After they’re set up, double-crossed and left for dead, Special Forces soldiers Clay (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Jensen (Chris Evans), Roque (Idris Elba), Pooch (Columbus Short), and Cougar (Oscar Jaenada) decide to lay low. Clay is eventually accosted by an operative named Aisha (Zoë Saldana), who claims to know where Max (Jason Patric), the man who betrayed the team and then tried to have them killed, can be found. Looking to clear their names and finally return home, Clay and his men agree to Aisha’s offer of assistance, employing the skills they honed on their black-ops missions to track Max down and exact a little payback, hopefully sooner than later, as Max plans to use a couple of snukes to usher in his own new world order.

CRITIQUE

While watching it, I couldn’t decide whether The Losers was trying too hard or wasn’t trying hard enough. The overall feeling is one of a movie that doesn’t seem to be taxing itself, but there are times when you can see how labored it is in trying to provide a good time. It spends half of its running time desperately trying to convince you that you’re having a far better time than you actually are, while the rest of the time it’s content to just go through the motions.

Ultimately, though, it doesn’t provide a good time, but merely an okay one, improving on its source material but never distinguishing itself from most other run-of-the-mill action flicks. If you were like me and saw the trailers and decided the movie would be best viewed (less expensively) in the comfort of your own home, you made the right call.

The ragtag group of misfits known as The Losers first appeared in DC comics back in 1969; this movie is based on the latest incarnation, which was developed by writer Andy Diggle and artist Mark “Jock” Simpson and was released in the first half of this decade. Diggle and Jock updated the group from a band of World War II anti-heroes to a modern Special Forces team. They also attempted to make the series timely and relevant, throwing in characters and institutions that were obvious parallels to members of the Bush administration, Blackwater, Halliburton, etc. This was an unwise choice (one Diggle made after foolishly scrapping plans to make the series a Kelly’s Heroes-style romp), as the shots they took at these targets were obvious and trite, resting uneasily alongside the comic’s over-the-top action and outlandish plots.

In writing the script for this movie, Peter Berg and James Vanderbilt--who previously directed and co-wrote The Rundown, respectively--wisely retain the action and plotting (although somewhat loosely) and jettison all of the attempts at timeliness. In its cinematic form, The Losers is a joke-a-minute/explosion-a-minute affair, somewhat harkening back to the heyday of the there’s-one-around-every-corner ‘80s action flick. This movie is more Commando than it is Green Zone, which is as it should be.

While it has the same sort of vibe as The Rundown, The Losers isn’t quite as entertaining. It doesn’t have a lead as forceful and charismatic, a villain as winkingly entertaining, or the over-the-top directorial slickness. Calling the shots here is Sylvain White, who previously directed Stomp the Yard. White’s calmed down a bit since then, dialing down the choppy, rapid-fire editing, but he still hasn’t managed to hammer out a style. He keeps things moving at a frenetic pace, which helps--to a degree--cover up just how empty and undernourished the movie is, but the sort of eye needed to both bring a dynamism to the action (I kept wishing Berg had directed) and truly camouflage the deficiencies of the script (such as the lack of connective tissue and the absence of an ending) isn’t there.

The first flick White directed was a direct-to-video sequel to I Know What You Did Last Summer, and the direct-to-video world is exactly where his talents would work best. Were The Losers a straight-to-disc offering, it would be something of a pleasant surprise; as a feature, though, it’s simply not up to snuff. (It could have been far worse, though. Tim Story was originally signed to direct; he eventually left to helm an inspirational sports flick that ended up being dumped straight to video. Bullet dodged.)

Most movies of this stripe--the aforementioned Kelly’s Heroes, The Dirty Dozen, The Guns of Navarone, Where Eagles Dare--make an attempt to give their characters some sort of personality. Sure, many of them resort to archetypes, but they still make at least some sort of effort. The Losers doesn’t. Aside from Evan’s character, no one here has any sort of personality whatsoever (and Jensen’s nothing more then The Funny One). Hell, the Losers themselves don’t even really get to perform the actions their individual title cards identify as their specialties.

When you boil it down, the movie’s just five dudes and a chick trying to exact revenge on another dude; aside from their choice in clothes, there’s not really much to tell them apart. The casting helps quite a bit; the actors may not get to stretch their acting muscles, but they do seem to be enjoying themselves, bringing the right sort of mindset to an endeavor that’s nothing more than a mildly entertaining excuse to trade quips and blow stuff up. Evans is great, Patric is suitably hammy (I don’t think he’s ever been this animated), and Saldana could beat up and shoot people for the rest of her career and I’d never get tired of watching her do it.

THE VIDEO

The 2.40:1/1080p transfer--encoded with VC-1--is boiling hot. White and cinematographer Scott Kevan really burned up the contrast, which results in a slightly mixed bag. Exteriors often look fantastic, and primary colors are lush and bold (which is in keeping with the visual aesthetic of the comic, which was dominated by bright reds, yellows, and oranges). Detail, even in medium and long shots, can be very impressive. On the downside, blacks aren’t as deep or solid as they could be, sapped to a modest degree by the photography’s stylizations.

THE AUDIO

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is just as loud and noisy as I was hoping. Like the movie, the sound design rarely takes a breather. The action scenes create a 360-degree wall of explosions and gunfire, with a low end that is relentless; during the infrequent moments when the movie goes quiet, the atmosphere is thick. Now here the odd thing: while it sounds perfectly fine at any other time, dialogue in the very quietest scenes is often difficult to make out, pushed way down in the mix.

French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks are also included; English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles are available.

THE EXTRAS

All of the extras here are presented in high-definition.

The three featurettes that comprise Band of Buddies: Ops Training (15 minutes total) act as a de facto making-of piece, covering the actor’s weapons training, location work, the action, etc.

The Losers: Action-Style Storytelling (10 minutes) is a conversation with Andy Diggle and Jock, who discuss their version of the comic and its translation to the big screen.

Despite featuring more footage of Saldana (never a bad thing), Zoë and The Losers (6 minutes) is largely disposable, giving the actress a chance to talk about how much ass her charter kicks and her costars and White a chance to talk about how much ass Saldana herself kicks.

Presenting a moment that will be familiar to anyone who’s read the comic, a deleted scene (1 minute) offers what would have been a setup for a possible sequel. (Given the movie’s lackluster performance at the box office, it’s a good thing this was cut.)     

Sneak Peek-Batman: Under the Red Hood (14 minutes) is an extended promo piece for the latest offering from Warner/DC’s line of animated titles.

The disc also offers BD-Live access, although there’s no movie-specific material available.

Some early pressings will also include a second disc that contains both DVD and digital copies of the movie.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Watch The Losers and later on you’ll likely remember having had fun while you did. You just won’t remember much of the movie itself.