Killer Elite

Clandestine Cover-ups Captivate Concentration
Killer Elite, R, ***1/2, Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Robert DeNiro, Dominic Purcell, Aden Young, Yvonne Strahovsk. Open Road film. Director Gary McKendry. Length 105 minutes.

“Killer Elite” is based on the book The Feather Men by Ranulph Fiennes. The story begins in 1980. Danny (Jason Statham) and Hunter (Robert DeNiro) are in Mexico to perform some dirty work or maybe it should be called cleaning up some dishonest bad guys.
At any rate, these two guys are the best at what they do as the audience will learn when the story progresses. Because of an event that occurred while in Mexico, Danny decides to retire from his job of alleviating the bad guys in the world.
Danny goes back to Australia to live a quiet and peaceful life in the outback. Hunter stays on the job. Danny and Hunter are very close friends and colleagues. Danny gets a message that Hunter is being held hostage by a rich sheik in Oman.
Danny arrives in Oman to find out what is going on with the kidnapping of his friend. The audience soon learns that the sheik in Oman is angry, because of what some SAS officers did to his family and his reputation. He wants those responsible to pay for their transgressions.
Danny takes the job, because he wants to save his friend’s life. The action continues throughout the movie as pieces of the puzzle begin to fall in place. The plot is somewhat confusing at times, but the action and the desire to find out exactly what is happening keeps the audience hanging on every conversation and fight in the 105 minutes of run time. It has plenty of fights and action.
Those people involved with the incident will not admit the story is true. In fact they still do not admit it. The audience will have to make up their own mind. However, we all know governments all over the world cover up some activities and deny what is going on within their organization. After all we had a president say, “If the President does it, it is alright and not against the law.”
The viewers will have to make up their own minds about the truth and logic of this story. However, when oil, money, power, and greed become involved, the truth sometimes reeks of mendacity.
Spike (Clive Owen) has a pivotal part in this movie along with Davies (Dominic Purcell) and Meier (Aden Young). The audience will witness car chases, fist fights, running, jumping, and shoot’em ups. I have to admit that this is my first time to see somebody fight two people and win while tied to a chair.
It does have an interesting concept. Not sure whether it is factual or not, but it is a fun trip to take in the theater. Clandestine espionage brings a great deal of us to the theater. We all like to see how spies and espionage takes place in the world.
The audience will have to watch the entire movie to fill in all of the blanks, but basically it is worth the time. It has enough action to keep everyone interested. DeNiro is great with only a limited part in the real action. Statham’s part has plenty of action, and Owen does well with his tough guy persona.
“To see or not to see is the question?”