Killer Elite Review

Director: Gary McKendry

Starring: Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Robert DeNiro, Ben Mendolsohn, Dominic Purcell, Aden Young, Yvonne Strahovski.

Running Time: 116 Minutes

Certificate: 15

Synopsis: Based on a true story, Killer Elite pits two of the worlds’ most elite operatives – Danny, an ex-special ops agent – and Hunter, his longtime mentor, against the cunning leader of a secret military society headed by Clive Owen. Covering the globe from Australia to Paris, London and the Middle East, Danny and Hunter are plunged into a highly-dangerous game of cat and mouse – where the predators become the prey…

While the recent TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY’s focus was on the whispering backroom deals in the corridors of power and the upper echelons of those who make the all important decisions. KILLER ELITE shows the grittier side of the men that carry out those desisons by putting their lives at risk, decisions made by those in pin striped suits behind a desk.

Set in the early 1980s KILLER ELITE’s opening is in Mexico where we see what should have been a standard covert contract operation go arwy. The unfolding events prompt Jason Statham’s Danny to tell his best friend and mentor Hunter (Robert DeNiro) to follow him and finally get out of the dangerous business once and for all. A year later, when Hunter accepts a job he is not willing to carry out, Danny is dragged back into the seedy world to complete the mission in order to free his friend.

Credit must go to first time director Garry McKendry who has managed to assemble an impressive cast. The film does at times get itself bogged down to become overly complicated and hard to follow. With too many characters globe-hopping around the world to keep track of, whether you’re in Mexico, Australia, United Kingdom or the Middle East, the plot never stays in one place for long. I still had to double check where we were even with the location of the city scrolled along the bottom of the screen. I doubt even Jason Bourne clocked up this many airmiles through the course of his three movies.  Also there are so many crosses and double crosses its hard to even know who you should be rooting for – but this also becomes part of the fun.

Jason Statham does what he does best by cracking heads and looking gruff in these type of movie’s. This role is closer to his work in THE BANK JOB (still his best lead performance to date) than that of a TRANSPORTER or CRANK movie. Having finally gotten out of the mercenary business you can see he longs to be back with the woman (Yvonne Strahovski) he loves. Robert DeNiro coasts along with his extended bit-part as Statham’s mentor, but its Clive Owen who steals the show as Spike, the ex-SAS man unable to get past his discharge from service. Now making ends meet working for and trying to impress the secretive Feather Men as the go-to-guy if you want a dirty job done right. The hulking Dominic Purcell pops up in a bizarre-looking appearance that had me unintentionally giggling, but given the period setting of 1981, I may have been too harsh. It was also great to see someone take a chance on Aussie actor Ben Medelsohn in a bigger production after his disturbing role in the excellent ANIMAL KINGDOM, although he does not appear on screen enough.

The movie is an enjoyable ride with some great set pieces, car chases and fist fights but there is nothing to set it apart from wanting to be a Jason Bourne clone. Gary McKendry may be a director to watch on this evidence, and has done a decent job in converting book (‘The Feather Men’ by Ranulph Fiennes) that inspired its events on to the big-screen.

KILLER ELITE is out now.