“The Losers” is all style and no substance. The biggest surprise is that it wasn’t directed by Michael Bay. There were so many slow motion and moving camera shots that I swear director Sylvain White must’ve watched every Bay film before shooting.
Nearly every scene is in broad daylight, which is a dead giveaway that the budget wasn’t much. So I looked it up and it was merely $25 million. I know, I know, $25 mill is a lot but not in the world of action films. I’m impressed considering they got Zoe “Avatar” Saldana, Chris “Captain America” Evans, Idris “The Wire” Elba, Jason “Narc” Patrick, and Jeffrey “Dean” Morgan.
$25 million for film name actors, sure they’re not superstars but it’s still impressive. The actors must’ve taken a little bit of a cut in pay. The budget shows on-screen. I give White credit though, for being able to pull off a visually impressive film with so little cash.
“The Losers” is kind of like “The A-Team.” Five men, an elite special forces team, are betrayed in the middle of a mission by the mysterious “Max,” and left for dead. The men hide out in Bolivia formulating a plan to get back at Max and reclaim their lives until Aisha, Saldana, arrives and convinces the men to help her get Max and in the process return home.
The problem with “The Losers” is the script. The story is full of character archetypes. There is the funny comic relief guy who doesn’t seem to take things seriously. There’s the quiet brooding sniper who is the biggest bad ass of them all. There’s the hot chick who comes between the group and whose intentions are unknown. There’s the over protective leader who would do anything for his men. And don’t get me started on Jason Patric’s bad guy. He’s more Dr. Evil than Dr. No. He spends the whole movie making jokes, so he’s never intimidating. I think this is by far his worst role. Patric is an amazing actor. I just don’t get it.
We’ve seen it all before. I guarantee that anyone reading this can tell me exactly what is going to happen five minutes into the movie. I understand that characters are probably really close to their comic characters but a good writer can maintain the integrity of the character and still give them some depth.
Comic book/graphic novel adaptations are the rage now. Everyone and their dog in Hollywood is snatching up rights to these books. “The Losers” was probably a great book but it didn’t carry over into a movie well. Actually, the best parts in the movie were the end credits that were graphic drawings from the comics. Well, motion graphic representations of the movie characters based on the comic.
I say wait for this to hit DVD. Then when you’re on Netflix, Blockbuster or where ever it is you rent movies, pick this but only if there’s nothing else to watch.
