Many modern-day movies have to cater to the short attention span of today’s youth, often causing the production value to suffer. When done right, however, the result can be fun and exciting.
Fast, explosive, and in-your-face, The Losers takes the action-comedy genre by storm. A big screen adaptation of a lesser-known comic book sounds like a stretch, like Hollywood is getting desperate. As they are. The Losers, however, proves that when backed into a corner, the movie industry can pop out something enjoyable.
The Losers is vaguely reminiscent of the 1980s television show The A-Team (which is getting a movie adaptation as well, to be released this coming summer). A team of CIA black ops, called the Losers, is betrayed and left to die during a mission in Bolivia, resulting in their going into hiding while they develop a plan to get their old lives back.
The nonstop action throughout The Losers could keep the attention of even the most attention deficit-stricken viewer, but the most enjoyable aspect of the movie is its stars. The first scene introduces all of the main characters, what assets they bring to the team, and their sense of a humor, an integral part of the entire project.
Out of all of the Losers, Jensen, the communications and technology specialist, truly steals the show. He could be considered the “comic relief” character, but since the majority of the characters are hilarious, he will be remembered by many viewers as “the funniest one.” Jensen is played by Chris Evans, who has displayed proficiency as a wise-cracking action star multiple times in the past, in movies such as Push and Fantastic Four. His career is picking up at such a swift rate that he has already been cast as the infamous super-soldier Captain America in the movie The First Avenger: Captain America, slated for release in 2011.
Men will be tempted to see The Losers for more than just its over-the-top action and slick sense of humor. Aisha, played by Zoë Saldana (Star Trek), can easily be classified as this movie’s “eye candy.” Stunningly beautiful with bigger weapons than the men and a morally ambiguous cause, Aisha epitomizes the “tough action girl” role, and she wears this title with pride.
One of the only complaints about The Losers is its use of the “shaky cam” filming style, which attempts to make the action feel more realistic. In a movie riddled with explosions, crazy weapons and huge gun battles, is realism a concept that has any hope for salvation? The shaky camera is by no means unique to The Losers; countless action flicks in the past have employed this pointless technique. It didn’t work then and it doesn’t work now. A complaint aimed more towards the action movie genre as a whole than The Losers specifically, the shaky camera must stop. Not only is it nauseating, it makes the movie incredibly hard to follow.
The Losers is based on an action-packed comic book series, and it stays true to its roots. “The Losers is a fourteen year old boy’s idea of ‘freaking awesome,’” says Mike McGranaghan of AisleSeat.com.
With plenty of shoot-outs, explosions, comedy and beautiful women, this movie is not attempting to reinvent a genre or go down as the greatest comic book movie of all time. It strives to entertain its audience during the entirety of its runtime, and it does just that. Says Brett Erlich of The Rotten Tomatoes Show, “…The action’s good, and Chris Evans and company are entertaining.”
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