Okay so I recently went to watch this movie in theaters and since I'm a huge De Niro fan and will watch almost anything with him featured in it, this hit my radar pretty quick. I also like Jason a little just because he can deliver those raw, gritty action films that I'm so fond of although I wasn't a huge fan of his smut-filled Crank.
So here's the low-down. Killer Elite pits two of the world's most elite operatives - Danny (Jason), an ex-special ops agent and Hunter (De Niro), his longtime mentor - against the cunning leader of a secret military society (clive owen). covering the globe from Australia to Pairs, London and the Middle East, Danny and Hunter are plunged into a highly dangerous game of cat and mouse where the predators become the prey.
Seems a bit muddled huh? Well here's an easier version of the plot: contract killer Danny Bryce (Jason) attempts to get out of the “game” after a job in Mexico turns ugly. That is, until his closest friend and mentor, Hunter (Robert De Niro) is captured by a rich Dubai sheik. In order to free his friend, Bryce must succeed in completing Hunter’s assignment - to kill three British Special Air Service (SAS) agents responsible for murdering the sheik's three oldest sons in cold blood. Bryce quickly assembles a team and gets to work - subsequently drawing the attention of former SAS operative, Spike Logan (Clive Owen) who will stop at nothing to protect the soldiers.
So when I saw the trailers I was initially excited about this movie - more so because my De Niro was featured in it than anything else and he really played his part well. Being able to watch the well-known veteran kick some major ass was a huge plus in the movie but excluding him and the intense action and fighting scenes I was left a bit cold and unsatisfied. It seems they really tried to fit way too much into this movie and it came off almost clumsy and disjointed rather than smooth and thrilling. The romance part of it was unnecessary in my opinion and only made the plot all the more confusing but of course Jason just needs to get his piece on the side. I've never been the biggest fan of Clive Owen mainly because everything that comes out of his mouth almost sounds like a cliche and it seems he's just too 2 dimensional for me to really emotionally invest in during the movie. So his part was a let down for me as well.
Overall this is a nice movie to watch if you have some time to kill and are in the mood for some hard-hitting and wild action and special effect scenes but I'm sad to say that it didn't live up to all my expectations. *sighs*
What was Robert De Niro's first film? Although not listed in IMDB, Dyanne Thorne claims that he played her son-in-law in the 1964 film "Encounter". I've never seen any verification of this apart from her interviews. If it really is true I'd like to get my hands on a copy of the film.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't call myself a fan of his, but he's made a few films I like a lot. "Taxi Driver", "Frankenstein" and "Jackie Brown", to name just a few. But the film he really excels in, in my opinion, is "Cape Fear". It's a rare example of a great film's remake being even better than the original.