Empire's The Losers Movie Review

The Losers
Nick Berry was right — every loser wins!

Plot
On assignment in Bolivia, a team of Special Ops soldiers is betrayed by a mysterious, powerful man named Max (Patric). Seeking revenge, they’re approached by the equally enigmatic Aisha (Saldana), a woman with her own reasons for hating Max, who offers them the funds to get back to the US and take him out. Led by Clay (Morgan), the self-named Losers will need all their skills to pull off the new mission.

Review

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If the A-Team's plan was to carve out a niche this blockbuster season as the only blend of comedy and gunplay featuring a group of double-crossed soldiers, each blessed with top-notch military abilities and wise-cracking team spirit, they really needed to escape the stockade a little earlier. Because here come The Losers.

Adapted from the Vertigo graphic novel by writer Andy Diggle and artist Jock (itself a reimagining of an earlier DC title about a team formed from all branches of America’s various forces), Sylvain White’s attempt is a powder keg, one that cheerfully includes the expected clichés and survives thanks to a comic-book-inspired visual style and the frothy charisma of its ensemble. A sort of Ocean’s Eleven with explosions, it’s the cast who shine, including Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s laidback but bitter commander Clay, Chris Evans as the jokester tech operative, Idris Elba giving good snarl as Roque, Clay’s tough second-in-command, Columbus Short’s transportation expert Pooch, and Óscar Jaenada as Cougar, the ace sniper who largely lets his gun do the talking. Plus there’s Zoe Saldana’s Aisha, who proves that the actress doesn’t need to be blue to give the boys a few lessons in the art of kicking arse. Together they’re a winning combination, able to deliver the sort of sparky interplay that indicates a cast that has bonded brilliantly on set.

Even the villain is fun, with Jason Patric’s Max remaining cool as a cucumber as he casually slaughters a female assistant for failing to properly shade him with an umbrella, or casually tells off his right-hand man for misinterpreting a nod as an order to throw someone off a building instead of simply punching them in the face. Patric’s performance keys into the film’s sense of never taking itself too seriously, and sees the actor at his most entertaining for many a year. Can you say possible career rebound?

There’s not a whole lot of true jeopardy here — the plot about a sonic bomb MacGuffin is really just a skeleton on which to hang the explosive set-pieces and joke-filled chatter. The tone, too, is a little unbalanced at times, having filtered out a lot of the ultra-violence of the original comic, dry-cleaning the heroes so they shoot most of the bad guys with tranquilisers, yet still finding time for the villain to order the destruction of a helicopter loaded with kids. But chances are you won’t be over-worried by that: you’ll be too caught up watching the team in action. In fact, it almost makes you wish this were the pilot for a new TV show, in which the characters take on all manner of enemies with their inventive, chaotic and utterly entertaining camaraderie.

Verdict

Reviewed by James White

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Average user rating for The Losers

The Losers Review
The Losers is loud, fast, violent ,funny ,well-acted and full of great characters. It is just simple, explosive entertainment and doesn't try to be anything more. ... More


Posted by the film man at 23:45, 04 March 2012 \| Report This Post



The Losers Review
The Losers is loud, fast, violent ,funny ,well-acted and full of great characters. It is just simple, explosive entertainment and doesn't try to be anything more. ... More


Posted by the film man at 23:45, 04 March 2012 \| Report This Post



RE: The Losers
The Losers Haven't read the comic so I can't compare (which is probably a good thing). It was ok. Not bad, not good, just average. The Losers themselves were all good, and were enjoyable to watch and had some good chemistry, but the baddie didn't work for me and the plot, while having all the requisite parts (apart from a proper ending - no spoilers, but you'll see what I mean if you watch it) was a bit unsatisfying. Should have done better. 6/10 ... More

Posted by KeithM at 00:25, 03 May 2011 \| Report This Post



RE: The Losers
This is basically a poor man's A-Team and the A-Team isn't anything to write home about. It's main fault was how hard it tried to be 'cool' for the sake of it's target audience of presumably 13 year old COD addicts. Every time the team go anywhere it's shot in slow motion and accompanied by a 'cool' punk rock/hip-hop song, which very quickly becomes annoying. It also veers way too much between comedic moments and then moments where it attempts to be taken seriously, which is impossib... More


