Movie Review: The Losers

The Losers

Ok. I’m going to say this once and then you are going to forget about it completely. This movie was based on a comic book series of the same name by Andy Diggle and a guy named Jock. Now forget about that.

What you need to know is that this is a throwback to the golden years of blockbuster action movies. That glorious time in the 80’s and 90’s before action movies became so brainless that they actually made your head hurt. Before Hollywood was invaded by the music video directors with the micro-sized attention spans. If you remember watching Arnie saying “You’re one… ugly… motherf*cker!”, or thought that Chuck Norris was awesome in Delta Force, then you stand a good chance of enjoying The Losers.

Being among that demographic, I thouroughly enjoyed my time in the cinema. While the movie won’t win any awards, it’s damned entertaining. That’s due largely to the fact that none of the cast, nor any of the filmmakers take this movie too seriously. The whole thing is a poke at a simpler time when movies were just supposed to be fun. It’s definitely whet my appetite and made me more excited about similar films due out this year like The Expendables and The A-Team.

The story’s your basic special forces team goes off-mission and gets double crossed by their boss and decides to get even ride. If you’ve seen Mission Impossible, then you know what’s happening here. There are 6 people on the team; Clay the leader (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Roque his lieutenant (Idris Elba), Jensen the hacker (Chris Evans), Cougar the sniper (Óscar Jaenada), Pooch the driver (Columbus Short), and Aisha the hot chick (Zoe Saldana). They’ve got to get back to the States, find out who was behind their disavowment and make them pay.

At it’s core, The Losers is a heist film; it has more in common with the Italian Job or Sneakers than it does with any conspiracy movie. The team uses their various competencies in the various arts of covert ops to find Max (Jason Patric), the insane guy who tried to blow them up. They boost gear, con their way into buildings and do various other sneaky things in order to bring their plan to fruition.

The chemistry of the cast is very good. I loved Cop Out, but I didn’t for a second believe that Willis could ever be partners with Morgan. Here, the actors feel like old pals. Even Patric with is weirdly silly take on the psychotic Max is something that you can’t help by hate (which is good since you’re supposed to be rooting for him to take a bullet by the end).

I got to say I’m impressed with Chris Evans and am closer to thinking that he can also play Captain America. Though he’s normally cast as the pretty boy, he nerds up pretty well. He totally sold me on Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” as the perfect getaway soundtrack.

While the movie has some problems (hokey CGI effects, a weak last act, some weak plot devices, and horrendously saturated colors) it was an enjoyable 98 minutes and I’d gladly see it again.