Killer Elite (film)
Killer Elite | |
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Directed by | Gary McKendry |
Screenplay by | Matt Sherring |
Based on | The Feather Men by Sir Ranulph Fiennes |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Simon Duggan |
Edited by | John Gilbert |
Music by | |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Entertainment Film Distributors (United Kingdom)[2] Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (Australia)[2] Open Road Films (United States)[2] |
Release dates |
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Running time | 116 minutes[3] |
Countries |
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Language | English |
Budget | $70 million[2] |
Box office | $56.4 million[2] |
Killer Elite is a 2011
Plot
In 1980, mercenaries Danny Bryce, Hunter, Davies and Meier are in Mexico to assassinate a man. Danny is shot when he becomes distracted after realising he has killed the man in front of the target's young child. Affected by this, Danny retires and returns to his native Australia.
The following year, Danny is summoned to
Danny and Meier find Harris still living in Oman and gain access to his house pretending to be researchers making a documentary. After Harris confesses on videotape, they take him to the bathroom, intending to make it look like he slipped and hit his head. However, Harris's girlfriend knocks on the door. While Danny and Meier are distracted, Harris attempts to break free, causing Meier to shoot him.
In England, Davies travels to a pub known to be frequented by British military personnel and questions bar patrons about former SAS members in Oman. This is reported to the Feather Men, a secret society of former operatives protecting their own. Their head enforcer, Spike Logan, is sent to investigate.
Davies discovers Cregg preparing for a long nighttime march in wintry weather on the Brecon Beacons mountain range. Danny infiltrates the base, disguised in uniform, and drugs Cregg's coffee. Danny follows Cregg on the march and makes him confess before the drug sends him into shock to die of hypothermia.
Aware that the Feather Men are now following them, Danny decides to use a different tactic to kill their last target, Simon McCann, who is now working as a mercenary. Their plan is to set up a fake job interview to lure McCann out of his house and then to crash a remote-controlled truck into McCann's car. With the help of the inexperienced Jake, Meier kills McCann; however, Logan and his men were watching over McCann. A gunfight ensues, and Jake accidentally kills Meier. Danny and Davies part ways. Davies is tracked down by Logan's men, and is fatally hit by a truck while trying to escape.
Danny returns to Oman and gives the sheikh the last confession, which he has faked. Hunter is released, while Danny heads back to Australia and reunites with Anne, a childhood acquaintance. Soon, he is informed by the Agent that there is one last man who participated in the sheikh's sons' murders and that this man, Ranulph Fiennes, is about to release a book about his experiences in the SAS.
Danny sends Anne to France so Hunter can protect her. The sheikh's son confirms that Harris was innocent. Logan, meanwhile, traces Danny through the Agent and sends a team to protect the author, but Jake distracts them, allowing Danny to shoot Fiennes. He only wounds the man, however, taking pictures that appear to show him dead. Logan captures Danny, taking him to an abandoned warehouse, but then a government agent arrives and reveals that the British government is behind the death of the Sheikh's three son because of the sheikh's valuable oil reserves and Bakhait was in on it the whole time. A three-way battle ensues, with Danny escaping and Logan shooting the government agent.
Danny and Hunter head to Oman to give the sheikh the pictures. However, Logan arrives first, tells the sheikh the pictures are fake and then stabs him to death. The sheikh's son does not care since his father death benefits him much like how he sacrificed his own three brothers to the British in exchange for wealth; he gives Logan the 6 millions dollar that was meant for Danny and Hunter. Hunter spots Logan leaving, and they chase after him, along with the sheikh's men.
After stopping the sheikh's men, Danny and Hunter confront Logan on a desert road. Hunter takes some of the money for his expenses and his family. They leave the remaining money to Logan while telling him that he will need it to start a new life after killing the government agent and acting against the wishes of the Feather Men and the British government. Danny says that it is over for him and that Logan must make up his own mind what to do. Danny reunites with Anne.
