Jason Statham. At least you know where you stand these days. Time was he would play normal characters in films like Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. Now, he essentially plays different types of people who all professionally kick people for a living. Not that I am complaining. Although I really did not like Crank, I love the Transporter films and he was ace in Death Race and The Expendables too.
His latest? The Killer Elite, in which (care of the helpful synopsising Collider):-
Based on a true story, Killer Eliteraces across the globe from Australia to Paris, London and the Middle East in the action-packed account of an ex-special ops agent (Jason Statham) who is lured out of retirement to rescue his mentor (Robert De Niro). To make the rescue, he must complete a near-impossible mission of killing three tough-as-nails assassins with a cunning leader (Clive Owen).
Sounds absolutely ace and Statham says that this is the sort of film he has wanted to make for the past 10 years, more rooted in reality. Personally, I thought the scene where he blows up a wharf in The Expendables with a fuel dump and a flare gun had a quasi-documentary feel to it, but maybe I mis-judged it.
The Killer Elite (based on a novel “The Feather Men” by Ranulph Fiennes) is being directed by Gary McKendry (who has 2004 short film Everything in this Country Must as his only other credit) and also features Yvonne Strahovsky and Dominic Purcell (Prison Break, Blade: Trinity) and is due out in the US on 23rd September 2011. We’ve not heard much else about it, but expect the marketing material to continue to roll out over the coming weeks. For the time being, we have a couple of pictures showing Robert De Niro a little the worse for wear and Clive Owen about to become increasingly so.
Sources: FilmoFilia & Collider.
