The Killer Elite

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bob c Starts average and falls steadily into junk Rated 0.5/5 Stars •  Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 02/07/25 Full Review Will G Very unevenly paced action thriller, poor script, partly saved by burt young, a much undervalued actor in my opinion. Not one of peckinpahs best days. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/12/25 Full Review Jelisije J The movie starts off strong, but once Robert Duvall leaves the rest of the movie is just a drag. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 08/19/23 Full Review Red T I have no idea what I just watched or what the point of this was. The acting was just ok, Caan had some moments when it was focused on his recovery but than once it goes to the actual mystery everyone just disappears into the convoluted story that has subpar dialogue that's boring to listen too and honestly misleads more than anything. The music isn't that good because its either boring, barely used in the middle, and tries mixing in Japanese music that feels completely out of place and doesn't mix well with everything else. The pacing is the worst problem, it is horrifically bad. The longer this movie goes on for the slower it get, it's a thriller that never builds tension because it's not focused because of the bad editing, convoluted plot that never goes anywhere, has plenty of anticlimactic moments, and the stupid ninja fight at the end which is so out of place. You think this is going to be a revenge movie for Caan getting revenge on Duvall and the organization and uncovering what happened. What we get is his road to recovery which drags out, no background on his employer, barely any interaction between Duvall & Caan, some bizarre reason he goes back to work on a job for them, and some weird double cross with a sleeper cell in the organization for reasons never made clear and none of it ever flows. The closest we get is the rooftop shootout/chase which was decent but than ends with that stupid cop/car bomb joke. It feels like the first half is about his recovery and the second trying to explain a boring convoluted stupid plot. This is a terrible Thriller. No on should watch this. Easily Sam P.'s worst film just because its over 2 hours of nothing. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 05/10/23 Full Review Audience Member The poor reviews are bewildering. This is one of Peckinpah's best films and one of the best 'covert ops' films I've seen. His style is all over it, the flow is great... again, really don't understand the reviews on this one. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Audience Member Lesser Sam Peckinpah film is still solid entertainment, even if it's nowhere close to his artful masterpieces of "The Wild Bunch," "Straw Dogs," or "Ride the High Country." James Caan plays an off-the-books CIA/black ops type who's double crossed by his partner, Robert Duvall, and left crippled. Caan goes through arduous physical therapy and learns martial arts and how to fight with his new cane in order to enact his revenge on Duvall and the organization that's abandoned him. Although this film does have it's defenders, "The Killer Elite" is pure surface level entertainment. When Peckinpah was asked how he prepared for this film, he said he watched a bunch of Bruce Lee movies, which is a pretty good indication he wasn't focused on his usual themes of men-out-of-time, masculinity, and violence. However, Sam Peckinpah knows his way around an action sequence better than most and he delivers a number of exiting shootouts. The martial arts sequences are admittedly not as good as his shootouts, but Peckinpah's use of slow potion and montage during those scenes is interesting none-the-less. The shootouts though are, as you would expect, a knockout! Overall, this story isn't all that clever or interesting, but thanks to the talents of the director, the action here was more than enough to hold my interest. FUN FACT! Monte Hellman is credited as casting the film. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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