The Losers review

"The Losers" is perhaps some of the most fun I've had watching something in the realm of PG-13 action that's not 3D or based around superheroes or sci-fi. The key to the movie is honestly... the release date. Had 'The Losers' been knocked back into the real heat of the summer movie season or into the early fall there's a hefty chance it would've blended in with a lot of the other movies in the same field (i.e. 'The A-Team' or 'The Expendables') and thus wouldn't have the same pop and flair it's got now. Have you seen this film? Yeah probably. This was the type of action picture that came around like clock work in the 90's and offered that ambiguous rating that smeared PG-13 and R together so the only way to know the different was with nudity or counting the 'fucks'. Early Michael Bay, Tony Scott, John Woo (both U.S. and Hong Kong), Robert Rodriguez's 'Mariachi' trilogy and others making crazy fun and gleefully ridiculous action films in which darkness wasn't a consequence for getting into shoot-outs or blowing up air plan hangers. Remember "Con Air"? Did that shit make sense? Hell no, but was it fun to watch? Yes. Sorry I'm I don't find joy in the watching of human condition films day in and day out. Generally when you have troubles of your own, the problems of attractive young people living pretty well tend to effect you slightly less than intended.

In anycase this is a big reason why "The Losers" is good, it just feels like a 90's throwback, man-on-a-mission exploitation flick. However that alone doesn't make it enjoyable. Credit goes highly to it's cast. Really I loved how it's not the typical cast of action hero stars we see in every movie. I fucking like Jeffery Dean Morgan as Clay, the leader of the bunch, Idris Elba is always exciting to watch, even in the episodes of "The Office" he starred in. I've said this about a thousand times, but Zoe Saldana and Columbus Short are making quick work of becoming major players and then we have Chris Evans aka Captain America and formerly Johnny Storm and Oscar Jaenada who's got quite a tracklist, but few major flicks. I have a sneaking suspicion that could change after this. And then Jason Patric as Max, the Keysor Soze like villain who attempted to kill the losers after they completed a mission he headed and is now trying to buy 'green arms'. If anything I'd say he's more an old school Bond villain than a Soze in the film, but it's still fun to watch Patric play a villain in a bigger film than he's had of late.

Now again I stress that you've probably seen this film and could easily dismiss it or discard it like nothing new and you wouldn't be wrong except for the fact that we don't really get these films any more. So much emphasis is placed on darkening subject matter and putting a more realistic and humanistic face on things that the market is filled with it. "The Losers", isn't heartless (after all one of the things that prompts their revenge plot is the murder of children), but it breaks from that by delivering a boat load of action, mildly witty jokes that... ehh... do the trick frankly and style. The screenplay penned by Peter Berg (director of 'The Rundown' and 'Hancock') and James Vanderblit ('Zodiac') helps place it in that 1995-1997 early summer action flick world. Best of all it's a film done on a budget that again proves that mega stars and $100 million don't make the movie all the time. And also Joel Silver and Warner Brothers backing up director Sylvain White, who's only real claim to fame is "Stomp the Yard" (it made money I guess...), but impressively handled big action set pieces and brought something fresh back into the genre. All and all it was a good call.

Now I do also urge people to read the graphic novel. It is equally fun, albeit a bit more graphic in it's violence; but a damn entertaining series. "The Losers" taps onto that mainstream, general audience thing for those looking for 90 minutes of escapist thrills and spectacle where shutting your brain off is fine and you'll have a good time. Fans of old school Bruckheimer or just general fans of the works of Luc Besson, you know have something new to watch and enjoy.