Title: The Losers.
Rated: PG-13.
Director: Sylvain White.
Screenplay: Peter Berg & James Vanderbilt.
Release Date: 2010.
Runtime: 97 min.
Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Crime.
Cast: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Chris Evans, Idris Elba, Columbus Short, and many more!
Budget: $25,000,000.
Opening Weekend USA: $9,406,348.
Gross USA: $23,591,432.
My Overall Rating:★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆ (5/10).
The War on Terror has always sparked plenty of interest to the common mortal. From corruption to collusion, there isn’t anything that could send the mind whirling with ludicrous ideas as the very institutions that you’d believe impenetrable and intangible are now shaking hands with the evil that they sought to fight off. However, humans being humans, there are always those who believe in vertu, who believe in good, who believe that maybe vengeance could help achieve the ideals that were indoctrinated within them since the very beginning. Based on the comic book series published by Vertigo of DC Comics, written by Andy Diggle, and illustrated by Jock, the movie adaptation by director Sylvain White offered fans the chance to see the Losers brought to life by an impressive ensemble cast in 2010.
What is The Losers about? Focused on an elite black-ops squad composed of Clay (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Jensen (Chris Evans), Roque (Idris Elba), Pooch (Columbus Short), and Cougar (Óscar Jaenada), the story begins with an explosive stealth mission to hunt down a drug lord until it is compromised by an unknown interlocutor who goes by the name of Max (Jason Patric). When things go haywire, the team is left for dead and stripped of their normal lives forever. It’s when Aisha (Zoe Saldana) enters the game that the team is presented with an opportunity to seek revenge on the mysterious Max and regain their original American lives.
Unfortunately for The Losers, there are far too many movies that have tackled a similar plot and done it far better (see The A-Team, for example). With its relatively linear plot offering the cast little material to work with, the predictable and cliche direction accentuated its flaws in ways that the movie’s attempt at a comic book style cinematography went overboard and dragged the ship into the abyss. Anyone who looks at this movie from far would imagine a heavily action-packed and hilarious movie, especially today, when the very actors and actresses have made a name for themselves in cult favourite superhero movies. Amongst them, Chris Evans’ role was particularly impressive as a silly, awkwardly nerdy, and hilarious hacker. As for the rest, none of them stand out in any particular way, especially with their respective characterizations being less than impressive. Zoe Saldana’s role, in particular, felt superficial and inadequate as a femme fatale too.
Are there even any redeeming qualities to this movie? While it remains a brainless diversion, it is nothing spectacular to the say the least. Its inability to transform the source material into a cohesive and visually-stimulating experience essentially downplays its potential. It doesn’t help when your villain’s portrayal throughout the movie was amateurish as he makes absolutely everything he speaks of expendable. The cinematography was the final touch in this tumultuous film as unnecessary use of slow-motion, freeze-frames, shaky cameras, and ruthless close-ups make everything dastardly chaotic during action scenes. Chris Evans dancing to Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ might actually have been the ultimate saving grace for this movie.
Did I mention the extremely odd weapon of mass destruction that was featured in this movie? It shoehorned an element of science-fiction that the spectator would’ve never seen coming and felt completely out of place. I guess this might be something worth checking out just to at least see all these actors in the same scene.
The Losers (2010) is an entertaining action film despite its blatant cinematographic and story-telling flaws that forbids the impressive cast members to excel in their respective roles.
The movie adaptation of the comic book series was released back in April 2010.
Have you read any The Losers comics?
Have you seen The Losers (2010)? Will you? What did you think about it?
Share your thoughts with me!
Roars and Echoes 
I enjoyed your review 🙂 Not sure it is my type of film thou.
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Thank you for reading, Jules! Yep, might want to avoid it if it didn’t pique your interest! 😂
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I like the idea for movies like this, but it doesn’t sound like this quite carried it off.
What brought this to your attention in the first place?
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It’s fun but it’s definitely not amazing. 😂
Every month I try and review one movie based on a comic book owned by DC and I went for this one this month. Found it cool that it also basically reached its 10th anniversary too. 😂
Wait till you see what I plan on reviewing next month 😂
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I like the sound of that…
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Wow, this sounds great! 🙂 I wasn’t familiar with this one, and it sounds like that’s just as well. I recently watched one with friends that sounds vaguely similar: 6 Underground. Some folks seemed to like it but I was extremely disappointed. Oh well, they can’t all be winners.
