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Spence Blazak


Inside Beat

Killer Elite | C-

A possible alternative title for the new espionage thriller Killer Elite might be Generic Fall 2011 Jason Statham Vehicle, because then the title would have had the same amount of effort put into it as the movie itself. Danny (Jason Statham, Death Race) is an ex-killer who is dragged out of retirement kicking and screaming when his old partner Hunter (Robert De Niro, The Deer Hunter) is kidnapped by a Middle Eastern sheik. The sheik says he will release Hunter if Danny can kill the three men who killed his three sons in exactly six months. Soon after, Special Air Services operative Spike (Clive Owen, Children of Men) is on Danny’s tail. It’s not a bad setup, but Killer Elite quickly finds a way to destroy any potential it has in its first twenty minutes. Saying it is clichéd is a drastic understatement; the characters are motivated by nothing more than money, power and relationships with significant others that are flatter than a flapjack. This leads to the audience being overwhelmed by a slew of characters that are nothing more than names. The fact that these people are the protagonists is the beginning of Killer Elite’s many problems. The actors do the best they can with such a limited script. Clive Owen pulls off the role of a generic villain well enough, as does Robert De Niro as a wisecracking killer, but Statham really struggles. Transporter 2, Crank and Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels showed that he could have been the 21st century’s answer to Arnold Schwarzenegger – Statham can be a great action star at times. In Killer Elite, he just looks like he doesn’t care. This completely sucks any energy from the film. As the movie progresses, it’s like it keeps trying to out-cliché each scene. The most hackneyed line of all is towards the end when one character shoots another, claiming, “It’s nothing personal, just business.”  Killer Elite has committed the unforgivable taboo of an action movie script: quoting The Godfather. Despite all of Killer Elite’s missteps, first-time director Gary McKendry shows a few moments of brilliance. While most of the fight/chase scenes are edited so closely together that it’s hard to tell what’s happening, McKendry shows potential in a minor fight that Danny witnesses from across a street. It’s only two or three shots and features a middle-aged Englishman beating up three skinheads who key his car. Too bad it only lasts for 50 seconds. All in all, Killer Elite is a massive dud. It will soon find its way to the bargain DVD bin at the checkout of K-Marts nationwide. Banality permeates the overbearing pores of Killer Elite through and through. Sep 28 2011