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Based on a true story, Killer Elite races across the globe from Australia to Paris, London and the Middle East in the action-packed account of an ex-special ops agent (Jason Statham) who is lured out of retirement to rescue his mentor (Robert De Niro). To make the rescue, he must complete a near-impossible mission of killing three tough-as-nails assassins with a cunning leader (Clive Owen). From .co.uk ----------- They're not exactly The Expendables, but the idea of gathering Jason Statham, Clive Owen, and Robert De Niro for special ops duty in Killer Elite gives rise to some basic expectations: and sure enough, there's Statham as the cool, compact trained killer, and De Niro as the grizzled seen-it-all-veteran of some very off-the-record assassinations, and Owen as the smooth-talking (and curiously mustachioed) insider with a mess to clean up. These three fellows might indeed make for a badass team in some international thriller, but this particular international thriller is so ham-handed and breathlessly "stylish" that the actors are stranded amidst the relentless noise. De Niro's character gets kipped early in the proceedings (and spends most of the movie off-screen), so Statham must come back on the job and rescue his old killer-in-arms. But there's a bigger plot a-turning, based on Ranulph Fiennes's novel, which was allegedly a real tale of espionage, although this cl has been disputed. (This film is not related to Sam Peckinpah's 1975 film The Killer Elite). Director Gary McKendry serves up some -crunching moments, which almost drown out the sound of the tin-ear dialogue, and Owen manages to emerge with dignity intact. That will have to suffice as a recommendation for hard-core action fans. --Robert Horton