The Losers are Winners (but not at the box office)

Yet another film I really enjoyed that had flubbed badly out of the gate. Tanking hard at this weekend's box office of a purported nine million, The Losers follows in the heels of the riotously funny Hot Tub Time Machine failure.
Based on DC comic that I've never heard of (I'm more of a Marvel guy myself), The Losers proves to be fun, albeit forgettable, film. The plot is a strictly paint by numbers good guys screwed over, want revenge, mayhem ensues, the end. I don't have any problem with this scenario as long as the payoff of big explosions, shootouts and fist fights are fun and exciting. And in this movie, they are. Jeffrey Dean Morgan coming red red hot from Watchmen gives a good grizzled performance as Clay head of the team, the Losers. His men Jensen (Chris Evans), Rogue (Idris Elba), Pooch (Columbus Short), and Cougar (Oscar Jaenady) round out the team and together join Aisha (Zoe Saldana) in a revenge killing versus uber boring villain Max, Jason Patrick. I hate Jason Patrick. I always have. He is easily one of the worst actors ever. His performance in this film will not change your mind otherwise. But it's not entirely his fault. The part is really badly written. Considering one of the films writers is now working on the Spider Man reboot, this does not fill me with confidence. I have no idea who he actually was here, some sort of rouge CIA agent I guess. It never really is explained well and the Mcguffin of the film, a snuke, is a terrible name for a weapon of mass destruction. Anyone who save the 24 parody on South Park will chuckle every time they mention it on screen.
But much like an episode of Bones or NCIS, it's not so much the plot that drives the story but the characters and here is where the film shines. Chris Evans steals the show with his hilarious performance as Comm Expert Jensen. He is electric every time he is one screen which is about 75 percent of the movie. When he's actually off the screen a little too long you start to notice, which is not a good sign for the lead. Zoe Saldana looks great in this movie and I liked her mysterious character Aishia, although that plot twist most will see coming a mile away. The rest of the team was serviceable with only the mostly silent sniper Cougar making a surprisingly strong first appearance on American screens. The directing by Syvian White was quite good from a guy who's previous films were a dance movie I've never seen and a sequel to an awful horror film, I Know What You Did Last Summer. He got the one that had none of the original cast and was even more banal than you can imagine. So Kudos to him for making a decent film. Too bad no one's going to see it.

3 out of 5 stars