By Craig McCarthy
It’s tough doing a review of a big, shoot-em-up action movie like The Losers. They shouldn’t be judged in the same way as dramas or comedies because in the end all you want out of them are explosions and fun. So going into such movies I like to look at three criteria: Do I like the heroes? Do I like/dislike the villain? And most importantly, are the action scenes fun?
Unfortunately, The Losers didn’t do much for me on all three accounts.
The story (based on the comic book series of the same name by Andy Diggle) revolves around five members of an elite US military force who are sent on a mission to Bolivia, where they are double crossed and left for dead by a powerful man known only as Max. During their quest for revenge, they are helped by the beautiful and mysterious Aisha (played by Zoë Saldaña who seems to be on her way to becoming Hollywood’s new “it” girl) who seems to have her own dubious motives.
Despite being likeable, the heroes just aren’t complete enough to really have me rooting for them. The leader and main character is Clay (Jeffery Dean Morgan from Watchmen). He’s strong, gruff, smart, and makes plenty of wisecracking jokes. There are moments in Losers when you start to really like him, but then he’ll do something the next scene to contradict himself. He is supposed to be the moral center, the guy who is loyal to his men, the guy who puts the safety of innocent people above all else. Then, he’ll go and put everything at risk to have sex with Zoë Saldaña. I felt the best character was Roque (Idris Elba from The Office and The Wire). He plays the right hand man of Clay and is the only one who seems to be morally torn. Of course he wants revenge, but he’s the one who seems to truly care about his men safely getting back home and reclaiming their lives. Elba actually shows great range as an actor and I felt myself siding with him throughout most of the movie.
The problem with the rest of the heroes is that their personalities can be summed up in one phrase. Jensen (Chris Evans) is… a Chris Evans character. He does nothing but make jokes every time he speaks and is generally just annoying to everybody. Personally, I hate Chris Evans (except in Sunshine but I chalk that up more to good directing by Danny Boyle) but people seem to respond to him, so if you usually like Chris Evans, you’ll probably like him here. Then there is Pooch (Columbus Short) who is the guy with a pregnant wife back home. And finally there’s Couger (Oscar Jaenada) who is the guy who shoots well with a sniper rifle (the least defined character who actually seems to do most of the killing). Also, he apparently really likes his cowboy hat. However, lots of credit is deserved to Zoë Saldaña. Despite having mediocre dialogue, she plays the role of sexy femme fatale as well as it can be played.
Probably the worst part of the movie is the villain. Max (Jason Patric from Narc) is an all-powerful leader of organizations like the CIA and NSA. His convoluted plot is to set off a nuke in Los Angeles, blame it on another country, and start a war. This will make him lots of money, or give him more power, or something else I didn’t quite understand. The problem with Max is that he has absolutely no defining characteristics. He is evil, that’s for sure, but that’s about it. He’s kind of a well-dressed CEO type who has lots of snappy dialogue that is delivered as stiffly as possible. It’s obvious that Patric (who is a fine actor) made a choice that just did not work. Cartoonish villains need to have wild and ridiculous characteristics (both physical and personality-wise), and Max has nothing.
But the most important part of an action movie is the action scenes, and I just didn’t really enjoy them. My problem with the action scenes is a problem I have with most action films these days: I have no idea what’s going on during these scenes. It’s what some people have called the “Cinema of the Incoherent”. It’s the Bourne Trilogy style of editing where there is a cut every half-second and you never really see what’s happening except for flashes of blood or bodies falling. Things are moving so fast that I don’t have a chance to get pumped up during these scenes. I don’t understand why movies sink so much money into these huge explosions and CGI set-pieces when the viewer doesn’t really get to see it.
Despite the negative things I’ve written, most of the people in the theater seemed to love the movie. The fast-cutting style is becoming popular which means that most people enjoy it. When it comes down to it, The Losers is stylistically almost exactly like Smoking Aces, and the characters can be very fun. So if you liked Smoking Aces you definitely will enjoy The Losers.
Great review,lousy movie.. I want more reviews of movies that Craig likes!