2010 // USA // Sylvain White // April 29, 2010 // Theatrical Print (AMC Esquire)
C - Adapted from the comic of the same name by writer Andy Diggle and illustrator Jocks, The Losers suffers from a sloppy sort of faithfulness to its source material's story, motifs, and dialogue. Exaggerated generic elements are essential to the language of the comics medium, but on the screen, The Losers' techno-thriller gobbledygook and melodramatic tropes just seem like the markers of lazy film-making. ("Hey, if we're going to incinerate a bunch of hapless kids, we might as well linger on the charred teddy bear. Y'know, for pathos.") Still, aside from some cringe-worthy racial "humor," there's not much about this A-Team variation that's actively bad. The Losers delivers exactly what one expects of it: wise-cracking Special Forces badasses (and one obligatory hot chick) pulling off hyper-violent heists. It's often fun, occasionally funny, and utterly forgettable. Unfortunately, few of the actors seems to realize just what sort of film they're making here. The exceptions are Jason Patric as spook super-villain Max, who nails the necessary blend of menace and high camp, and to a lesser extent Chris Evans, who's clearly having fun playing a bit against type as a high-strung, motormouth hacker. Ultimately, The Losers is just ninety minutes of stuff blowing up real good.
