Good concept, poorly executed.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Still, better than so many other pretentious attempts.Peckinpah still made one more masterpiece after this film (Iron Cross) and one more eclectic trash (Osterman Weekend).Killer Elite is full of moral preaching before SPOILER the last showdown on the ship. Bo Hopkins (as Jerome Miller) and James Caan (as Mike Locken) exchange bursts of criticism of CIA, and they can't hide that they were being bored. But Peckinpah was tired. Plot wasn't plausible enough. Even self-parodying of the great scene from Wild Bunch (rifles on the roof) only reveals boredom and lack of new ideas.The best moments in the film we owe to Bo Hopkins (pity SPOILER OF AN ANOTHER FILM he had to die in so early stage of "Wild Bunch"!), and the highlight of the film is hilarious dialog on the bridge between Mike Locken (James Caan) and Jerome Miller (Bo Hopkins), when a policeman stops their car, full of explosives and weapons. They are waiting the clumsy police officer who might search the vehicle, and James Caan asks Bo Hopkins what he's got in the car. "Bombs, detonators, shotguns, ammunition...", answers Bo Hopkins. James Caan then asks: "Is there in this car that can't mutilate, murder or blow people in explosion?" Bo Hopkins answers with an insane smile: "Everything is lethal" Even editing of the final showdown is slower then usual for Peckinpah.A glimpse of a talent we can see in the scene of disabled Mike Locken, when he tries Chinese tai chi exercises and the subsequent rejection of his former CIA superiors. Nice touch of 1970's, anyways.

A great film with a beautiful scenery of San Francisco. It may not be the greatest hour of Sam Peckinpah,but it's still one of the best films of the 70's.Of course there is films like the godfather and the taxi-driver,but who cares,man. The killer elite is such a different movie.It's got all the elements you need for a martial arts/gunfight movie.It's all there in one package. Not to mention perfect actors,story and the location.Every time i watch it,it takes me back to the great movie-making. The killer elite is a serious movie,which doesn't take itself too seriously.Action with Sam Peckinpah slow motion scenes.All the characters are great.Mike Locken as a bit of a slow,but all the time thinking the next step.Jerome Miller as a gun expert. Mac as a every guy.George Hansen as cold blooded killer. There's not much women,but they're still existing.San Francisco at it's best.Great pictures of Mike Locken getting to a better shape around the City streets,all the hills and the bay area. Sausalitos wooden homes and of course,the suisun bay with the mothball fleet.I'll never get tired to watch those locations.As a matter of fact,i'll never get tired to watch this film over and over again.There is not even one bad element in this film.

Here's a Peckinpah movie that starts out really good but falls apart in the last third. It's a story about high-level contract killers and mercenaries hired out in secret by the CIA. The story investigates the friendship between Mike Locken (James Caan) and George Hansen (Robert Duvall), two of the high-class mercenaries working to protect VIPs and radical international diplomats.The early character development is good, the dialog and accents are all pretty enjoyable on the ears, the camaraderie between the mercenaries is fun to watch (you don't see chemistry like this in action movies anymore!) and the action scenes -- as expected of Peckinpah -- are intense and well thought-out.There is a considerable amount of hand-to-hand combat on display here. Some of the dojo scenes with Karate/Judo stuff are not bad, but not totally amazing either. It's cool that Peckinpah wanted to include this stuff, but why would high level secret operatives train in Gendai (modern, sportified, public, organized) Japanese martial arts? I thought that was pretty hokey.And then we have the real problem: later in the film the bad guys are a bunch of ninjas. Ninjas, huh? I understand that the movie is kinda tongue-in-cheek and is about unrealistically tough contract killers and so forth, but the cheesy ninja costumes and the poorly choreographed fight scenes with them (not to mention the abstract and borderline offensive duel regarding "honor") instantly date this movie and make it something of a novelty.Peckinpah had serious substance abuse problems at this point and maybe that's what causes the weird pacing. Had this movie been shorter and ended at the end of the second third with a more concise message, it would've been pretty solid. It also could've developed some of the supporting characters more than it did.Still, there are some pretty good things to be found here. Really good action scenes, some memorable characters and dialog, and some decent commentary on corrupt power-players who run politics and business. It's just too bad everyone involved seems to be on autopilot.

Sam Peckinpah is considered the father of today's violent movies. Although, one comment I have heard is that at least he always did it with a morality. This was very evident in this film, and made one think. I like it when Burt Young's character says 'with all these public disturbance violations, you'll get 100 years'. That is refreshing and insightful. No modern filmmaker thinks about how ridiculous it is for some characters to be destroying everything in their way to get to the "bad guys". Later on, Burt Young's character says 'no modern government cares about the security of it's people'. Absolutely correct on that one! This movie was very realistic and had a lot of great scenery of the San Francisco area. It also shows how so many in the espionage business get tired of being used by all sides for money and power. The only drawback was the ending. Showing the ninjas slowly moving out of the shadows of the ship's hull was silly. I did like the scene where James Caan's character shot is boss enough so he would live, but be injured. He wanted to show his boss how lightly he treated human life, and what it really was like being disabled by service in espionage.