Killer Elite

2011
R
1h 56m

IMDb RATING

6.4/10

137K

YOUR RATING

When his mentor (Robert De Niro) is taken captive, a retired member of Britain's Elite Special Air Service (Jason Statham) is forced into action. His mission: kill three assassins dispatched by their cunning leader (Clive Owen).

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Action Thriller

When his mentor is taken captive by a disgraced Arab sheik, a killer-for-hire is forced into action. His mission: kill three members of Britain's elite Special Air Service responsible for hi... Read allWhen his mentor is taken captive by a disgraced Arab sheik, a killer-for-hire is forced into action. His mission: kill three members of Britain's elite Special Air Service responsible for his son's deaths.When his mentor is taken captive by a disgraced Arab sheik, a killer-for-hire is forced into action. His mission: kill three members of Britain's elite Special Air Service responsible for his son's deaths.

Director
- Gary McKendry
Writers
- Matt Sherring
- Ranulph Fiennes
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.4/10

137K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Gary McKendry
Writers
- Matt Sherring
- Ranulph Fiennes
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 2 wins & 8 nominations

Trivia
Sir Ranulph Fiennes, an English adventurer, polar explorer and former S.A.S. man is the author of The Feather Men, the novel on which this film is adapted. Although he has often claimed the novel was a true story, the families of the real dead S.A.S. men named in the novel who died on S.A.S. exercises, and the S.A.S. themselves publicly attacked it as sick exploitation and complete fiction. The S.A.S. even went on the record to disown both Fiennes and the book, with Lieutenant Colonel Ian Smith telling the Daily Mail "It was utter bullshit", the figment of a fertile imagination. What was really upsetting, was that it was making a story out of a tragedy." Maggie Denaro, the widow of one of the dead S.A.S. men said of Fiennes, "It's time he grew up. He's made his money out of the book. He should come clean. When the book came out saying Mike had been murdered, we knew it wasn't true. But that didn't stop our children from being upset when other people believed it." Although Fiennes claims he sent a manuscript of the book to the S.A.S. and the families of the dead men, who gave their approval, they have all unequivocally denied his claim.

Goofs
When Hunter sits with Anne in the cafe in Paris the menu items written on the wall have prices in Euros, in 1980 it should have been Francs.

Quotes
Davies: You don't trust that snake, do you? He's lying.
Danny: Yeah? How do you know?
Davies: His lips were moving.

Connections
Featured in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #19.214 (2011)

Soundtracks
Delilah
Composed by Barry Mason (as B. Mason) / Les Reed (as L. Reed)
(c) 1968 Donna Music Limited
Administered by J. Albert & Son Pty Limited
Used with permission

User reviews220

Review

Featured review

6/10

Convoluted rambling thriller

Based on a true story?? It's 1980. Danny (Jason Statham) and his mentor Hunter (Robert De Niro) fail their latest scheme because Danny didn't want to take a little girl. Then one year later, Danny is living in self-imposed exile when he receives a photo of a captured Hunter. Hunter had a job from a Sheikh for $6 million to kill the three SAS special forces men that killed his sons. The Sheikh has 6 months to live and Danny has to get their confessions and their deaths have to look accidental while the Sheikh holds Hunter prisoner. Spike (Clive Owen) leads the rogue group of ex-SAS assassins.

It's a very convoluted story and it seems like a badly written Bond movie. It's better than most rambling thrillers. That's mostly due to the very effective Jason Statham. The big problem is that I don't find any rooting interest in anybody. Newby director Gary McKendry seems more interested in working out exciting action scenes. What's needed is a reason why I care if either side wins or dies. Part of me like Spike more than Hunter. The movie goes all over the world but this confuses the story more than any good that the exotic locations give. It's basically a mess.