Killer Elite wants to be a tense, globe-trotting thriller about two of the world’s most elite operatives. It is, instead, a mess of a movie that spends more time explaining its own rules than following them. The 2011 film, directed by Gary McKendry and starring Jason Statham, Clive Owen and Robert De Niro, is based on the 1991 novel The Feather Men by Ranulph Fiennes, who also wrote the screenplay with McKendry. It runs 116 minutes and covers the globe from Australia to Paris, London and the Middle East. The tagline is a simple one: “May the best man live.”
The central issue with the film is that it never settles on whether it should play as a thriller or a drama about redemption. That indecision results in a story that is half-complex and half-tedious. The plot opens in 1980, when Danny Bryce (Statham), Hunter (De Niro), Davies and Meier land in Mexico to carry out a hit. Danny is struck down when he is distracted by the realization that he has killed the man standing before the target’s young child. Shaken by this, Danny leaves the group and goes back to Australia.
The following year, Danny is ordered to Oman for a meeting with a handler known as “the Agent.”. He is told that Hunter was unable to complete a job, and that Danny must now finish Hunter’s mission in order to save his mentor. Amr, a Sheikh and former ruler of a small region of Oman, wants Danny to kill three former SAS soldiers—Steven Harris, Warwick Cregg and Simon McCann—who killed his three eldest sons during the Dhofar Rebellion. Danny must videotape their confessions and arrange for their deaths to appear accidental before Amr dies from his illness. This will permit Amr to ’s fourth son Bakhait to regain control of his father’ his desert kingdom.
Davies and Meier are approached by Danny, who wants their assistance in exchange for a payment of $3 million each. Danny himself receives nothing, since his only purpose is freeing Hunter. This arrangement ought to be the driving force of the entire film. It is not.
Trailer, via Lionsgate Canada.
Danny and Meier’s First Kill
Danny and Meier tracked Harris down in Oman and entered his house under the pretense of documentary researchers. Once inside, Harris confessed on videotape. The pair then led him into the bathroom, where they planned to make it seem as though he had fallen and struck his head. Before they could complete the ruse, Harris’s girlfriend knocked on the door. As Danny and Meier turned to answer, Harris tried to escape. Meier shot him fatally in the attempt.
That one sequence stands as the film’s clearest moment of tension, and it remains the last such moment. The rest of the movie dedicates its runtime to explaining the rules surrounding the Feather Men, a shadowy society of former operatives who now protect their own. Spike (Owen), the head enforcer, serves as the cunning leader of the group. The film’s structure is oddly inverted: it explains the rules of the game before it actually plays the game.
Davies’ English Pub
Davies visits a pub in England that is popular with British military personnel and asks bar patrons about former SAS members who served in Oman. The Feather Men are informed of this. The purpose of the scene is to demonstrate the extent and influence of the group. Yet it only makes the plot seem thin.
The movie features a cast that is far too large for its own good. Clive Owen plays the cunning leader of the secret military society, Spike, and his scenes are the sharpest in the film. Dominic Purcell plays Davies. Aden Young plays Meier. Yvonne Strahovski plays Anne. Ben Mendelsohn plays Martin. Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje plays Agent. David Whiteley plays M16 Man. Matt Nable plays Pennock. Lachy Hulme plays Harris. Firass Dirani plays Bakhait.
Danny agrees to take the job because Robert De Niro’s Hunter serves as his longtime mentor. The trouble is that De Niro is given very little to do. His part is cut down to a moral anchor, which is a waste of one of the great actors of his generation.
Jason Statham’s Danny Bryce
Danny is a man who has seen too much and wants nothing more than to leave it behind, played by Jason Statham. The trouble is that Statham is not a character actor. He is a physical presence, and the film leans on that presence heavily. This leads to a lead performance that feels distant from the material, as if Statham were reading lines for a role he did not fully believe in.
The production hops from Australia to Mexico to Oman to England to Paris to the Middle East, and no single place ever feels fully realised. The design work is competent, but the locations are treated as backdrops rather than settings. The film never lets the audience settle into a place long enough to grasp the stakes of what is happening there.
The Feather Men’s Rules
The Feather Men stand at the center of both the film’s danger and its mystery. Spike serves as their enforcer, the one charged with keeping their members safe and protected. The movie dedicates much of its runtime to explaining how the group operates, yet it never fully commits to the rules it sets out. The audience is given information about the Feather Men, but the film never allows them to truly take hold on the screen as a genuine force.
The movie’s closing portion is a succession of set pieces intended to be tense. Danny and Meier get chased through the desert, cornered in a hotel room, and pursued across the streets of London. None of it works because the film has spent so long explaining the rules of the game that the audience is no longer paying attention to them. The outcome is a finale that is exhausting rather than exciting.
Open Road Films
Open Road Films launched with Killer Elite, which reached U.S. audiences on 2011 September 23. The film drew mixed reviews from critics, and its own mixed identity shows that confusion. It wants to be a thriller, but keeps drifting into drama territory instead, resulting in a movie that never quite settles into either mode.
The constant need to explain itself is a trait of the film’s score reflects this confusion. It is a competent, if unremarkable, thriller score. It tries to build tension, but it is undercut by the film’, and it is just one sign of a larger issue. The score exists because the film is attempting to pack in too much content across too short a period.
What Works
Several action sequences are well-choreographed, even though they don’t leave much of an impression. The film has a few moments worth noting, but they are few and far between. Clive Owen’s Spike is the one bright spot. His scenes are the most focused in the film, and he brings a sharp intelligence to the role. The film’ is a part of those sequences.
The film’s greatest weakness is its reluctance to fully commit to any of its own ideas. It centers on a secret society of operatives, yet never quite makes that organization feel genuine or grounded in reality. It follows a man compelled to take up a dangerous job in order to save his mentor, but the stakes around that job never truly feel urgent or immediate. It is also a story about a man who has seen too much, but the emotional weight of that trauma is never truly made to feel personal or fully realized.
| Character | Actor | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Danny Bryce | Jason Statham | The lead operative |
| Spike | Clive Owen | The cunning leader of the Feather Men |
| Hunter | Robert De Niro | Danny’s longtime mentor |
| Davies | Dominic Purcell | Danny’s former partner |
| Meier | Aden Young | Danny’s former partner |
| Anne | Yvonne Strahovski | — |
| Martin | Ben Mendelsohn | — |
| Agent | Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje | A handler |
| M16 Man | David Whiteley | — |
| Pennock | Matt Nable | — |
| Harris | Lachy Hulme | — |
| Bakhait | Firass Dirani | Amr’s son |
| Film | Director | Running Time | Genre |
|---|---|---|---|
| Killer Elite | Gary McKendry | 116 minutes | Action, Adventure, Thriller |
Final Word
Killer Elite attempts to do too much at once. It aims to serve as a tense thriller, a drama about redemption, and a commentary on the morality of assassination. None of these ideas can coexist within the same film, and the result is a frustrating, competent movie that ultimately feels forgettable.
The film’s best moments are its clearest ones. The scene where Harris is shot is sharp. Clive Owen’s Spike is a compelling villain. The action is well-choreographed. None of it is enough to save the film.
The film’s major weakness is its structure. It explains the rules of the game before it plays the game. The audience is told about the Feather Men, but they are never given a chance to sense their power. The audience is told about the stakes, but they are never given a chance to sense them.
The movie’s only real strengths are Clive Owen’s acting and a few scattered stretches of genuine suspense. It is not a film that rewards close inspection. Killer Elite is one that is best left behind.
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