Réalisation:
Gary McKendryScénario:
Matt SherringPhotographie:
Simon DugganActeurs·trices:
Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Robert De Niro, Dominic Purcell, Aden Young, Yvonne Strahovski, Ben Mendelsohn, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Lachy Hulme (plus)Résumés(1)
Pour sauver Hunter, son ancien partenaire et mentor, Danny accepte de reprendre du service et de reformer son équipe. Mais celui qui était l’un des meilleurs agents des forces spéciales va cette fois affronter sa mission la plus périlleuse. Pour réussir, il va devoir percer les secrets d’une des unités militaires les plus redoutées qui soit, le SAS britannique. De doubles jeux en trahisons, il va découvrir un complot qui menace le monde et ce pour quoi il s’est toujours battu… (UGC Distribution)
(plus)Vidéo (16)
Critiques (7)
Le film semble plus long qu'il ne l'est en réalité en raison des développements narratifs dans la seconde moitié. Cependant, c'est justement grâce à l'engagement plus important du personnage d'Owen que cette deuxième moitié est meilleure que la première moitié, qui est ennuyeuse et sans intérêt. Sans Owen, qui est un adversaire digne de Statham, ça coince au début. La présence de De Niro est plutôt iconique. L'effort visant à humaniser le personnage de Statham avec une blonde portant d'étranges bottes en caoutchouc tarde inutilement. Les scènes d'action sont standards. L'atmosphère old-school est satisfaisante, McKendry est clairement un fan de Frankenheimer.
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When something looks and functions like a B-movie, then it is a B-movie. The concept could have been handled more seriously and could have resulted in a significant sociopolitical drama in the style of Paul Greengrass' works, but Gary McKendry chose the path of pure entertainment. Killer Elite is one of the few cases where I not only don't mind the genre definition of a B-action film, but I also actually quite enjoy it. The solid cast also plays a part in that, with Jason Statham capable of delivering a performance and Clive Owen being at the top of his game. The title represents essentially the same thing to me as, say, Commando does to someone else (which would be unbearably dull for me). I enjoyed the battle between mercenaries and members of the elite British SAS, and for that, I will reward it with a 75% overall impression.
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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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Appearances are deceitful, Killer Elite is indeed pleasantly old-school (raw image, 80s), but it is not nearly as dynamic as I would have expected from Statham, nor is it as kinetic in terms of action as I would have wished for (the main fight between Owen and Statham is boring, only the editing is good, it lacks physicality, the punches don't hurt), there is a lack of blood, a lack of toughness and naturalism. The polished image and filters are not enough. De Niro is okay, it's a shame he has little screen time. The lady with the horses is quite irritating, I don't understand how she was taken so seriously. Similarly, some of visual effects (bullet in the hair like in Drive, etc.), borrowed from elsewhere, are just unfortunate. Hardly average.
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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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Annonces