Losers By Name, Losers By Nature

THE LOSERS (Blu-ray)

Release Date: October 11th, 2010
Certificate: 12
Running Time: 97 minutes

Director: Sylvain White

Cast: Zoe Saldana, Jason Patric, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chris Evans, Idris Elba

Based on the Vertigo graphic novel by Andy Diggle, The Losers is not just the latest in a long line of screen adaptations, but also the latest in a long line of them to not live up to fans expectations. Where movies like Watchmen and The Dark Knight benefit from tight writing, plot development and insightful dialogue, The Losers fails because of its lack of.

Written for the screen by Peter Berg and James Vanderbilt and featuring an ensemble cast, the story is about a group of CIA operatives (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chris Evans, Idris Elba, Columbus Short and Oscar Jaenada) who are stranded in Bolivia after being presumed dead when a search and destroy is sabotaged. They team up with a mysterious woman named Aisha (Zoe Saldana) to track down the man responsible; the dastardly Max (Jason Patric), a power-hungry warmonger who wears one sequined glove.

Adapted from the first two volumes of the graphic novel, “Ante Up” and “Double Down”, the film was intended to be directed by Peter Berg before Sylvain White came on board with James Vanderbilt working on the screenplay with Berg.

What’s lacking in The Losers is the films ability to draw the viewer in with real action, excitement, spectacle and intrigue. Although the opening sequence featured a helicopter full of children being blown to bits, it doesn’t seem to fit with the rest of the tone it sets. It goes for the comedy and almost every line delivered by Chris Evans as the “tech and comms guy” is a wisecrack which quickly becomes a hindrance to moving the story along. This makes it hard to connect with the rest of the characters who remain undeveloped.

The writers decided to leave out a substantial amount of material originally featured in the first two volumes of the graphic novel because they might be able to go back to it in a sequel, depending on how this one does. This looks highly unlikely seeing as it only managed to make back the $25 million from its budget with a total gross of $29 million. In conclusion, The Losers makes the A-Team and The Expendables look highly watchable in contrast.