Nicholas Bell

"Whereas the female boarding school setting was once a hotbed of repression, latent lesbian tendencies, hysteria prone young ladies and fibromyalgia suffering matrons, it has now become a formula for excessive camp and unintentional laughs. Harron’s latest is only a representative example of all the reasons why this genre tends to be revamped in all the wrong ways."

"While Killer Elite does sport some decent chase scenes and meticulous action sequences, it’s resoundingly poorly conceived in every other aspect, most notably, the terrible screenplay. Jason Statham is not a strong performer, but is obviously good in action sequences. He’s saddled here with playing the assassin with a heart of gold. Killing obviously torments him, but since he’s such a good killing machine, he will never get away from “the life,” his loved ones always used against him to kill the enemies of many a nefarious figure the world over."

"While the film quickly establishes an oddly humorous yet ominous and foreboding tone, one can’t help but be distracted by notable similarities to other films. But despite this and the distance we feel from our alienated characters doesn’t stop this from being an intriguing and notable debut, if not altogether masterful."

"Known for her infamously icy demeanor, Huppert has been no stranger to comedy as of late, playing a bobble-head mother in Copacabana, (2010) and a similar role in Me and My Sister, (2004). However, Fontaine gives her a role (which she has stated she wrote with Huppert in mind) where she can transcend the type A bitch personality and be somewhat of a romantic foil as well."

You can take the boy away from the killing, but you can’t the killing away from the boy.