The Losers (2010)

Fun. That's probably the best word to describe The Losers, the latest graphic novel adaptation to hit the big screen. The film centers around an elite CIA Black-Ops team - leader Clay, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Comedian in the Watchmen movie); demolitions expert and knife afficionado Roque (The Wire's Idris Elba); communications specialist Jensen (Fantastic Four's Chris Evans); driver/pilot Pooch (Columbus Short); and ace sniper Cougar (Oscar Jaenada). These guys are the best of the best, and are the ones called on to dispose of a Bolivian drug lord with, to use a cliched term I totally enjoy, extreme prejudice. Only problem is, they've been betrayed by a mysterious figure known only as Max (Jason Patric, doing his best to out-ham every Bond villain ever). The Losers are presumed dead in the aftermath of Bolivia, and eventually cross paths with Aisha (Zoe Saldana of Star Trek and Avatar fame), who offers her assistance in clearing their name, and in the words of Jensen, is truly "a badass chick".

The first thing I noticed and appreciated about The Losers was that it doesn't waste any time. It knows exactly what kind of movie it is, and doesn't try too hard to throw in excess or manufactured gravitas when it isn't necessary. The script, by Peter Berg and James Vanderbilt, is well-paced and the dialogue is mostly quick and enjoyable. We get a sense of each character through little lines here and there (Chris Evans, as usual, is the comic relief; Idris Elba, as usual, is the tough guy) without any screen time wasted on back stories that, in for the purposes of an entertaining action flick, are unnecessary. We know that these guys are soldiers, and that's really all we need to know to enjoy it when they blow stuff up.

My one significant gripe is how completely over-the-top Patric's Max is. Granted, it makes it very easy for the audience to root against someone if they are evil pure and simple, but even in an unabashed action movie, I like my villains to have a little more depth to them. It really does feel like he was a collage of every villain from the Pierce Brosnan Bond movies. Max even wears a glove to conceal an unexplained horrific injury to his left hand. I mean, come on. His character is also associated with some of the more cringe-worthy lines of dialogue that make me wonder exactly what the writers were trying to accomplish with his character.

Like I said at the start of this review, despite the super cheesy villain and occasionally questionable dialogue, The Losers is still a fun movie. If you go into it with appropriate expectations - that you're going to see a solid action movie where things blow up, dudes get shot, and the heroes throw out one-liners (some better than others) like they're candy on Halloween - you're going to have a good time. This is not a movie that pretends to make any kind of statement or rewrite what it means to be an action movie, or make you think too hard about the philosophy and politics behind global terrorism. There are twists that are predictable if you're the kind of audience member who likes to figure out what happens before it happens (I'm not - I totally just sit there and let it come at me). But if you're looking for a good way to escape for about 100 minutes, you could definitely do worse.

Rating: 3.5/5