Killer Elite

Danny Bryce, one of the many assassins that pepper Killer Elite, sums up his profession to a colleague with these words of wisdom: “Killing is easy. Living with it is the hard part.”

Such is the challenge for the ruthless mercenaries in this action thriller that was inspired by a memoir by former British agent Ranulph Fiennes. Yet despite its claim to be based on a true story, it feels like it’s based more on a Hollywood formula.

The film, which is not a remake of the Sam Peckinpah thriller of the same name, showcases a powerhouse cast in a globetrotting, testosterone-fueled extravaganza of shootouts and explosions. But behind the slick exterior is a script — about hired killers trying for that final big score before retirement — that turns convoluted and predictable.

The story takes place in 1980, when Bryce (Jason Statham) has retired to Australia following a career as a special-ops agent in the British Elite Special Air Service. But he is pressed back into action when he receives word that his mentor (Robert De Niro) has been taken hostage in the Middle Eastern country of Oman.

When he arrives for the rescue attempt, he is given a mission by the captor, a terminally ill Arab financier who want to see the murders of his three sons avenged before his death. So it’s up to Bryce to find the murderers and obtain videotaped confessions before killing them, a task that proves more difficult than he imagined. That’s especially true after Bryce encounters Spike (Clive Owen), a representative for a top-secret British group who seems to know the details of the killings but will go to great lengths to protect them.

Rookie director Gary McKendry, who also co-wrote the script, stages some taut action sequences, such as an abbreviated gun battle inside of a cave filled with hornets. Statham is in familiar territory in a world in which there aren’t traditional good guys and bad guys — just bad guys and worse guys.

But the fast-paced mayhem can’t disguise a plot that includes the inevitable buildup to a final showdown that’s anticlimactic at best, perhaps because the tough-guy interaction between Bryce and Spike feels forced from the outset.

Maybe the audience can take a cue from De Niro, who seems to have a blast returning to the role of action hero and doesn’t appear to take this mess seriously.

Rated R, 116 minutes.