Movie Reviews

In an effort to post the reviews in a more timely manner, I've created a simple blog of just my movie reviews. Let's hope I can keep current. Make sure to check Robin's World (thebigfatcat.com) for the complete list.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

October Movie #3: Killer Elite

Starring: Jason Statham, Robert De Niro, Clive Owen, Dominic Purcell, Yvonne Strahovski
Directed By: Gary McKendry
Run Time: 1 hour 40 minutes

Killer Elite is about a team of professional killers who have to reassemble when one of their team (Robert De Niro) is kidnapped by a sheikh and won't be released until the job he had been hired to do is done. Even though Danny (played by Statham) has sworn off killing, he comes out of retirement to help his abducted friend. Spike (played by Owen), a British ex-SAS, seeks to stop Danny from killing former British agents who killed the sheikh's sons. 

Once you get a handle on the plot (and trust me, it takes awhile), the movie doesn't seem quite as interesting or action-packed. I don't think I ever would have imagined that Jason Statham would be in a movie with Robert De Niro. I'm sure neither actor thought the same thing. I was hoping that De Niro would up the ante. Any movie with Clive Owen and Robert De Niro can't be that bad... except for Clive Owen's hideous mustache. While the acting was respectable, the movie wasn't the gem I was hoping it would be. The action was befitting. The movie was just lacking the extra zip. Overall, it's a decent movie. Not great. Not terrible. Not painful, but not fully enjoyable. De Niro probably had the best lines and he handled the patriarch tone well. 

Two things I thought about a little too much after the movie (which means they didn't bother me during the movie but enough upon reflection... and technically after an action movie, my thoughts should be filled with some kick-ass take-down scenes, not plot points): How old were they suggesting Jason Statham is in this movie? Yvonne Strahovski, who plays Danny's (played by Statham) girlfriend Anne, is 15 years younger and yet somehow they were in the same grade school class... And I know Dominic Purcell (who plays Davies), who was in the TV series Prison Break, is really from the UK, however, his accent kept jumping from what my ears think is a Cockney accent to an Australian accent to just a soft British accent. But perhaps that truly is his accent and I'm just ignorant of all the different British accents.

So... not a hideous movie but not as wonderful as it should have been. It's based on a true story but since most of the events are in secret files, it's more likely a Hollywood telling (and therefore no real facts remain other than the overlying subject - a sheikh's sons were killed by the British.

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