Three out of
Five stars
Running time:
98 mins
As stylish as it is implausible, this is an enjoyable action / adventure romp with colourful performances and a decent script, though it probably doesn't pay to think about it too hard.
What's it all about?
Directed by Sylvain White, The Losers is based on the comic by Andy Diggle and stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Clay, the leader of a group of black-ops soldiers that includes wisecracking tech expert Jensen (Chris Evans), smooth-talking driver-pilot Pooch (Columbus Short), monosyllabic sniper Cougar (Oscar Jaenada) and demolitions expert Roque (Idris Elba). While on a mission in Bolivia, the group realise that their mysterious boss Max (Jason Patric) intended for them all to die in a rigged-to-explode helicopter, so they fake their deaths and lie low, plotting their revenge.
Help arrives in the shapely form of Aisha (Zoe Saldana), who tells Clay that she can help them get to Max and foil his Bond villain-like plans for world domination. But can she be trusted?
The Good
The Losers plays out like a dry run for this summer's A-Team movie (essentially it's The B-Team), to the point where you feel that they're lucky they released their film first. Morgan makes a solid, likeable lead as Clay and he also has decent chemistry with Saldana, who's extremely sexy as Aisha, even if White does include a few more close-ups of her arse than are strictly necessary.
In addition, Patric hams it up to great effect as Max and there's strong comic support from Evans and Short. On top of that, White orchestrates some stylish and impressive set-pieces, most notably a scene where Jensen sneaks into an office building and has to improvise his way out.
The Bad
Fans of the comic will be pleased to know that the script sticks pretty closely to the source material and there are plenty of good one-liners and running gags, such as Jensen using his tech skills to track the progress of his niece's soccer team, the Petunias. The only real problem with the film is that the implausibilities are piled on a little too high, particularly during the explosion-heavy climax, where it's obvious you're not supposed to think about it all that much.
Worth seeing?
Stylishly directed and nicely acted, The Losers is an enjoyable, if forgettable, Friday night action romp. Worth seeing.