Via FSR:
Killer Elite begins by stressing that what on the surface appeared to be little more than a run-of-the-mill Jason Statham-Clive Owen action flick is in fact a serious evocation of the chaotic geopolitical scene circa 1980, and based on a true story. Naively, I felt a twinge of eager anticipation. Could this actually be a serious globe-trotting thriller, a chance for Statham to showcase some dramatic range?
Not so much.
Gary McKendry’s movie, based on the novel The Feather Men by Sir Ranulph Fiennes, is in fact only dubiously based on fact at all (there’s been an ongoing controversy over its claim to be a “true adventure” since its publication in 1991).
Beyond that, the flick is basically the full-throttle machismo fest that’s the natural outcome when Statham and Owen get top billing on the same film, with Robert De Niro checking in for good measure. There’s butt-kicking in Oman, France and England, with hilariously idyllic Australian fantasies interspersed throughout. The picture entertains, at times legitimately and at others in a cheesy, ’80s action sort of way. The tough-as-nails stars, however, imbue the narrative with more credibility than would have Schwarzenegger or Stallone.
Statham plays arguably the most elite of all elite killers, the mysterious Danny. He’s sick of murder, however, and wants nothing more than to build his rural Australian home while romancing the beautiful, horse-riding Anne (Yvonne Strahovski). Naturally, just when he thought he was out he’s thrust back in by an Omani sheik (Rodney Afif), who has kidnapped Danny’s mentor (De Niro) and won’t release him until Danny kills the highly-trained British soldiers that killed the sheik’s sons during the Dhofar Rebellion.
Full review here.