Killer Elite

Ihan mukavaa katsottavaa, josta ei tosin jää mitään mieleen ja toista kertaa ei tule katsottua. Syynä on osin käsikirjoitus, joka on paikoitellen tarpeettoman jaaritteleva, ja jonka ansiosta vaikkapa Dominic Purcellin hahmo ei häpeile lausua sataan kertaan kierrätettyjä hokemia. Musiikki on enimmäkseen huomaamatonta – mikä ei toimintaelokuvien kohdalla ole välttämättä huono asia. (24.01.2012)

When something looks and functions like a B-movie, then it is a B-movie. The concept could have been handled more seriously and could have resulted in a significant sociopolitical drama in the style of Paul Greengrass' works, but Gary McKendry chose the path of pure entertainment. Killer Elite is one of the few cases where I not only don't mind the genre definition of a B-action film, but I also actually quite enjoy it. The solid cast also plays a part in that, with Jason Statham capable of delivering a performance and Clive Owen being at the top of his game. The title represents essentially the same thing to me as, say, Commando does to someone else (which would be unbearably dull for me). I enjoyed the battle between mercenaries and members of the elite British SAS, and for that, I will reward it with a 75% overall impression. (07.10.2015)

Thanks to the storyline additions in the second half, this movie seems longer than it actually is. But thanks to the greater presence of Clive Owen’s character, the second half is better than the uninteresting and boring first half. Without Owen, who is a worthy adversary for Jason Statham, the movie stagnates at first. De Niro’s presence is just for show. Using a blonde in strange rubber boots in an attempt to humanize Statham’s character slows the movie down unnecessarily. The action scenes are nothing out of the ordinary. The old-school atmosphere is fine; Gary McKendry is clearly a fan of John Frankenheimer. (17.10.2011)

Compared to the trailers, it's quite a decent bit of entertainment, which is surprisingly brought down by not being as dumb as it originally looked. However, the grafting of a tangled plot, with political intrigue in the background, onto a through-and-through B-movie concept, brings down the impressions quite dramatically, although in each position separately the film is quite decent. Statham's physical abilities have once again found proper use for once, and De Niro is finally in a role that suits him after a hell of a long time. In the end, we are left with a decent silly film that doesn't completely offend but also leaves us with a slightly awkward impression from the two-hour runtime. (15.11.2011)

In the movie, there is quite a solid lineup of action actors, among whom Robert De Niro is the most prominent. Jason Statham is trying the same stunts again. In addition, the story is not one of those groundbreaking ones. On the other hand, action is not lacking and the three stars handle the film very easily. It was fine, but I would easily shorten it to about 80 minutes, which would be full of action and not 116 minutes, during which some boring stuff was also partly addressed. (20.08.2012)