Posted by Ballschin at 11:28, 24 February 2011 \| Report This Post



Fun and Funny
As reviewed, fast paced, fun and 300/Watchmen stylish. Saw Jason patric listed at the end of the movie. Really? Who was he? My goodness he's got old! (haven't we all?) As long as you are not looking for anything more than a Saturday evening popcorn movie, this will do fine. ... More


Posted by danielthompson99 at 22:31, 18 November 2010 \| Report This Post




Good. ... More


Posted by reminn at 11:33, 03 November 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: The Losers
It was ok. I couldn't buy Max at all - too cardboard cut-out for me, personally. I liked the Losers as characters, but the plot was a let-down and without being able to put my finger on what exactly, it was lacking something for me. Not crap, not good - merely average. ... More

Posted by KeithM at 20:06, 31 July 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: The Losers
3/5 stars. Fun and entertaining. Zoe Saldana is sultry hot one moment and just sexy all of the other moments. Chris Evans stood out. Funny as hell. Still wondering how he'll do as Captain America (iffy as best). Nice suspension of thought for a short time. Good viewing. Not a waste of time. A-Team was more entertaining and fun though. :p ... More


Posted by Johnny_A at 17:55, 31 July 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: The Losers
I wasn't expecting much, but ended up enjoying it a lot. Great energy with very likeable characters. I've seen the A-Team and thought that was terrible - there's 'fast paced', and then there's incomprehensible. The A-Team was definitely the latter. This is far better. I'd give it 3.5/5 and A-Team 2/5. ... More


Posted by matt st hubbins at 13:46, 28 July 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: RE:
Move to Dublin!! ... More

Posted by BOHEMIANBOB at 02:05, 14 June 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: RE:
really wanted to see this - looked fun? could not believe that b] cinemas did not show this film at ANY of their venues in the Greater London area!! (I live in Central London and am familiar with the location of their difference cinemas) ... More

Posted by hampstead bandit at 20:37, 13 June 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: RE:
Just got back from this and I actually enjoyed it more than I was expecting. It won't reinvent the wheel but deserves to do better than it's going to - certainly better than some other higher profile blockbusters that have been released so far. The good - The Losers have an easy chemistry and are a fun group to watch together, Chris Evans is the standout and anyone doubting his physicality for Captain America should be satisfied here. The action zips along and although pre... More


Posted by Marwood at 23:44, 08 June 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: RE:
L: theoriginalcynic It's really poor, two stars. Instantly forgettable with some highly ridiculous action scenes. The beginning is the best part and the interesting set up but it quickly descends into nothing. The tougne in cheek bad guy has no prescence and isn't threatening at all. echo those sentiments. For sure it's one thing for an action film to not take itself too seriously and have a bit of fun in the process, but this piece of work takes that appro... More


Posted by Qwerty Norris at 02:34, 02 June 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: Great Fun
Of course no matter what I said above I very much doubt that the film is going to be hit in that the screening I went to was on a Sunday evening before a bank holiday and there must have only been about twenty people there. ... More

Posted by sanchia at 21:37, 30 May 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: Losers lost me
Loved it. I was expecting another bland, half hearted attempt at mixing action and comedy with a flawed script and shaky cameras stopping me seeing the ACTION (Which is the point of buying the ticket, Bay, Greengrass, Berg sometimes too) But no, it made me giggle too often to count, Chris Evans is one of those guys I do love watching so much, and the action was well done. Sure it's not groundbreaking by any means, but when it has Zoe Saldana in such compromising positions with limited clo... More

Posted by Ethanial at 16:45, 28 May 2010 \| Report This Post



RE:
It's really poor, two stars. Instantly forgettable with some highly ridiculous action scenes. The beginning is the best part and the interesting set up but it quickly descends into nothing. The tougne in cheek bad guy has no prescence and isn't threatening at all. ... More

Posted by theoriginalcynic at 02:15, 25 May 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: The Losers
The poster makes it look terrible, like an action version of the Ocean films. But it has a solid cast and is getting some decent buzz, I'll give it a go. ... More

Posted by ElephantBoy at 00:03, 25 May 2010 \| Report This Post

The LosersNick Berry was right — every loser wins!

The Losers
Nick Berry was right — every loser wins!