When one sees the tagline “Based on a true story” one­ can’t help but wonder if it is in fact true.­ The latest action thriller, “Killer Elite” is allegedly based on true events.

Regardless, we witness ex-covert operative Danny Bryce (Jason Statham) trying to live a normal life.­ After a life of executing covert missions, he lost his motivation to kill people.

He’s retired to Australia, where he enjoys spending time with his cute friend, Anne (Yvonne Strahovski).­ Danny is brought back into action after learning his friend and mentor, Hunter (Robert DeNiro) has been kidnapped.

Forming a team with the smooth-talking Davies (Dominic Purcell) and the smart Meier (Aden Young), Danny heads to Oman, located in the Arabian Peninsula, to rescue Hunter. There, he is brought before a sheik who wants Danny to exact revenge on the men responsible for the death of his three sons.

If Danny kills the men, Hunter goes free.­ This isn’t an easy task considering Danny’s targets are former members of Britain’s elite Special Forces team, the Special Air Service (SAS).

Danny begins eliminating his targets one by one, making each look like an accident.

These actions bring about the attention of a secret society, the “Feathermen” who are also ex-SAS operatives.­ The Feathermen turn to Spike Logan, (Clive Owen), another ex-SAS operative to stop Danny.­ It’s only a matter of time before Danny and Spike confront each other.

Fans of Statham might not be too pleased with this movie.­ Statham doesn’t have as many gun battles or hand to hand battles as he does in his previous movies.­ Writer Matt Sherring and director Gary McKendry chose to take ­ “Killer Elite” in a different direction.­ There is more suspense than blood and bullets.­ There is action in this movie and the scenes are just spaced apart.

The story is interesting enough to wait until the action starts again.­ Logan wants to kill Danny to avenge his friends.­ But at the same time, he knows that there’s a chance his government is hiding secrets from him. It seems most of the characters have secrets.­ And these people are willing to kill or at least try to kill to keep them.

Even though it’s not as action packed as most action films,­ it’s worth checking out.

“Killer Elite” is the type of movie that if you enjoy it for what it’s worth, then you will have fun. The film tries to take a different approach to the action genre, and I for one thought it worked.

The movie is loosely based on a book ‘The Feathermen,’ written by author Ranuplh Fiennes.­ Regardless if the book and movie are true or not, there is often an interest in government conspiracies, secret societies and secret agents. If this story did happen, it’s one heck of a story.