Anything But Elite
When their prominent parents are killed by terrorists who blow their plane out of the sky, 5 children survive and are taken in to protective custody by the U.S. Government who know that the terrorists may want to finish them off. But it isn't just protective custody as they are given special training to turn them into an elite team with honed skills in fighting terrorists. When a bunch of land-mines containing chemicals are stolen these 5 now grown up friends are put on the case to track them down. It turns out the terrorists behind the land mine theft are the same ones behind their parent's deaths and if it means disobeying orders these friends will in order to get revenge.
As a child I would frequently re-enact what ever action I had been watching in a movie, from crawling along the grass as if I was a soldier in "The Great Escape" to leaping off my bed as if I was jumping off a balcony just before a mansion exploded. I have a feeling that writer and director Terry Cunningham might just have done the same because "The Elite" features the sort of far fetched nonsense which I would have come up with as a kid. The thing is that I am no longer a kid and whilst "The Elite" gave me a wry smile it was hard not to ignore that this is incredibly cheesy.
So how cheesy can it be you ask? How about one of our handsome young heroes who when he climbs out a sports car shakes his hair back. Nope, well how about a touch of classic bad guy and handcuffing two heroes together straddling a huge rocket. Still not good enough well why not have twin heroes disarm a rocket just as the counter reaches 1 by just pulling out a processor. Look I really could go on because scene after scene in "The Elite" ends up hilariously cheesy as every action and adventure scenario from climbing up the side of boats to jumping out of helicopters is tossed in to the mix.
Here though is the thing as I can't find anywhere where it says that "The Elite" was a comedy action movie but I am convinced it must be as no one could have come up with this without their tongue firmly in their cheek. As such when watched with the expectation of it being a cheesy action movie which ploughs through cliches with gay abandon it kind of becomes entertaining or at least not so depressing which it is watched expecting a wholly serious movie.
What this all boils down to is that "The Elite" is certainly not what its title describes but in a tongue in cheesy, corny movie kind of way it is perversely entertaining. In fact it is so perversely entertaining that it would make for one heck of a drinking game movie.
