Review: The Losers

The Losers

Opening Date: 04/23/2010

STUDIO: Warner Bros.

RUN TIME: 98 min

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

The Charge
Anyone else would be dead by now.

Opening Statement
Okay, so here’s the deal: The Losers isn’t exactly a great movie, or even a very good one. It’s awkward, it feels incomplete, it’s clichéd and it’s awfully dumb at times. Despite all of this, the film is an entertaining one that I confess to enjoying more than I probably should have.

Facts of the Case
The plot centers around a group calling themselves “The Losers.” The group is comprised five men, all of whom have distinct names and memorable faces. There’s Clay (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Watchmen), Roque (Idris Elba, Obsessed), Pooch (Columbus Short, Whiteout), Jensen (Chris Evans, Sunshine) and Cougar (Oscar Jaenada, The Limits of Control). When we meet these men, they’re on a special ops mission in Bolivia. They’re asked to engage in a mission that will result in the death of several dozen innocent children. The team declines, instead choosing to carry out their task in a way that is much riskier but which also ensures that the children live. At least, that was the plan. After the mission is carried out and the children are placed on a rescue helicopter, the helicopter is destroyed by Max (Jason Patric, The Alamo), the team’s mysterious military superior. Max made the mistake of assuming that the rebellious team would be on the rescue chopper rather than the kids.

Feeling embittered and vengeful, The Losers strike out on their own and determine to hunt down Max and get payback. Eventually, they receive assistance in the form of a beautiful young woman named Aisha (Zoe Saldana, Star Trek), who for unknown reasons also wants to get back at Max and who conveniently has a whole lot of money to pour into plotting his demise. However, the team is working on a tight time frame, as Max is working on gaining access to some weapons of mass destruction (ridiculous devices known as “snukes”) that will destroy countless lives if he gets his hands on them.

The Evidence
The Losers is either one of the most frustrating films of the year or one of the most surprisingly satisfying, depending on your perspective. On the one hand, it shoots itself in the foot in so many ways that one can’t help but marvel about how many missed opportunities are contained within the movie. On the other hand, the fact that it still manages to be so enjoyable despite so many flaws is a testament to both the charm of the cast and to the direction of Sylvain White (who previously helmed Stomp the Yard). It’s a big, dumb, goofy action movie with about as many pros and cons as one can imagine for such a film.

The characters don’t feel like real human beings at any point, but rather like thinly-drawn character types only given enough development to allow us to tell them apart. Even so, the cast members (particularly Morgan, Saldana and Evans) play these roles with such enthusiasm and vigor that we end up liking these people and caring about them despite their lack of depth. The thinnest character is probably the villain, whose motivations never feel remotely credible. Considering that, it’s kind of remarkable that Jason Patric turns the character into the film’s most entertaining, generating quietly hilarious sleaze at every turn. The dynamic between Max and his subordinate (played by Holt McCallany, Vantage Point) amusingly recalls the relationship between Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor and Ned Beatty’s Otis in the Richard Donner Superman films.

The action scenes get increasingly ridiculous as the film progresses, which is surprising considering that they begin as less-than-believable. This is offset by the film’s pace, which never really pauses long enough to allow us to consider just how remarkably stupid something may be. The movie falls to pieces in retrospect, but odds are pretty strong that you’ll have a good time while you’re actually watching it. Sylvain White helms the action sequences with flair and confidence, maintaining both a considerable energy level and much-welcomed clarity.

The movie also feels conspicuously like two-thirds of a film rather than a finished product. I haven’t felt that way about a film since Next, the silly but compelling Nicholas Cage thriller that just kind of stopped about 30 minutes before it should have. The same thing happens in The Losers, which would be remarkably frustrating if the closing scenes didn’t do such a nice job of forcing us to exit the theatre in a spirit of goodwill. Still, I’m not a fan of the fact that the movie is clearly leaving the ending for a sequel that may or may not happen (you can’t even count on the simple things like the good guy blowing up the bad guy anymore, apparently).

The Verdict
I can’t really blame anyone who chooses to label The Losers a mindless waste of time, but truthfulness in reporting demands that I tell you that I enjoyed the film despite its problems. I neither recommend it nor urge you to avoid it.

7/10

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