his prolific small appearances in sub standard movies has long ceased to be a joke and has affected his legacy . KILLER ELITE continues this career legacy suicide

There's something ridiculous watching a a 68 year old DeNiro getting in to a shoot out with bad guys but ridiculous doesn't even begin to describe KILLER ELITE a thriller based on a " true story" by former SAS soldier , explorer and adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes . Apparently in the early 1980s an Arab sheik upset that his son was killed by the SAS during the battle of Mirbat wants revenge .

The battle of Mirbat has passed in to British military folklore where a 9 man SAS team deserted by 40 Omani soldiers had to fight off 300 communist guerrillas in Oman circa 1972 . This battle is proved fact and Fiennes would have had more credibility if he'd presented his source novel The Feather Men as fiction . As it stands he was disowned by the regiment and journalists had a field day pointing out the unlikely occurrences in the novel . Of course many of the details can't be disproved but that's often the point of people publishing books that are fiction masquerading as fact. It should be remembered DeNiro also made a cameo in SLEEPERS another film based on a true life story that was quickly debunked

Watching a film based on a true story where you believe it to be fiction is a very irritating experience . Much of the selling point of this type of movie is that it happened in reality but you feel you're watching a cinematic adaptation of one of those books you buy at an airport while you have a very long plane journey in front of you . That's the impression I got while watching the film - a sort of pot boiler with guns , guys and car chases If the premise itself is irritatingly unconvincingso are the accents . This is a Hollywood /Australian co-production which means many of the actors are Aussies putting on English accents . Much of it is almost certainly filmed in Australia but I will restrain myself from using the word " obviously " because the director often uses establishing shots as a close up . Likewise action sequences are shot in close up too trying - and utterly failing - to convince the audience that the action is taking place in Britain . In fact when you do fleetingly see a sequence shot in Wales it jumps out at you because it's in long shot

This is a very disappointing thriller and much of this is down to the original source which exists more in the mind of the author rather than the real world . Even so if it had been promoted as a generic fictional revenge thriller it would have probably been criticised as being a rip off from Tom Clancey or the Bourne movies

bob the moo 29 January 2012

Based on a true story, Killer Elite sees a hired assassin called back into duty when his mentor is held hostage by a powerful sheik who wants revenge on the SAS men who killed his sons. Danny takes the job in order to get Hunter released – a job that involves getting the men to confess on camera before killing them in such a way that it looks like an accident and cannot be traced back. However the targets are a paranoid bunch and once a few questions are asked and one of the men dies, the secretive group behind the deaths put former soldier Spike onto the case, pitting the two trained killers against each other.

This film feels like a missed opportunity and more must have been hoped for it – not least by the relatively big name stars that were involved. This is a tale of murky secrets, covert actions overseas, trained killers and the influence of money and power – it should be much more interesting that it is here, but the decision appears to have been taken to make it as a straight generic thriller. This isn't really a problem in terms of some of the action because there are "good bits" in here, the problem comes from the fact that the material actually doesn't lend itself to this approach as much as you would have liked. So, for example, this sort of generic thriller really suits simple characters, simple plots and thumping action scenes but instead Killer Elite hands us with two groups, neither of whom are particularly "likeable", so the genre approach tells the viewer to root for the good guy – but the plot gives us no clue as to who this is. I have no issue with murky and unlikeable characters, the problem is that the delivery of the film doesn't do anything with it and tries to force it all into a mould that it doesn't fit.

Fortunately the more dramatic sequences are still pretty good (not great, but good) and they come up reasonably often to allow the film to temporarily be the film it wants to be. Not often enough though, and all of them are damaged by the fact that the rest of the film around them isn't working as well – and there is a lot of "other film", too much in fact and it runs a good twenty minutes longer than it can cope with. Much like with the recent film Blitz, Statham does his thing well – whether it suits the film or not. He delivers what you expect him to and again maybe he is part of the reason the film is pushed to be something it is not. Owen appears to be more in touch with what the material should be and also does well with the mano-a-mano stuff that the film asks of him, but it is hard to watch him delivering on a complexity that the finished film had no interest in. De Niro is a solid presence because of who he is, but he is really phoning this in. Akinnuoye-Agbaje only has a small role but, as a fan of Oz who knows how good he can be, it is always good to see him in things.

There is a good story in Killer Elite but unfortunately all but the bullet points is lost in a telling that is trying to make more of a standard thriller and doesn't seem able or willing to do anything with the murky aspects of plot or characters. The end result is a so-so thriller with a so-so plot and performances that mostly don't really work. I wonder at what point in the production they started making it something it wasn't, but regardless when it happened, it did seem to happen and it is a shame because the story deserved to be told better than it was here.

siderite 17 March 2012

Killer Elite fmovies. I do try to rate films based on their relative quality to other movies from the same genre and on that scale, Killer Elite was almost perfect. Of course, expectations come into play as well, and I had expected yet another Jason Statham implausible action extravaganza and it wasn't that. Instead I got a realistic experience, a complex story, a great cast and good acting all around.

The plot revolves around Statham's character, a hired killer who decides to get out of the business. Of course, that cannot stand, and a slightly ridiculous premise puts him in the game again. Robert de Niro and Dominic Purcell are in his team, while Clive Owen plays for the others. But who are the others? What exactly is going on? What happened with the British SAS in the Oman war?

Bottom line: a political thriller this is not, but there is enough intrigue to make it all interesting. The action sequences are well done and realistic. The fact that it all happens in the 80's gives it even more grit. What I found even nicer is that both de Niro and Statham act better than they did in a long time. Good job!

BigGuy 25 September 2011

I'm not sure what it was about Killer Elite that disappointed me, but it just didn't seem to live up to its potential. It might have been that the movie relied on Jason Statham to act, instead of just do action. He plays a retired hit man who gets pulled out of retirement to save a friend's life. But it just doesn't work, he's unconvincing. The retirement isn't convincing and neither is his reluctance to return to work. He was much better in the Mechanic which dealt with similar issues.

Overall the movie doesn't hold together very well. There is too much that they are trying to accomplish, but not enough gets developed. For instance, the romance between Danny (Statham) and Anne (Yvonne Strahovski) just seems to be cut in to the movie in a few places. The Feathermen (the group about whom the book the movie draws from is written) appear in a few scenes, yet they're role is barely explored. They are spliced in just enough to give Spike (Clive Owen) a support system.

It's not a terrible movie, but it could have been much more. I think it would make a better mini-series, so that the different parts could be explored properly. If not, eliminate the things that aren't given justice.

smokyowl 24 September 2011

I sensed what the movie-making powers that be were thinking when they made this movie: Take 3 action stars + 1 super hot blonde = money. Simple enough of a formula to get people in the theaters. My expectations were not that high for this film. But what I found reminded me of a "Bourne Identity" feel for some odd reason, but with more action and less suspense. Injecting the film with reality was Yvonne Strahovski, who made the story believable. I did like the whole 1980 thing the movie had going on as well, which some of these reviews might've missed when they watched the film.

There are many memorable moments, none of which I'm going to tell you.

One of two issues I had with the film is the distance I felt with the characters. They felt close to each other on screen, but not close to me(if that makes any sense). I could've used 5 or 10 minutes getting to know the characters a bit better. Halfway through the film I realized I had forgotten all the character's names, and it was all facial recognition. Secondly, I could have used a bit more humor. I guess when making movies on real events it's hard to get a good laugh without coming off corny. I think they missed an opportunity there with Yvonne Strahovski's character.

I would've given this movie 7 stars, but it didn't seem right considering just how much enjoyment I got out of it and such a solid performance of the actors.

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