Movie Info
Movie Name: The Losers
Studio: Dark Castle Entertainment/Vertigo
Genre(s): Comic Book/Action/Adventure
Release Date(s): April 23, 2010
MPAA Rating: PG-13
I’m a Loser baby…so why don’t you kill me?
The Losers are black-ops and the best around! Lt. Col. Franklin Clay (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Cpt Jake Jensen (Chris Evans), Cpt. William Roque (Idris Elba), Sgt. Linwood “Pooch” Porteous (Columbus Short), and Sgt. Carlos “Cougar” Alvarez (Óscar Jaenada) have been sent in to Bolivia by their leader Max (Jason Patric). When they discover children at the mission, they decide they must rescue them despite the cause. Max has different plans for the Losers however and blows-up their escape helicopter…unfortunately, with the children, not the Losers, inside. The Losers are presumed dead and seeking to clear their names and get Max with the help of Aisha al-Fadhil (Zoe Saldana) who might have plans of her own.
Directed by Sylvain White, The Losers adapts the DC Comic series by Andy Diggle and Jock (Mark Simpson). The movie received mixed to negative reviews and fared poorly at the box office.
Bang…you’re it!
The Losers were originally characters who first appeared in G.I. Combat (1) #138 (October 1969). The original characters were set in World War II and were regulars in Our Fighting Forces. The characters met their end during Crisis on Infinite Earths, but were relaunched as a modern day team in a Vertigo title in 2003. Diggle claims to not have read any Loser issues before writing the series, and besides the title, there are very little ties to the original series.
I didn’t hate The Losers, but it did feel like a generic action story. The story is a classic revenge story and I could predict most of it before it happened. Though I saw it coming, I was rather surprised that the film blew-up a chopper full of kids to start out the film, but the movie was a big explosive film…just what an action film needs.
Have bazooka….will travel
The story (and the comic) is helped by snappy characters. The members of the Losers are fun and the movie tries to flesh them out as much as it can in a short amount of time. Jeffrey Dean Morgan continues his trend of playing fun characters, and though it got a lot of comparisons to his Watchmen’s Comedian character, I feel this character has more heart. Chris Evans was the best part of Fantastic Four and he plays a very “Johnny Storm” personality character here as well. I loved Idris Elba in The Wire, and he’s always fun to watch. Columbus Short gets some exposure through his wife, but I never got a real feel for Óscar Jaenada’s sharp shooter. Zoe Saldana is good as the only female character in the film, and Jason Patric makes a good bad guy…though the films ends on a rather unsatisfactory note for his character.
The Losers was obviously meant to be the start of something bigger. The movie doesn’t feel like there is much resolution. Max escapes and the Losers are still wanted criminals…nothing is resolved. I wish that The Losers had succeeded and that the Losers had gotten another chance to fight again…but I guess the Losers will keep running.
