The Philippine Online Chronicles

When we think of summer blockbuster movies, there are a number of things we look for. A big part of this would be spectacle, to see some big things happening on the big screen. Also we expect to be entertained throughout, with no lulls, no letup in the action or the fun. We are willing to overlook certain things, say cliché stories or stereotypical characters, as long we get the summer flick treats that we are looking for.

The Losers is well aware of what we’re looking for, and it delivers all these things and more, with such generosity and abundance that by the end I was wishing for a sequel to come out very very soon.

We are introduced to the titular losers, headed by Jeffrey Dean Morgan (who comic book fans will know also portrayed The Comedian in Zack Snyder’s adaptation of Watchmen), as they are in the middle of what is supposed to be a simple op in Bolivia. Get in, raze the target, get out. But then things take a turn for the worse and then some.

Revenge fantasy

Our hero team is framed for a crime they didn’t commit (just like one of my favorite action teams of all time, with their own movie coming out soon) and they lose their ranks, their identities, and a good part of their dignity (as shown in a few quick, funny scenes). But we know this can’t last long, and with the entry of the sultry Zoe Saldaña into the picture, it isn’t long before The Losers are making their way out of Bolivia and doing a slow-mo power walk to remind us how cool they are and how they are on their way to take care of business.

This slow-mo power walk is only one of the many clichés that this film deploys, but rather than feeling old and used, The Losers manages to make it fun and self-referential. This movie is interesting precisely because it is aware of all the clichés and stereotypes and archetypes in action movies that it is playing into, and it manages to play with all of these different things to come up with something fresh, new, and fun.

The story is pretty basic; it’s a revenge fantasy, with our righteous, wronged heroes going up against a bad guy oozing with evil. If you can’t tell by the way that he is first shown, the camera always avoiding his face, focusing on his suit, with his back to some sad third-world scientists as he addresses them menacingly, then you should know by the fact that he wears only one glove.

Jason Patric plays it preposterously evil as a Roger Moore-era Bond baddie, which lets us know that this movie isn’t taking itself too seriously, and so neither should we. If we are to believe in a character like Patric’s Max, then we can accept all the zaniness that happens in the world created by The Losers.

This world is crafted amazingly well by director Sylvain White, whose previous work I am unfamiliar with, except for Stomp the Yard. But he shows a deft hand here, and with his cinematographer Scott Kevan, he provides us with some well-executed shots. As the film trots around to various locations and puts us through all kinds of rides and chases and shoot-outs, we are treated to numerous “wow” shots.

Scripted by Peter Berg, who’s in the superhero biz himself, and James Vanderbilt who scripted the hilarious action-comedy The Rundown, and is slated to work on the post-Raimi Spider-man reboot, The Losers doesn’t provide much that’s new by way of narrative, but it does bring us lots of snappy dialogue, great one-liners, and jokes and exchanges that are good for loads of laughs.

Solid acting

All this comes together with the great performances of the ensemble cast. Future Captain America Chris Evans plays comic relief here, and he has some extremely funny moments which I will not spoil by describing. But all of the cast get some good jokes in, and the play between the actors is always fun. You get a sense of chemistry flowing among them, and they catch each other’s lines and bounce off them at a nice, natural pace.

Thus there is a good balance of action and comedy, with just enough small, serious character bits snuck in for good measure. There’s not so much drama that the story and film’s movement get bogged down by it, but the movie is fortunate to have such good actors delivering these moments. Idris Elba, who I still can’t stop thinking of as The Wire’s Stringer Bell, brings a heft and gravity to his character, and his exchanges with Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Clay come with just the right amount of menace. Saldaña isn’t really given much to do, acting-wise (well, she does have some impressive action scenes and a rather impressive fight/ seduction as a fire rages on in the background, an illogical scene, but beautifully shot) but she has her moments. And the aforementioned Evans as the team’s comms expert Jensen is sure to be a crowd favorite.

Adrenaline rush

And the action, wow, the action. This movie does inhabit a rather improbable world, but there is a sense of urgency and weight to the action despite that. There are just very-well-staged gunfights. If there were something for me to complain about, it’d be that the camera gets a bit too in-close and shaky at times, emulating Bourne combat. But it’s a minor thing given all of the other sequences, the big action set-pieces, and the film's ability to deploy great, humorous moments within the well-choreographed action.

The Losers is a film that is more style than substance, but it is never so stylized as to lose its audience or to lose sense of the story it’s trying to tell. This feels like it was calibrated to really please a summer movie audience, and in that sense it succeeds wildly. The movie isn’t overburdened with ambition, rather it sets some pretty simple goals for itself. But by showing some good technical artistry, good performances, and a great sense of fun, it provides loads of laughs and pulse-pounding action. When I think of what I want in a summer movie, from now on I will think of The Losers.