I'm not sure, but I believe the working title for this movie might have been "Super Killer Elite Squadron Delta Awesome". But like seasoned movie-makers they opted for a much more "mature" title: "Killer Elite". It sounds like an 8 year old boy had suggested the title, and as you watch the film, you begin to realize that perhaps an 8 year old boy may have written it as well.
First off, I'll give the film credit for making some interesting fight scenes. Good, now that we're done with the positive aspects of the film, let's dive into the bad.
The story seems to be disjointed; the plot is all over the place. We may wonder whether it was written by an 8 year-old because the story is told sort of like this: "Okay, so there's these guys okay, they have guns, then uh, they shoot the guy, but then there's a kid in the car, then he gets shot okay, and then, he quits, but he doesn't really quit, and then they take his friend, and then he has to come back, and then his kills everyone and then..." Excellent! Stop. Let's make that a movie!
But it's not only that, the motivation doesn't seem credible. I mean, he isn't killing half a dozen people for money, nope! He does it to release his old partner. That would be fine, if the film actually demonstrated that they worked together, that they have some sort of bond, any reason to be believe they are somehow fused together, blood- brothers of sorts. Well, that's not it at all. Instead the movie opens to them shooting people then ... We are supposed to fill in the blanks... a great load of blanks. It's a crossword without hints.
Then there are characters that just are. They are nothing more than pylons. For instance the client's son just has absolutely no point to the story. He doesn't motivate, he doesn't provide action or incentive, nor does he bring the story forward. Even when the story gave him a chance to act, he doesn't. If anything he is more like a pylon that the road crew forgot. He's just there, a figure someone forgot to take away.
And then there's Statham's character, who is just like every other character ever portrayed by Statham, the unemotional-cookie-cutter "action-hero". Don't get me wrong, it's awesome, but it doesn't go any further than that. His objective is to kill a series of men in the SAS to avenge the killing of the client's sons. So, they kill one, kill another, then a third, but suddenly he goes Batman on us, and for some reason doesn't want to harm anybody anymore. He changed his ways. But why? Answer: (info not available).
Something that was hilarious was that the story is based on a "true story". I'm going to put true story in quotations, because the plot is based on a tell-all novel some guy wrote. Although no one can either confirm nor deny any of the information. So the term "based on a true story" is used pretty openly. To be more specific the opening title could have opened with: "based on the ramblings of a man that claims that his story is true although nothing has yet been confirmed". If my neighbour tells me he was abducted by aliens, I don't take his story and make a film about it claiming it all to be true; no, instead I call the psychiatric hospital hot-line. But it's the age of conspiracies, big government, covert-ops and it's all so sexy.
Then, just when you think the film is over, Boom! A twist that no one would see coming, nor would they want to. Then the movie keeps going, for another 20 minutes more than necessary.
In all, everything is below par. For a film with such a spectacular and talented cast, "Killer Elite" shoots and misses.
First off, I'll give the film credit for making some interesting fight scenes. Good, now that we're done with the positive aspects of the film, let's dive into the bad.
The story seems to be disjointed; the plot is all over the place. We may wonder whether it was written by an 8 year-old because the story is told sort of like this: "Okay, so there's these guys okay, they have guns, then uh, they shoot the guy, but then there's a kid in the car, then he gets shot okay, and then, he quits, but he doesn't really quit, and then they take his friend, and then he has to come back, and then his kills everyone and then..." Excellent! Stop. Let's make that a movie!
But it's not only that, the motivation doesn't seem credible. I mean, he isn't killing half a dozen people for money, nope! He does it to release his old partner. That would be fine, if the film actually demonstrated that they worked together, that they have some sort of bond, any reason to be believe they are somehow fused together, blood- brothers of sorts. Well, that's not it at all. Instead the movie opens to them shooting people then ... We are supposed to fill in the blanks... a great load of blanks. It's a crossword without hints.
Then there are characters that just are. They are nothing more than pylons. For instance the client's son just has absolutely no point to the story. He doesn't motivate, he doesn't provide action or incentive, nor does he bring the story forward. Even when the story gave him a chance to act, he doesn't. If anything he is more like a pylon that the road crew forgot. He's just there, a figure someone forgot to take away.
And then there's Statham's character, who is just like every other character ever portrayed by Statham, the unemotional-cookie-cutter "action-hero". Don't get me wrong, it's awesome, but it doesn't go any further than that. His objective is to kill a series of men in the SAS to avenge the killing of the client's sons. So, they kill one, kill another, then a third, but suddenly he goes Batman on us, and for some reason doesn't want to harm anybody anymore. He changed his ways. But why? Answer: (info not available).
Something that was hilarious was that the story is based on a "true story". I'm going to put true story in quotations, because the plot is based on a tell-all novel some guy wrote. Although no one can either confirm nor deny any of the information. So the term "based on a true story" is used pretty openly. To be more specific the opening title could have opened with: "based on the ramblings of a man that claims that his story is true although nothing has yet been confirmed". If my neighbour tells me he was abducted by aliens, I don't take his story and make a film about it claiming it all to be true; no, instead I call the psychiatric hospital hot-line. But it's the age of conspiracies, big government, covert-ops and it's all so sexy.
Then, just when you think the film is over, Boom! A twist that no one would see coming, nor would they want to. Then the movie keeps going, for another 20 minutes more than necessary.
In all, everything is below par. For a film with such a spectacular and talented cast, "Killer Elite" shoots and misses.