The Killer Elite

snafuk35 · 18-09-2011 1:20pm #1

The latest action flick The Killer Elite starring Jason Stathum, Clive Owen and Robert De Niro is about special forces soldiers who discover a group of assassins is trying to pick them off one by one.

The story is loosely based on the 'true story' told by Sir Ranulph Fiennes (the explorer father of actors Ralph and Joseph) in his 'factual' novel The Feathermen. Fiennes claimed thar SAS soldiers who had served in Oman were being picked of by international assassins until a group of SAS men got together and fought back. An SAS Major is supposed to have been murdered while on an exercise in the Welsh mountains, another soldier died of a faked heart attack, another in a convenient helicopter crash etc etc. Fiennes claims he was rescued from an assassin by his fellow SAS men and wrote the novel after being shown secret dossiers by his rescuers.

Needless to say the relatives of the dead men he claims were victims of assassins are none too pleased and SAS veterans dismiss Fienne's story as fantasy that cashes in on real life tragedies.

Here is an interesting article here about the controversy:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1295371/How-Ranulph-Fiennes-cashed-murder-SAS-heroes.html

The controversy is reminiscent of the 'Bravo Two Zero' books by the survivors of an eight man patrol that was went wrong in Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War.

Andy McNab and Chris Ryan are the pseudonyms of two of the special forces soldiers who describe a thrilling fire fight and pursuit across the desert by Iraqis. McNab was captured and torture along with other members of the patrol while Ryan escaped over the Syrian border.

However Michael Asher who visited Iraq and met locals disputes the story of a fire fight and tells a more ordinary story about a military cockup without any Hollywood style heroics.

A host of books are on the market by people who claim they served on the front lines or were involved in black ops which are in fact written by hack journalists hoping to make a quick buck at the expense of Walter Mitty fantasists.

booom · 22-09-2011 8:54am

the feathermen was an excellent read but i think it's been out of print for a few years now- difficult enough to get your hands on a copy. i made the mistake of giving it to someone to read and then losing contact with them!

booom · 25-09-2011 10:36pm

just watched the movie- book is better.

Jelly 292 · 05-01-2012 4:06am

Just watched it, better than I thought it would be, always liked Fiennes , this was a bit of a surprise , although I'd read about him being in Oman ( and shooting people dead) I felt odd indeed when his name came up; and the dweeb who played him,
saying that he does not strike me as the dishonest type...

Morlar · 05-01-2012 12:30pm

I thought the movie was better than expected but highly doubt it's historically accurate.

snafuk35 · 05-01-2012 11:18pm

There are any number of weapons manuals online, lots of technical detail about the operation of units at squad, platoon, company level and lots of first hand accounts from returning soldiers all over the place. A good writer with a good military knowledge, a knowledge of the criminal underworld, a bit of imagination and a bit of brass neck can write 'true life' military books that appear authentic. That's what is fueling these straight from the battlefield BS books that are cramming the bookshelves.

'The Red Badge of Courage' was written by a writer who was never in combat during the American Civil War for instance.

Frederick Forsyth is another example - he wrote convincingly about the criminal underworld, international assassins, mercenaries, terrorists and the goings on at cabinet level in British governments but all he had to do was just mine his own journalistic knowledge and then write a good yarn.

The difference these days is stories can just be invented because the special forces world is secretive and they neither confirm nor deny events. Anyone can appear on TV with a blacked out face and claim to have been in SAS firefights and eaten monkey testicles in the Amazon jungle because there was no other source of vitamins.

Don't get me wrong. These books are fun but I smell something fishy.

tac foley · 06-01-2012 12:26pm

snafuk35 wrote: »

...eaten monkey testicles in the Amazon jungle because there was no other source of vitamins.

That's a load of ****e!

The nose is also VERY good.

tac

alanmcqueen · 11-01-2012 8:42pm

Just watched it;loved it. Casting was great as the extra characters looked like 'regular' people. Good show. TBH I loved the book too and I doubt it's true but I don't care!