Directed by:
Gary McKendryScreenplay:
Matt SherringCinematography:
Simon DugganCast:
Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Robert De Niro, Dominic Purcell, Aden Young, Yvonne Strahovski, Ben Mendelsohn, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Lachy Hulme (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
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). (official distributor synopsis)
Videos (15)
Reviews (7)
You say there's no afterlife? John Frankenheimer may have died ten years ago, but in 2011 we got Killer Elite, a film that is Frankenheimerian in every way. I don't know if Gary McKendry summoned his ghost to help him, or if Frankenheimer reincarnated himself into him (only future films will tell), but it doesn't really matter. The main thing is that the action is there, and that it is realistic, gritty, non-digital, and non-slow-motion. For example, I haven't seen such a nice fight as Statham and Owen's hospital scene in a long time, and when I add to that the fact that it was preceded and followed by a number of other treats (the chase in Oman, the London car chase, all the scenes with the elimination of the SAS members, Statham chained to a chair, the perfect finale), the likes of which have not been seen here (except perhaps in Craig's Bond films) for a very long time. I can't be dissatisfied with this. The central acting trio was a delight and I was especially happy that Robert De Niro didn't just get some cheap shtick, but a pretty big role. The only shame was the script, which could have forgiven the storyline with Statham's girlfriend and not tried to be so serious and subtle
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When someone has such aces in their hands, like Jason Statham, Clive Owen, but primarily Robert De Niro, it must take talent to not make something worthwhile out of it. Gary McKendry showed that such potential can easily be killed, without even batting an eye. Well, he had a story in his hands that wants to present itself as a political thriller with lots of killers, but in reality, it's a shooter set in the 80s, which one can basically only tell by the fact that most guys have a mustache or heavily overgrown sideburns. However, I still think that the director should be there to give it some juice if he finds it boring. McKendry obviously refused to put more into the film than necessary. He chose great actors, made a few nice scenes, especially action scenes, but everything drowned in a single plotline that completely lacks twists. I basically saw the film as a flatline that appears on the monitor when a patient dies. At first, it may have seemed like defibrillation would work, but in the end, the doctors had to confirm that the patient was dead and nothing would help him. It only remained to cover him with a blanket and record the time of death. What a pity. Robert De Niro has several great scenes. More: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2012/07/runaways-rok-jedna-nedotknutelni-johnny.html
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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.
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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.
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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.
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