Robert DeNiro was the greatest actor of his generation. He brought a new intensity to method acting during the New Hollywood era of American film making . His star started fading in the early 1990s and by the turn of the century critics would be scratching their heads as DeNiro would appear in cameo roles in films that would surely have gone straight to video . Why he did this no one knew . It certainly couldn't have been to do with the simple reason of money but his prolific small appearances in sub standard movies has long ceased to be a joke and has affected his legacy . KILLER ELITE continues this career legacy suicide
There's something ridiculous watching a a 68 year old DeNiro getting in to a shoot out with bad guys but ridiculous doesn't even begin to describe KILLER ELITE a thriller based on a " true story" by former SAS soldier , explorer and adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes . Apparently in the early 1980s an Arab sheik upset that his son was killed by the SAS during the battle of Mirbat wants revenge .
The battle of Mirbat has passed in to British military folklore where a 9 man SAS team deserted by 40 Omani soldiers had to fight off 300 communist guerrillas in Oman circa 1972 . This battle is proved fact and Fiennes would have had more credibility if he'd presented his source novel The Feather Men as fiction . As it stands he was disowned by the regiment and journalists had a field day pointing out the unlikely occurrences in the novel . Of course many of the details can't be disproved but that's often the point of people publishing books that are fiction masquerading as fact. It should be remembered DeNiro also made a cameo in SLEEPERS another film based on a true life story that was quickly debunked
Watching a film based on a true story where you believe it to be fiction is a very irritating experience . Much of the selling point of this type of movie is that it happened in reality but you feel you're watching a cinematic adaptation of one of those books you buy at an airport while you have a very long plane journey in front of you . That's the impression I got while watching the film - a sort of pot boiler with guns , guys and car chases If the premise itself is irritatingly unconvincingso are the accents . This is a Hollywood /Australian co-production which means many of the actors are Aussies putting on English accents . Much of it is almost certainly filmed in Australia but I will restrain myself from using the word " obviously " because the director often uses establishing shots as a close up . Likewise action sequences are shot in close up too trying - and utterly failing - to convince the audience that the action is taking place in Britain . In fact when you do fleetingly see a sequence shot in Wales it jumps out at you because it's in long shot
This is a very disappointing thriller and much of this is down to the original source which exists more in the mind of the author rather than the real world . Even so if it had been promoted as a generic fictional revenge thriller it would have probably been criticised as being a rip off from Tom Clancey or the Bourne movies
There's something ridiculous watching a a 68 year old DeNiro getting in to a shoot out with bad guys but ridiculous doesn't even begin to describe KILLER ELITE a thriller based on a " true story" by former SAS soldier , explorer and adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes . Apparently in the early 1980s an Arab sheik upset that his son was killed by the SAS during the battle of Mirbat wants revenge .
The battle of Mirbat has passed in to British military folklore where a 9 man SAS team deserted by 40 Omani soldiers had to fight off 300 communist guerrillas in Oman circa 1972 . This battle is proved fact and Fiennes would have had more credibility if he'd presented his source novel The Feather Men as fiction . As it stands he was disowned by the regiment and journalists had a field day pointing out the unlikely occurrences in the novel . Of course many of the details can't be disproved but that's often the point of people publishing books that are fiction masquerading as fact. It should be remembered DeNiro also made a cameo in SLEEPERS another film based on a true life story that was quickly debunked
Watching a film based on a true story where you believe it to be fiction is a very irritating experience . Much of the selling point of this type of movie is that it happened in reality but you feel you're watching a cinematic adaptation of one of those books you buy at an airport while you have a very long plane journey in front of you . That's the impression I got while watching the film - a sort of pot boiler with guns , guys and car chases If the premise itself is irritatingly unconvincingso are the accents . This is a Hollywood /Australian co-production which means many of the actors are Aussies putting on English accents . Much of it is almost certainly filmed in Australia but I will restrain myself from using the word " obviously " because the director often uses establishing shots as a close up . Likewise action sequences are shot in close up too trying - and utterly failing - to convince the audience that the action is taking place in Britain . In fact when you do fleetingly see a sequence shot in Wales it jumps out at you because it's in long shot
This is a very disappointing thriller and much of this is down to the original source which exists more in the mind of the author rather than the real world . Even so if it had been promoted as a generic fictional revenge thriller it would have probably been criticised as being a rip off from Tom Clancey or the Bourne movies