Skip Killer Elite. It may look enticing, but it’s not. It’s one of the worse movies I’ve seen this year and it nearly put me to sleep. I’m a huge Clive Owen fan and enjoy watching Jason Statham action flicks but this one was just another formulaic waste of time that left most audience members saying, “meh.” It’s painful to watch Robert De Niro throw away his stellar career with recent roles and Killer Elite is just another nail in the coffin. The concept sounds cool but the script and execution are sub par…I would definitely suggest waiting for this one to come to DVD or TV and then when it does, watch something else.
The movie begins with the text: “Based on a true story.” The idea comes from the “non-fiction” novel called The Feature Men by Sir Ranulph Fiennes where he claimed that there were a series of assassinations against former British SAS (Special Air Services) members. He said there was a group called the Feather Men who consisted of ex-SAS vigilantes who took it upon themselves to go against the people assassinating their own. Highly trained assassins versus highly trained special forces…bad ass right? Not so much. Everyone seemed old and out of place. I think one of the requirements to be cast for this film was to have a bad porno stache. Ladies, if you’re looking for any of these gents to take off their shirt and show the goods…keep looking because the only guy who shows some skin is the guy you don’t want to see. I think this movie was shot when everybody was between films which they needed to train and buff up for.
Jason Statham and Robert De Niro in the middle east
Here’s the movie premise as based from the novel: Jason Statham is Danny Bryce…an assassin trying to quit the murdering business. His old time friend and co-assassin is Robert De Niro as Hunter. After retreating to Australia, Danny finds out Hunter has been kidnapped in Oman. Two days later, he’s in the middle east discussing a job with a wealthy sheik. Three of the sheik’s sons were killed by SAS agents and to return his last son to his desert home, he must have revenge on the murderers. So, he wants Danny to do it or he’ll kill Hunter. Retirement over. Danny picks up a team in Paris consisting of Davies (Dominic Purcell) and Meier (Aden Young) and they start knocking off some Brits.
Can you do that in a chair?
The scenario is simple enough – kill or be killed. But then you discover Clive Owen (Spike) and the Feather Men. Cool secret underground meetings to ensure the safety of their own. They’re no longer enlisted in the service, they’re bankers and businessmen now but they still know how to kill. “I have no problem with blood, what worries me is ink.” They call themselves the Feather Men because their touch is light and they leave no trace. However, their henchmen seem more like goons or soccer hooligans than trained SAS agents. The accents are fun to listen too and this is a time piece so all the clothes and cars are a throwback.
Jason Statham and Robert De Niro in Killer Elite
There is plenty of action for you to goggle at (hand to hand fighting, explosions, car chases, etc) but none are really better than any other action film you’ve seen. It’s just more of the same. De Niro has one great scene and so does Statham with the chair above but it takes way too long to get there. There are plenty of stupid cuts and flashback scenes that make you roll your eyes. The whole movie is pretty predictable so you just have to sit there and wait for everything to unfold over this 2-hour movie. Again, at most, it’s “eh.” For being inspired from a book, the script and dialogue were incredibly awful and without that combined with a compelling story, you’re already fighting a loosing battle. I expect more from the trio of Jason Statham, Clive Owen and Robert De Niro.
The movie begins with a “little” monologue letting you know that the story of Romeo and Juliet has been told before…a lot. And that they’re going to tell it again…but different. It’s a cute beginning that sets the tone for a cute movie letting you sit back and know you’re in for a good time. Gnomeo & Juliet is targeted towards the UK but has an international reach with common morals and easy to follow storytelling…I mean who hasn’t heard of the story of Romeo and Juliet!? It’s not a hit out the park but it’s just good enough for kids which the movie is made for.
Lionsgate presented their newest adaptation of a graphic novel called RED. RED stands for Retired Extremely Dangerous and it looks hilarious. It’s a group of great actors who look like they’re just having a fun time on camera. It stars Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Mary-Louise Parker, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Karl Urban, and Richard Dreyfuss. Isn’t that an amazing cast? Bruce Willis commented that, “I think 75 movie stars are in RED” so look out for a bunch of cameos. Warren Ellis, who wrote the original graphic novel story, said that the studio bought the rights to do an adaptation, not a translation so he told them to go have fun with it. His role was to stay out of the way and collect his check. Cully Hamner, who did the graphic novel’s illustrations, said that the movie was made broader for the audiences which makes sense for a movie. However, when he visited the set, he saw a bunch of the RED books laying around so for him that showed high respect.
The Expendables is Sylvester Stallone’s idea of going out with a bang. He admitted that he messed up with Rocky V so he made Rocky Balboa to end it right. That worked, so he thought he’d end off Rambo too…and that worked. So now he’s just greedy and going for the big finale with The Expendables…and when I say big, I mean big! This movie stars almost all of the top action heroes you can think of: Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, David Zayas, Terry Crews, Mikey Rourke, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, and Sylvester Stallone himself. As you can see, this is a man’s man movie full of manly men. Testosterone to the max…no estrogen allowed…at least for the panel at Comic-Con. Terry Crews said that it’s the “Manliest movie ever made.”
Comic-Con is the leading comic book convention in the world. Over the years, it has become a platform for movie studios to debut exclusive information and footage from their upcoming films.
