Happy Thursday! Also in today’s edition of The Broadsheet: Elton John wants to make a musical biopic about Elton John… Harvey Weinstein gets to a special Place with Sean Penn… Joe Pesci will reportedly sue for his Gotti role… Ang Lee is very serious about his 3-D Life of Pi … and more.
What do you call an action movie manned by people who look as if they don’t want to be there? An inertia movie? Action movies aren’t just about action — they’re also about presence, about watching appealing or compelling personalities go about the business of kicking ass. Killer Elite features one proven action star, Jason Statham and two actors who have played fewer action roles, Robert De Niro and Clive Owen. But it’s all these actors can do to look present and accounted for. The picture, the debut feature of Irish director Gary McKendry, is rote and joyless, an exercise in disposability.