Killer Elite

Thanks to the storyline additions in the second half, this movie seems longer than it actually is. But thanks to the greater presence of Clive Owen’s character, the second half is better than the uninteresting and boring first half. Without Owen, who is a worthy adversary for Jason Statham, the movie stagnates at first. De Niro’s presence is just for show. Using a blonde in strange rubber boots in an attempt to humanize Statham’s character slows the movie down unnecessarily. The action scenes are nothing out of the ordinary. The old-school atmosphere is fine; Gary McKendry is clearly a fan of John Frankenheimer. (17.10.2011)

Appearances are deceitful, Killer Elite is indeed pleasantly old-school (raw image, 80s), but it is not nearly as dynamic as I would have expected from Statham, nor is it as kinetic in terms of action as I would have wished for (the main fight between Owen and Statham is boring, only the editing is good, it lacks physicality, the punches don't hurt), there is a lack of blood, a lack of toughness and naturalism. The polished image and filters are not enough. De Niro is okay, it's a shame he has little screen time. The lady with the horses is quite irritating, I don't understand how she was taken so seriously. Similarly, some of visual effects (bullet in the hair like in Drive, etc.), borrowed from elsewhere, are just unfortunate. Hardly average. (23.12.2011)

Compared to the trailers, it's quite a decent bit of entertainment, which is surprisingly brought down by not being as dumb as it originally looked. However, the grafting of a tangled plot, with political intrigue in the background, onto a through-and-through B-movie concept, brings down the impressions quite dramatically, although in each position separately the film is quite decent. Statham's physical abilities have once again found proper use for once, and De Niro is finally in a role that suits him after a hell of a long time. In the end, we are left with a decent silly film that doesn't completely offend but also leaves us with a slightly awkward impression from the two-hour runtime. (15.11.2011)

In the movie, there is quite a solid lineup of action actors, among whom Robert De Niro is the most prominent. Jason Statham is trying the same stunts again. In addition, the story is not one of those groundbreaking ones. On the other hand, action is not lacking and the three stars handle the film very easily. It was fine, but I would easily shorten it to about 80 minutes, which would be full of action and not 116 minutes, during which some boring stuff was also partly addressed. (20.08.2012)

When something looks and functions like a B-movie, then it is a B-movie. The concept could have been handled more seriously and could have resulted in a significant sociopolitical drama in the style of Paul Greengrass' works, but Gary McKendry chose the path of pure entertainment. Killer Elite is one of the few cases where I not only don't mind the genre definition of a B-action film, but I also actually quite enjoy it. The solid cast also plays a part in that, with Jason Statham capable of delivering a performance and Clive Owen being at the top of his game. The title represents essentially the same thing to me as, say, Commando does to someone else (which would be unbearably dull for me). I enjoyed the battle between mercenaries and members of the elite British SAS, and for that, I will reward it with a 75% overall impression. (07.10.2015)