Hi, folks! I just wanted to swing by and let you know that Jason Statham has another remake of the only movie he has ever made coming out sometime in the next year. This time it is called Killer Elite and it co-stars Clive Owen and Robert De Niro, which is a heck of a lot of star power for this kind of movie. It’s also based on a true story this time or something. He also jumps out of a window while tied to a chair. I dunno.
Enjoy the silliness tucked under the seat!
In all fairness, Statham has made two types of movies. This kind and Snatch/LockStockAndTwoSmokingBarrels. Maybe a third if you count either The Bank Job or Ghosts of Mars.
Yes Kurt, but in all 3 types of movies, Statham maintains one crucial rider in his employment contract. It’s a little paragraph I like to call “the headbutt clause”. We’ll see if this one continues the trend, because when your bald pate is as shiny and manicured as that it seems a waste not to bash someone in the chin with it.
And I love both Snatch and Lock, Stock, but both of those were over ten years ago now. I won’t even argue that there isn’t a place for these types of movies. Hell, the first time he did it, with The Transporter, who didn’t have a mindlessly enjoyable time? I mean, that fight scene in the oil. Come on! Sweet! He’s well aware of what he is and what he’s doing and so are others – inferring to his inclusion in The Expendables, of course.
I kinda like that Statham himself is kinda a subgenre (and Price, there may be a hint of a headbutt in the above trailer) – thus making him the 21st century heir to Segal and JCVD.
Plus, somewhere I read that the Transporter franchise is merely an excuse to get Statham to kill people with his clothing, and it gets more clothing oriented as the franchise goes by.
He can be as self-aware as he wants, Statham is still dull as shit. On the Cinecast you guys were talking about Rubber critiquing those genre films that keep repeating over and over the same formula… voila! He is a genre unto himself because they all blur together, so rigidly conforming to the same dull drill.
Yeah it’s kind of like Ronin.
Point taken Rot, and that is why I stopped watching JCVD and Segal films (for the most part) at the tail end of the 1980s….
I was initially excited for this because of Owen but after seeing the trailer, not so much. It’s like Heat + Transporter + Shoot ‘em Up. Come to think of it, I only like Statham as Frank Martin.
Believe it or not but this one is actually based on a book – The Feather Men by Sir Ranulph Fiennes (and not a remake of the 70′s film). I looked into it a while back and considered it for the Book to Film club but the book wasn’t easy to find and release date for the film was unconfirmed for a while. Looks like a fun action flick, and I like Statham most of the time so I’ll likely check it out.
I like Kurt’s notation of Statham as his own subgenre… that made me giggle.
Funny that Statham kind of took over the role of “DRIVER” after Owen did the BMW shorts (I don’t believe there is an ownership connection between the two properties, but boy are they similar), so it is kind of like making Sean Connery a villian in the Bond franchise (which was a huge missed opportunity there, now that Connery is retired). Either way, this looks totally trashy, but also fun in a kind of way. I’ll probably go see it.
Is this a remake of the James Caan/Robert Duvall Killer Elite from the 70s? I barely remember that film. It was average at best. But Caan and Duvall had awesome chemistry in the beginning of the film.