The Killer Elite feels like a series of shots and scenes that wax and wane in connectedness to a plot that's also on shaky ground. It feels like it was directed and acted by a team that partied late every night, dragged itself out of bed at noon, and then had to get it together to make a movie before it got too dark. Oh, and no one is really sure how to end it.
It's reported that Sam Peckinpah was near his worst in terms of drugs and booze and you can see it. As one scene shambles and stumbles, the next feels like an honest attempt was made to "get it together". And yet in the following, we're back to trudging through mud.
The best is certainly in the first half where a betrayed and crippled James Caan has a slow road to recovery. Caan seems like he's actually putting in work, here, and his recovery, set against the backdrop of 1970s San Francisco is done well enough to keep our interest.
The second half of the film is a mess. Now mostly recovered, Caan gets back on the job when he finds out the partner who betrayed him is working for the other side. With revenge in mind, he's tasked with escorting some Chinese political dissidents out of the US. What follows is an hour of the most boring "protect the client" action and dialog put to film.
I could go into detail but I'll just say this: Burt Young, who played Paulie from the Rocky films (yes, fat, out of shape, badly balding Paulie) does hand-to-hand combat with hopelessly ineffectual ninjas. If that doesn't tell you how wildly off-track this goes, I don't know what will. There are themes of honor and living life for causes worth dying for, but it's all so poorly and murkily put to screen you're never sure what to latch onto. Everything devolves into a bad B movie with little resolved before the credits mercifully roll.
It's reported that Sam Peckinpah was near his worst in terms of drugs and booze and you can see it. As one scene shambles and stumbles, the next feels like an honest attempt was made to "get it together". And yet in the following, we're back to trudging through mud.
The best is certainly in the first half where a betrayed and crippled James Caan has a slow road to recovery. Caan seems like he's actually putting in work, here, and his recovery, set against the backdrop of 1970s San Francisco is done well enough to keep our interest.
The second half of the film is a mess. Now mostly recovered, Caan gets back on the job when he finds out the partner who betrayed him is working for the other side. With revenge in mind, he's tasked with escorting some Chinese political dissidents out of the US. What follows is an hour of the most boring "protect the client" action and dialog put to film.
I could go into detail but I'll just say this: Burt Young, who played Paulie from the Rocky films (yes, fat, out of shape, badly balding Paulie) does hand-to-hand combat with hopelessly ineffectual ninjas. If that doesn't tell you how wildly off-track this goes, I don't know what will. There are themes of honor and living life for causes worth dying for, but it's all so poorly and murkily put to screen you're never sure what to latch onto. Everything devolves into a bad B movie with little resolved before the credits mercifully roll.