The legend is that "Elite Killers" was created on the actual events described in "The Feather Men" by Ranulf Fiennes regarding SAS's participation in Oman during the British Secret Secret War and the organization of their former agents called "Feather Men "Which operates on the territory of Britain and protects the interests of people from their regiment.The specific story is that tribal sheik Amr forces a former Special Services agent to search and liquidate the people responsible for the deaths of three of his four sons and the catch is that these people are agents of SAS. To protect the lives of their people, Feather Men turn to their hired dog, an agent in the art of spying and murder, to take care of the situation. Now, even if there is no droplet of truth in this story (the probability of which is huge), it is immediately apparent that this would have produced a wonderful genre. And, in truth, it has almost happened. I say almost because the filmmakers decided to assign the leading role of Jason Statham, who goes with a bunch of clichés without which he clearly does not agree to participate in any movie. So much of the freshness of the story is lost, its sharpness blunted, and instead of a quality spy story with action elements, we get a typical and completely predictable Jason Statham action-drama with a mild breeze of spy thriller.
You know what I'm talking about, there's hardly anyone left out who does not know what to expect from a movie with Jason Statham. Usually he is the best in what he does (something bad, but he's terribly guilty and otherwise not a bad guy) but he's retired because he wants to lead a normal life with a nice woman next to him in a house in the field he builds in person. Against his will, however, he is involved in one last task. There is a kick of ass and a mandatory hit. The good thing is, even though one knows, one is baum, at least Statham has charm and whatever he does, he does well in style. And here it is better than anything that has shown us lately. In fact, the entire cast is made up of people who have been doing the same thing lately, regardless of their roles, but here they seem not to be so irritating. Clive Owen earns a lot of the image of Spike, the mercenary of "Feather Men," who is on the heels of Statham's character and who personally is the most interesting for me throughout the movie. I'm not saying that he is not like a textbook, but he has experience of at least a little, purely psychological diversity. Besides, it looks super-cretan with its unpopular eye and its absurd mustache.
The image of De Niro is the worst and he has nothing to play, but again, against the backdrop of what he has been offering us lately, he here at least kicks a couple of people in a nice way. However, the biggest surprise - and I can not believe I will say anything like that - is Dominique Purcell, who in principle can only go unleashed and nothing more (we still can not wipe the nightmare of his participation in Blade: Troy "), But here is the biggest freshman - he plays balls and his relationship with Aiden Young, who is also on the high, is quite fun. Before finishing, I would like to say a few words about the action in the movie and about the overall visual style, which, alas, are not the most brilliant. The action is on a good technical level and is well executed, but it also falls victim to dozens of modern action movies that shoot in Bourn's style - understand a frenetic fit and a shattering camera - because of worn "realism." Visually, the film wins from several good locations - the action takes place in Australia, Paris, London and the Middle East - but they are ruined by elementary color schemes that have been worn before being used for the first time in cinema. For the final, I want to say that, despite the scenario problems and despite the lack of identity (the film reminds of anything from Munich to Born), "Elite Killers" is still not boring, there are enough interesting elements to take it one step higher than the usual Statham movies, and I even think it has a chance to appeal at least a little even to those who are not one of his fans, but have a certain affinity for unloading action.
