KILLER ELITE
Year: 2011
USA: Open Road Films
UK: Entertainment Film Distributors
Cast: Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Robert De Niro, Yvonne Strahovski, Dominic Purcell, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ben Mendelsohn, Grant Bowler, Michael Dorman, Daniel Messier, Firass Dirani, Kristy Barnes-Cullen, Lachy Hulme, Aden Young, Sandy Greenwood, Daniel Roberts, Birol Tarkan Yildiz, Matthew Nable, Michael Carman, Jamie McDowell, Mo Dirani, Boris Brkic, Brendan Charleson, Chris Anderson, Rodney Afif
Director: Gary McKendry
Countries: USA / Australia
USA: 100 mins
UK: mins
USA Rated: R for strong violence, language and some sexuality/nudity
UK Certificate: tbc
USA Release Date: 23 September 2011
UK Release Date: 23 September 2011
Synopsis
Inspired by true events, KILLER ELITE is an action-adventure spy film that follows Danny (Jason Statham), one of the world's most skilled special-ops agents. Lured out of self-imposed exile, Danny reassembles his crack team of operatives to execute a near-impossible mission of retribution- to rescue his former mentor and partner Hunter- (Robert De Niro). Together they must penetrate the highly feared and respected military unit, the British Special Air Service (SAS), to take down a rogue cell of soldier assassins and their leader Spike (Clive Owen) before their actions create a global crisis. KILLER ELITE’S whirlwind journey of action hurtles across the globe: from Mexico to Australia, from Paris and London to Oman and Wales. The film is based on Ranulph Fiennes’ controversial non-fiction bestseller “The Feather Men.”
Mexico, 1979. Danny (Jason Statham) and his mentor Hunter (Robert De Niro) are mercenaries lying in wait for their prey. A convoy of police escorts and limousines appear. With ruthless efficiency Danny assassinates his target. But in the same car is a ten-year-old boy. Danny cannot bring himself to kill the boy, and in his moment of hesitancy is himself shot. Hunter saves his life, but Danny realizes he can no longer live the life of an assassin for hire.
Meanwhile, a political situation which will have far-reaching consequences is brewing. British Intelligence has been drawn into a furtive and unholy alliance with Sheikh Amr bin Issa, a renegade Omani chieftain with six months to live. In exchange for oil rights, the Sheikh wants revenge on the men who killed three of his four sons"blood for blood. The twist? All three sons were killed by the SAS during the secret Oman War. The Sheikh wants a filmed confession from each SAS soldier before the execution. One final requirement: for the sake of secrecy, the deaths must appear accidental.
A Machiavellian puppet master known as the “Agent” contacts Hunter, who is now operating alone, and informs him that there is a $6 million dollar contract waiting for him in Oman if he wants the job. Once Hunter gets to Oman and realizes the SAS is the target of the hit, he tries to flee, but is caught and returned to the Sheikh’s palace where he is held captive.
In the year since the events in Mexico, Danny has been searching for peace and a new life away from the deep shadows of his past as a contract operative. This search has led him to the Australian bush where he meets Anne (Yvonne Strahovski), who owns the ranch next to his.
Danny’s new life abruptly changes when the Agent sends a photo of Hunter being held captive in the Sheikh’s palace. It is all part of the Agent’s plan: only by threatening Hunter can he lure Danny, the best operative in the world, back into the game. To save Hunter's life, Danny must take on Hunter’s contract to kill three of the best of the SAS.
Stepping reluctantly back into the game of death he now despises, Danny pulls together the rest of his old team: Davies (Dominic Purcell), a wisecracking ex-Paratrooper, and Meier (Aden Young), an American techno-geek.
But an already tough job has been made even more difficult, since the ex-SAS soldiers on Danny’s hit list are all protected by a shadowy group called The “Feather Men”. This committee of aging one-time SAS officers leads a secret society/vigilante force. Now powerful businessmen, politicians and lawyers, they operate outside the law to protect their former SAS colleagues; however, they prefer to let their loyal ex-SAS soldiers do all the bleeding.
The Feather Men’s chief attack dog is Spike, an ex-SAS soldier looking for a new war. Pensioned out of the SAS after being blinded in one eye by an IRA bomb, Spike has assembled his team of ex-SAS members"known as ”The Locals”" who will willingly follow his every command to protect the SAS and to execute the orders given by the Feather Men committee.
Now Danny and his team, and Spike and his locals, are missiles on a collision course each fighting on their own terms for what they believe is just. The Killer Elite becomes the story of their secret war, one which rages from the UK to Oman, and from Paris to Australia.