Talk:Killer Elite (film)

Differences between the book and the film

There are some factual inaccuracies in the comparison between the book and the film as follows:

"Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the book's author, claims that a secret society called the "Feather Men", made up of retired and disabled SAS members, was operating in the shadows. They are called the "feather men" because their influence and intervention were subtle, like the touch of a feather. Their job was to protect SAS personnel and their families and avenge wrongs or harm done to them."

- Not really very different between the book and the film, except that one of the Feather Men in the book was still a serving officer early in the story, and the "locals" (or Feather Men operatives) did not have quite as much contact with the assassins. Although one of the Feather Men in the book took a rifle to Oman and had an encounter with the Clinic in the desert.

"The hit squad in the novel was originally a communist Arab militant terror cell called 'the Clinic'. This was changed in the movie into a team of freelance assassins-for-hire controlled by an Angolan paymaster who runs a travel agency as a front."

- Not correct, in the book it also was a group of freelance assassins for hire, although they were called "The Clinic". Davies and Meyer were two of the names, and the leader was Canadian, so they definitely were not Arabs, militant or Communist.

"The targets are three SAS troopers (one who is still serving and is a decorated war hero) who served in Oman in the 1970s. Their deaths must appear accidental to avoid reprisals. In the film, an added complication is that they must confess to being murderers before they are killed".

- Not correct, in the book the assassins were also required to produce filmed confessions to receive payment. The book makes reference to Feinnes seeing the film of Kealy's "bemused denials" at the end, and one of the book's confession films was faked, as in the film. The targets are not all "troopers" either - two of them are officers. The names of the targets however were changed.

"The patron in the novel was originally a rich Arab merchant from Dubai whose son died in combat while fighting in Oman. He is replaced in the movie with a disgraced Omani sheik dying of cancer who has to kill the men who killed his three eldest sons in order to restore his honor and return to his tribe".

- Not wholly correct; in the book there was more than one son. And Spike did not kill the client in the book. But the rehabilitation of his decendants by carrying out the culturally-required revenge is the same as in the book.

"The Battle of Mirbat, a siege in which eight SAS troopers with 100 assorted Firqat under training and 30 paramilitary askars (armed police) held off a force of 250 insurgents, is mentioned in passing in the film but never explained. One of the sheik's three sons were supposed to have been murdered there."

- One of the client's sons also died in battle at Mirbat in the book.

"In the movie, the British Foreign Office is supposed to be in collusion with the sheik in order to guarantee oil leases on the sheik's land. They even force the "feather men" to back off with threats of imprisonment. However, the wealthy sheik is in exile and his son, a westernized playboy, shows no interest in returning to his homeland to claim his title. Therefore even if the sheik's plot is successful the British government will not have gained any leverage with the actual landholders, negating the premise. The book has no such subplot, as the "feather men" are seen as all-powerful."

- Correct, the book has no such subplot.

"Sir Ranulph Fiennes claims that the "feather men" saved his life from an assassination attempt by The Clinic. In the book 'The Clinic' tried to ambush him at his farmhouse in Exmoor, but the "feather men" ran them off. In the movie, he is a minor character who only survives because the assassin feels regret and only maims him."

Feinnes was not "maimed" in the film, he was wounded. Otherwise correct.

Strangways (talk) 23:58, 31 March 2012 (UTC)

Material removed from film section of article on book

   As i argued at Talk:The Feather Men#Coverage of the film, the following content in the book's article needlessly duplicates more detailed coverage here of the film, and rather than being helpful, was more likely to mislead users into assuming film's article's content was pretty much redundant to the book's article's film coverage. Here's what i removed from there:

The film adaptation of the book is titled Killer Elite (now also the name of the book). Filming took place in 2010 in Melbourne, Australia and South Wales, UK. The film was directed by Gary McKendry and starred Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Robert De Niro, Yvonne Strahovski and Dominic Purcell.

It was released in September 2011.

--Jerzy•t 11:10, 15 February 2016 (UTC)