Review: The Losers

They are a team of fugitives who have been framed for a crime they didn't commit and are now trying to prove their innocence while at the same time assisting a woman who knew how to find them and try and bring down the guys that framed them in the first place. If you think the A-Team movie has come early then you're wrong but this is essentially the plot of The Losers which is apparently a comic book adaptation of the DC book of the same name. But this isn't really a comic book movie in the vein of Iron Man or Watchmen, although there are some cool graphics as we are introduced to the characters and are updated on the locations this is essentially a jovial action blockbuster. At the beginning we are told what each member of the team does Clay is the leader, Roque is second in command, Jensen is the tech guy, Cougar shoots people a lot and Pooch seems to be the one in charge of giving the team various weapons. Max the typical bad guy is trying to create hyper-weapons in order to insight war between the U.S.A. and other countries but that really isn't very important. The Losers are hired by Aisha to help bring Max down but we're not sure why till later in the film. However The Losers isn't really a film so much concerned with the plot as it is with the entertaining scenes featuring banter between the group and carefully crafted fight-scenes and set pieces.

After doing his bit as The Comedian in Watchmen last year, Jeffrey Dean Morgan does his gruff charming routine once again but this time isn't a sleazy as Clay. Morgan is able to hold everything together while at the same time romancing/fighting Zoe Saldana's Aisha. Saldana herself is once again playing the kick-ass female character but, unlike in Avatar, she isn't blue so the laddish fantasies seem a little more normal this time around. The Wire's Idris Elba is suitably sulky as Roque and his clashes with Clay over various missions are some of the highlights of the movie while Oscar Jaeneda is cool as he uses a sniper rifle and wears an impressive hat and Columbus Short seems to be sulking in the background as he keeps going on about missing his wife. But it is Fantasic Four's Chris Evans who steals the show as Jensen, the one scene in which he is almost caught meddling at a bank is probably the film's best while Jason Patric blends both sarcasm and menace as cheesy villain Max. At the end of the day this is entertaining fare which is light on plot but high on explosions and blokey banter. Some scenes, such as the opening in which a plane carrying lots of children is blown up and a later scene involving a cock fight, seem a little out of place and the multiple endings seem a little jarring. But if you like you're films light on plot and big on action The Losers is definitely one to check out.