"Killer Elite" is said to be based on the true story of the British SAS special forces involvement in the Middle East in the 1980's. I did not read Ranulph Fiennes' book, so I don't know how he portrays the events. But I do know that much of what goes on in this movie requires a serious suspension of disbelief.
Jason Statham and Clive Owen start loudly pummeling each other in a hospital, Statham pulls the fire alarm and then is allowed to walk out of the hospital. No one called the cops and hospital security never even investigated the extremely loud noises coming from the room that was just feet from a doorway to a very busy hallway. I know it is details, but things like this ruin movies for me sometimes.
Robert De Niro is barely in this movie, but when he is on screen he makes it count. You never get the feeling that you should trust De Niro's character throughout the entire movie. It isn't until it is almost over that you realize who's side he is really on. If all of the characters were played that well, then this movie may have been easier to take. But they weren't.
Statham plays a world traveling hit man who falls for some of the easiest tricks in the books. For a guy that makes his living killing people, Statham's character is awful trusting.
Clive Owen's character has absolutely no depth at all. He is apparently the only strong-arm field member of some secret organization made up of old SAS guys. This table full of really old men decides what needs to be done about things that are really none of their business, and then Owen's character goes out and does them.
But what gets confusing is that Owen's character has an ever-growing network of hired killers that call him boss and carry out these extravagant mercenary missions. Why is Clive Owen's character called "boss"? Are these people working full time for Owen's character? When Owen's character decides to go rogue, where does he get the money to carry on this huge network of people who do around the clock surveillance and kidnapping?
The whole thing has no substance, it just exists and then grows for no apparent reason.
That brings up another problem I had with this movie. Everything is on the surface. No one is working both sides of the debate and there is no super-secret ulterior motive running through the movie. The plot is very shallow and starts to drag towards the end.
The scenes jump around too much for me. Jason Statham's character infiltrates an SAS training barracks by jumping over a fence and just blending in. Statham looked like he hadn't shaved in two weeks while all of the SAS guys around him were completely clean shaven. Statham stuck out like a sore thumb and his character would have certainly stuck out as well.
If this was based on a true story, then the true story was really fragmented. The chase scenes are extremely cool and some of the kills are impressive as well. But the movie does not hold together at all and it becomes confusing to watch after a while.
This is like many other Jason Statham movies. If you turn your brain off for two hours then this movie is fun to watch. But once you start thinking about it, it really does not feel like it is based on a true story at all.
RATING: 1.5 OUT OF 5
No comments:
Post a Comment