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The Killer Elite | Year: 1975 Classification: Action/Adventure Directed: - Sam Peckinpah Actors/Actresses: - James Caan - Robert Duvall Not bad at all Sam Peckinpah's The Killer Elite may not be the director's best film (I'll save that for either Cross of Iron or The Wild Bunch) but it's much better than the overrated The Getaway, and is generally a well-made action film. The aspect that makes the film worthwhile is mostly hinged on Peckinpah's direction, with his usual death-in-slow motion and fast-paced shootouts. The first hour does plod a bit but the pace picks up considerably in the second half and culminates into an exciting shootout and martial arts battle on board a ship. The Killer Elite is far from perfect, though. The beginning feels awkward and it takes a while to get the situation and characters straightened out. The plot is also executed in a far more complex manner than it needs to be, resulting in quite a bit of confusion. Robert Duvall is also underused, and the conflict between he and James Caan isn't as compelling as it could or should have been. Performance-wise, The Killer Elite is well-acted. James Caan is solid as the betrayed CIA operative, though his character is a bit too nice for a guy who was shot in the kneecap and elbow by his best friend. Robert Duvall is decent with the limited screen time he has. Bo Hopkins is the real scene stealer as the psychotic agent, and he plays a good guy! The Killer Elite is decent entertainment, with some energetic action sequences. Just rent the film, it wouldn't hurt. THE KILLER ELITE A warped genius of a director sleepwalks this half decent action thriller. You can tell Peckinpah had no enthusiasm making this film, it still boasts some good cheographed action scenes.<BR>For example a great sequence of a botched assaination attempt, mixed with some slow motion martial arts. James Caan and Robert Duval are playing there roles purely for laughs. Watchable but no Straw Dogs. Easily one of the worst movies ever If you ever wonder why James Caan, despite being an amazing actor, hasn't had that great a career, this meltdown is a great place to start. Keeping with that theme, Robert Duvall's seems to have survived because he's only actually in about four scenes in the entire movie. I have to hand it to whoever wrote the great blurb on the back of the DVD, because the dubious title alone makes it easy to take a pass on it. Pass I should have done. Really, the whole idea of this was bad to begin with. The opening credits encompass the guys placing a bomb with children playing in the background, and yet when the thing goes off, the building is actually in a light industrial area with no children around to speak of. Very weird. The purpose of blowing the place seems to be to spirit away some defector with a bad accent, which doesn't make any sense either. The first ten minutes the sound was really badly mixed, so it was hard to tell what they were saying . . . and it got worse from there. Caan gets shot up, then obligatory "invalid recovery" sequence begins, through which I fast-forwarded zestfully. And then I gave up for a couple of days, never intending to finish it, but one gets bored. Protecting some generically Asian guy was the focus of the rest of the plot, which allowed for some generic ninjas to be introduced into the mix. The ludicrous scenes of ninjas stupidly charging into Uzi fire ensues after a lot of FAST-PACED, BREAK-NECK (yeah right) car chasing and lots of conversation. The heroes even start laughing at the stupidity it at one part, along with the audience. Bad editing, direction, script, acting, concept, music, etc. Many reasons why nobody's ever hear of it. I wish my local video store would be more discriminating in their selection. This is easily one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Avoid. Buy The Killer Elite at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on The Killer Elite Search with the Priority Search Engine on The Killer Elite This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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