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- Blu-ray: The Losers
- Rating: PG-13
- Starring: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chris Evans, Zoe Saldana, Jason Patric
- Written By: Peter Berg, James Vanderbilt
- Directed By: Sylvain White
- Distributor: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
- Original Year of Release: 2010
- Extras: See Below
- Series: Losers, The
The Losers Blu-ray Review
Hi-Octane Comic Book Action By
Tim Janson
July 24, 2010
The Cast of The Losers
© Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
The Losers is based on a comic book series published By DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint but the story is so silly that it might as well have come with an Archie Comics logo. Finding out that Archie was having a three-way with Betty and Veronica would be less ridiculous than the plot of this film. Clay (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Jensen (Chris Evans), Roque (Idris Elba), Pooch (Columbus Short) and Cougar (Oscar Jaenada) are members of an elite United States Special Forces team on a mission in the Bolivian jungle. A side note…has there ever been a Special Forces unit that didn’t have “elite” as its prefix? You never hear about a “run-of-the-mill” Special Forces unit, do you? At any rate, they are assigned to laser target the stronghold of a drug lord so it can be destroyed with an air strike.
However when the team sees that they have a group of children as hostages they try to abort the attack. When the mysterious CIA commander Max refuses to abort, Clay and his men rush in to save the children and get them aboard a rescue chopper, only to see it blown out of the sky by a missile intended to kill the team. They are now stuck in Bolivia, believed to be dead, and disowned by the U.S. government. Clay is approached by the beautiful but secretive Aisha (Zoe Saldana) who says she can help the team get back to the U.S. and get revenge on Max (Jason Patric).
While its fine to base a film on a comic book, The Losers never allows its characters to develop and they end up being as flat as the two dimensional panels they originated from. For some, such as Patric, this works just fine. He revels in being so sadistically bad that he shoots his assistant for not keeping him properly covered with an umbrella. Unfortunately none of the other characters are as interesting. Evans gets to have the most fun by being the smart-ass of the team with witty one-liners but the rest are just along for the ride. We’re told that Clay always gets the team in trouble when it comes to women so naturally he and Aisha have an affair but at least the bad chemistry between the pair ends in a gun battle once Clay discovers the secret she is hiding.
There are loads of action in The Losers…fights, shootouts, explosions, and even the threat of a tactical nuke. Things don’t get any more absurd than the team using a giant magnet attached to a helicopter to steal an armored car that they believe Max is traveling in. I’m not an expert in aerodynamics, but I’m guessing there’s no way that helicopter is getting the armored car a foot off the ground, yet alone flying above city skyscrapers. The Losers isn’t horrible but it is relatively hollow. The clichéd characters even do the requisite scene where they walk shoulder-to-shoulder in slow motion to show just how determined they are. Despite the violence the film managed a PG-13 rating, likely because its action is relatively tame despite the hail of bullets that fly around throughout.
The Losers is never dull but neither will it remain with you more than a few moments after the final credits roll.
Blu-Ray Extras
Despite being released by Warner Bros., The Losers does not featured Warner’s awesome “Maximum Movie Mode” which tells you they even view this as a second tier release. There are a few short featurettes:
Zoe and The Losers (5:41) Looks at how Zoe Saldana interacted with a mostly male cast and the physical work that went into playing her role.
Action Style Storytelling (10:09) This featurettes interviews the comic book creators as they discuss the influences on the comic series and their thoughts on the big screen film.
Walk the Ops Walk (5:41) The Cast and technical advisors talk about some of the training and weapons used in the film and how they tried to achieve authenticity.
Transforming Puerto Rico (5:21) This looks at how the production and design teams transformed Puerto Rico into the various locations seen in the film.
Going Deep Into the Action (5:50) Director Sylvain White discusses his vision for the film
First Look at Batman: Under the Red Hood (13:46) A look at DC Comics latest animated direct-to-video film.
Digital Copy of Film
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Definitely a disappointment after Andy Diggle had already written an incredible story within his comics. Patric was annoying to me as Max....I did think Chris Evans made a perfect Jensen and played his character perfectly....
Basically a renter if you are planning to watch it with a date and you want to keep her more interested in you than the movie ;)