Cast
- Jason Statham as Danny Bryce
- Clive Owen as Spike Logan
- Yvonne Strahovski as Anne Frazier
- Robert De Niro as Hunter
- Lachy Hulme as Steven Harris
- Dominic Purcell as Davies
- Aden Young as Meier
- Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as The Agent
- Ben Mendelsohn as Martin
- Grant Bowler as Warwick Cregg
- Matt Nable as Pennock
- Michael Dorman as Jake
- Daniel Roberts as Simon McCann
- Firass Dirani as Bakhait
- Nick Tate as Commander B
Production
The
Some London scenes were filmed in Cardiff—in July 2010, De Niro and Statham were seen filming outside The Promised Land Bar on Windsor Place. Other scenes shot in Cardiff were also on Windsor Place, showing the City United Reformed Church, Buffalo bar and various small business buildings. Agent's several meetings with other characters at a stone, columned monument were shot at the Welsh National War Memorial in Alexandra Gardens, Cardiff. A scene where The Welshman leaves a building was shot on Kings Road, Pontcanna, showing Kings Road Doctors' Surgery and residential buildings. Another scene was shot at The Blue Anchor Inn in East Aberthaw, Vale of Glamorgan.[6]
In July 2010, filming took place near the Storey Arms outdoor centre in the Brecon Beacons. A number of 1970s period cars were in evidence, particularly a bright orange Austin Maxi.
Reception
The film, which had a gala-premiere at the
Accolades
Despite the negative reviews, Killer Elite was nominated for
The Feather Men
The plot for the film is based on the novel The Feather Men by Ranulph Fiennes.[10] Several elements from the book were altered to make the film seem more believable to a cinema audience.
- Fiennes claims that a secret society called the "Feather Men", made up of retired and disabled SAS members, was operating in the shadows. They are called the "feather men" because their influence and intervention were subtle, like the touch of a feather. It is also an allusion to the three feathers of British Army regiments. Their job was to protect SAS personnel and their families and avenge wrongs or harm done to them.
- The mastermind behind the plot was changed from a Soviet-trained terrorist group called The Clinic to an Omani sheik who is inexplicably sent into exile after his three eldest sons die on jihad. The sheik hires a group of highly skilled Western mercenaries, gives them a limitless budget, and holds one of their friends as a hostage so that they will complete the task he sets for them.
- The targets are three SAS troopers, one of whom is still serving and is a decorated war hero, who served in Oman in the 1970s. Their deaths must appear accidental to avoid reprisals. In the film, an added complication is that they must confess to being murderers before they are killed.
- The Battle of Mirbat, a siege in which nine SAS troopers with 100 assorted Firqas under training and 30 paramilitary askars (armed police) held off a force of 250 insurgents, is mentioned in passing in the film but never explained. One of the sheik's three sons was supposed to have been killed in action there.
- In the film, the British Foreign Officeis supposed to be in collusion with the sheik in order to guarantee oil leases on the sheik's land. They even force the "feather men" to back off with threats of imprisonment. However, the wealthy sheik is in exile and his son, a westernised playboy, shows no interest in returning to his homeland to claim his title. Therefore, even if the sheik's plot is successful, the British government will not have gained any leverage with the original landholders (and probably have a current relationship with the usurper who replaced him). The book has no such subplot.
- Fiennes claims that the "feather men" saved his life from an assassination attempt by The Clinic. In the book, "The Clinic" tried to ambush him at his farmhouse in Exmoor, but the "feather men" chased them off. In the film, he is a minor character who survives because the assassin feels regret and only maims him.
The military adviser for the film was Iain Townsley, a former member of a Sabre Squadron of 22 SAS. Townsley had served 25 years in the British Army, 18 of those with 22 SAS. He was, at that time, living in Australia, and by chance was introduced to the director Gary McKendry who offered him the job. Townsley maintained that "it's a good story, but not a true story".
References
- ^ Swart, Sharon (14 May 2010). "Jason Statham embraces 'Killer Elite'". Variety. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
- ^ a b c d e "Killer Elite (2011)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
- ^ "KILLER ELITE". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
- ^ "Jason Statham returns home to Britain to film 'Killer Elite'". BBC News. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
- Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
- ^ "Our History". The Blue Anchor. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
- ^ Evans, Ian (2011). "Killer Elite premiere photos - 36th Toronto International Film Festival". DigitalHit.com. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
- ^ "Killer Elite (2011)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
- ^ "Killer Elite". Chicago Sun-Times.
- Daily Beast.
External links
- Killer Elite at IMDb
- Killer Elite at Rotten Tomatoes