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Hahahahaha you should definitely stay away from it if you’re not going to turn off your brain while watching it! 😂
I’ve heard of 6 Underground and have been avoiding it because of how sure I was that it would disappoint me! 😂
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Ouch, I don’t know where you unearthed this movie, but it sure sounds bad, Lashaan! 😉 Maybe it should have stayed buried… 😂
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Hahahahahaha 😂 rewatching all of those DC owned/based movies. The bad ones are to be expected. I think the next one next month will be almost just as bad if not worse. 😉
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I REMEMBER THIS MOVIE!!! Well, that might have actually been an overstatement, but I remember being in love with the trailer for the movie (the movie itself is a kind of blurr in my mind). They used a song in the trailer from the Need for Speed Carbon game and I was obsessed with that soundtrack … ANYWAY, I agree that there are movies who have done this plot or a similar one better, but I guess it also wasn’t the worst ever. I don’t have particularly bad memories about it. I had no idea it was based on comics though, so that’s an interesting fact for me to learn!
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I am actually really glad that you know about it, Kat hahahaha it sort of doesn’t surprise me too much too! 😂 And for you to make references to NFS Carbon is GOOOOLD!!! You’ve gained five points of appreciation for that 😜 I’m glad to reveal that it was based on a comics hahah Thanks for reading, Kat! 😁
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Hahaha I am always good at niche movies and even though I was never really a gamer, I sure loved my NFS haha
Always happy to please and gain appreciation points haha
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Fab review Lashaan! I think I’ll give this one a miss as I prefer to remember Christ Evans as The Captain! 😀
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Thank you, Nicki! Hahahah yes! The torture might not be too worth it, even if he’s sort of fun in this role hahah 😂
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Jeffrey Morgan looks like Javier Bardem and Brad Garrett put together. Great looking guy with expressive eyes. I’ve never watched this movie but maybe it’ll be fun just as a casual action flick.
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Hahahah I can definitely see what you mean! 😂 And that sums it up pretty perfectly. A casual action flick!
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This is the first time I’ve heard of this movie (although reading your review I might understand why…) and it’s a pity that it was unable to deliver on an interesting premise and with such a stellar cast of actors. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
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Hahahah it was easily overshadowed upon release, that’s for sure! 😂 Thanks for reading, Maddalena!
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Some great thoughts Lashaan, which I can’t really disagree with. I remember seeing The Losers a few years back…before I even knew about the comics (which I’ve never read)…and can’t honestly recall much about it, which says a lot! I think it was an okay one-off watch and it’s definitely saved by my name-sake – Chris Evans really doesn’t get enough credit as an actor, he’s fantastic as Captain America but his capacity for comedy is often overlooked. Heck, he was even enjoyable in the Fantastic Four movies!
Have you seen Red/Red 2? I think they’re vaguely similar and also based on comics, with a top cast – Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman. They’re both a fun watch.
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Hahahah it does make me laugh how much this fell off the radar for everyone, including us comic book readers. But as you can see, it was really unmemorable. And yes, Chris Evans is far from being the worse actors of the Avengers, for me at least. And yes! I actually found him good in Fantastic Four too. Although I need to revisit those movies since I was just a kid when I enjoyed those movies.
I haven’t but they’re actually queued up to be reviewed at some point on the blog. since I’m trying to review DC Comics-based movies each month. Next month will have another… mediocre one. 😀
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Cool, look forward to thoughts on Red/Red 2 then! Hope you’re keeping well and staying safe in the current pandemic situation my friend – worrying times for us all!
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Too bad it didn’t live up to your expectations.
Good movies aren’t easy to come by.
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Yep. Although I already knew beforehand that it wasn’t going to blow me away. Which is going to be the case for a couple of more DC Comics’ based movies that I’ll be reviewing in the upcoming months.
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Loved your review Lashaan. I am hoping to get better at mine over time. Have recently begun writing movie reviews even though I am a writer since a decade now. Any tips on what must and must not be included in a review or is it simply free will?
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Thank you so much, Nikita. I appreciate it a lot. I think when it comes to writing reviews, especially for ourselves and not a journal, it’s all about touching upon the elements that stood out for us as well as the overall tone/idea behind the movie. Sharing what you thought about actors, the cinematography, the score, the story and all are definitely necessary, but to look beyond it also makes your review in particular much more interesting. 🙂
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Nice!!
Please check my feed and share your thoughts
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Thanks. 🙂
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