Killer Elite DVD Review
Posted by Tony Farinella on 01.11.2012
De Niro, Statham, and Clive Owen star in Killer Elite! How does the DVD hold up? Check out our full review!
Killer Elite is a film that fooled me. When I first heard about it, I will admit that I thought it would be a pretty good movie. You have Robert De Niro and Clive Owen in an action flick together that isn’t direct to DVD. Yes, it had Jason Statham, who I’m not the biggest fan of because all of his films and characters seem to be the same, but I had high hopes. I should have known better, however, because De Niro has made some highly questionable decisions lately in terms of the quality of the projects that he’s choosing. I’m sure he’s making top dollar, but I can’t help but shake my head and his recent roles. Clive Owen, on the other hand, is reduced to a dreadful porn mustache. Statham, of course, is Statham in this movie. He’s quiet, menacing, predictable, and quite dull.
Killer Elite is based on a true story, but it doesn’t really add much to the storytelling that takes place on screen. It still looks and feels like a Hollywood action flick. The film stars Robert De Niro and Jason Statham as two professional assassins who are the best at what they do. Danny (Statham) decides it’s time to put it all behind him when he points a gun at a child during one of his recent jobs. He ends up getting shot and reconsiders everything about what he does for a living. Now, Danny is living comfortably with Anne (Yvonne Strahovski) in Australia. Of course, this doesn’t last very long, as he gets called back into the game when he finds out that his mentor Hunter (De Niro) is kidnapped by an oil sheik. If he wants his friend back, he has to kill the men who killed the sheik’s sons.
Danny has to kill all four of the men, but it can’t look obvious or like it was intentional. They all have to look accidental. Clive Owen plays Spike, the leader of a group called the Feather Men. His job is to protect his men from the attacks of Danny and company, including Davies (Dominic Purcell), again, with a porn mustache. The plot seems rather straight forward when I describe it here, but viewing it in its narrative format, with occasional flashbacks, can be a little disjointed and confusing. At times, I wasn’t really sure who was who and who is on the same team. Character development and rhyme and reason are often forgotten about with this movie. It’s hard to really differentiate the characters from each other. The pacing is also dreadfully dull and long-winded. The action is solid, when it’s used, but too much time is spent trying to figure out just what is going on in this movie.
At the end of the day, Killer Elite is Jason Statham’s film. He’s on screen for most of the duration of the film. Because it’s yet another Statham vehicle, it’s hard to recommend it. He’s not a bad actor, but you can’t help but feel like you have seen this character and this movie from him before. Everything about him is the same in this movie and every other movie he’s made. He’s a cold-blooded, silent, and troubled killer. To me, he’s this decade’s Steven Seagal. There is just no desire to reach out and do anything even remotely different or out of the norm. De Niro has good moments on screen, but he’s more of a supporting character in this movie. He disappears for a good portion of the movie. Owen is wasted behind his ridiculous mustache.
Furthermore, Killer Elite commits the biggest crime when it comes to the cinema: it’s boring. It doesn’t have a satisfying conclusion or even a satisfying middle act. There’s nothing to really engage in or care about from the viewer's perspective. The bad guys are not that interesting or maniacal. The good guys are very vanilla and straight out of the action good guy handbook. This is a movie that is misleading because it looks like a smart, well-acted action picture with two great actors in Owen and De Niro. In the end, it’s strictly a brainless, long, loud, and forgettable Statham project. Nothing more, nothing less.
DVD Info:Killer Elite is released on Blu-ray Combo Pack with Ultraviolet and on DVD. The film is presented in widescreen 2.40:1 aspect ratio. It also features subtitles in English and Spanish and has Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. Universal has released a ton of action movies in the past, and this one looks just as good as any of their other action movies. The action pops out of the screen and the picture is sharp and vibrant.
Special Features -- Deleted Scenes: Only ten minutes of deleted scenes to report here. There’s no making-of documentary or commentary in the special features. Considering the movie is almost two hours, the deleted scenes are not really needed because the pacing is terrible in this movie.
The 411: This movie is for Statham fans only. If you enjoy his movies and are a hardcore fan of his work, you will enjoy this one. For everyone else, it’s better to watch it on cable, but only if you are really bored. Don’t be fooled by the great cast. They don’t appear nearly enough on screen to make this one worth watching. This movie is a giant misfire.
