Killer Elite

A professional assassin (Jason Statham) retires from his deadly game after nearly killing an innocent kid, but a year later he’s pulled back in when his mentor (Robert De Niro) is kidnapped. The “ransom”: three more killings, and they have to look like accidents. Written by Matt Sherring and directed at a full gallop by Gary McKendry, the movie is supposedly “inspired by true events,” but the events fit neatly into the formula of a standard far-fetched Jason Statham action movie. It’s not bad if you like this sort of thing (and Clive Owen adds heft as a hunter on Statham’s trail), but the fact that there even is a “standard Jason Statham movie” suggests that he may be going the way of Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Soon there’ll be nothing for Statham to do but run for governor of California.