Wannabe A-Team.

Grade: C

The Losers

Indian Release Date: 02/07/10
CBFC Classification:  A
Running Length: 1 Hour 38 Minutes

Cast: Jeffery Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Chris Evans, Idris Elba, Columbus Short, Jason Patric, Oscar Jaenada, Holt McCallany
Director: Sylvain White
Screenplay: Peter Berg & James Vanderbilt
Cinematography: Scott Kevan
Music: John Ottman

Warner Bros latest release ‘The Losers’ plays out like a poor man’s ‘The A-Team’. Based on a DC Vertigo comic series, the movie has basically the same ingredients as ‘The A-Team’ but somehow isn’t as enjoyable as the latter.

A highly skilled special-ops military team, nicknamed ‘The Losers’ comprises of the usual suspects found in all cinematic squads of this type, Jensen – the communications guy (Chris Evans), Pooch – the driver/mechanic (Columbus Short), Roque – the demolitions expert (Idris Elba), Cougar – the sniper (Oscar Jaenada) & the leader Clay (Jeffery Dean Morgan). When a mission to assassinate a Bolivian drug lord goes horribly wrong, they go into hiding, bidding their time till they can extract revenge on the man, Max (Jason Patric), who set them up (pretty original huh?). They do get their opportunity thanks to a mysterious female, Aisha (Zoe Saldana) who wants Max dead & helps the team sneak back to the U.S. to carry out their plans. In the mean time Max is trying to acquire a new kind of W.M.D. from some Indian scientists that he plans to sell to the highest bidder; thus after plenty of hijinks & twists, the movie reaches it’s less-than-stellar climax.

The plot is strictly by the numbers & the character development mundane. Thankfully the material doesn’t take itself too seriously & actors play it tongue in cheek. One of things that work well in the movie is the interaction between the various characters; the dialogues aren’t heavy-handed but rather natural & witty in parts. The reveals in the plot are somewhat unexpected but you always know there is a twist waiting for you around the corner with the way characters & situations are left unexplained. The ending in trying to leave a door wide open for a sequel, leaves plot threads unresolved which in turn is likely to make you feel unsatisfied with the entire product. It’s not like something you’d be eagerly awaiting here but after having sat through the movie for nearly two hours, the main motive should be resolved, not a half-baked subplot.  

It is in the action sequences that the movie fails to generate any real excitement. For a movie that seems to be filled with outrageous action sequences wall to wall, with all the technical tricks modern film-making technology has to offer, not one sequence manages to stand out. There are fist-fights, knife-fights, explosions galore & no-one manages to complete their sentence without firing a gun but all of it has such a “been there, seen it” feel to it that I doubt most people would find it engrossing.

The effects are strictly low-budget (the movie itself is pretty low budget compared to most Hollywood action flicks) which makes some of the action sequences pretty laughable (especially the huge explosions involving vehicles in a few places). There is plenty of humor throughout & like I said before it’s mostly thanks to the interaction between the characters. While watching the movie often I felt like I was watching a music video & when I did look up the director it turned up he’s done quite a few in the past. The yellow/orange/teal tinge look has been overused in movies for ages now & this is no exception to the rule.

In the acting department, Chris Evans & Jason Patric are an absolute howl. Jason Patric seems to be relishing his character’s dastardly acts so much that his highly amusing performance reflects that to the tee. One scene has him ask his man-friday, Wade (Holt McCallany), for his gun, only to shoot his own assistant (without even looking at her) for failing to properly keep the umbrella over his head on a beach. Now that sounds incredibly dumb on paper but the way Patric plays it out on screen, it’s so deliciously evil to say the least. Even his scene in an Indian harem (tackily inspired by some western Kamasutra fantasy) is funny as hell. There was a time when he played the lead in many movies (Speed 2, Narc) but looks like he’d do a good job at playing the bad guy in his future career. Chris Evans gets some of the best lines & boy does he make the most of them. Evans has been someone who’s always looked like being poised on the edge of stardom with movies like the two ‘Fantastic Four’ films, ‘Sunshine’ (2007), ‘Cellular’ (2004) but never quite made it. In strange coincidence of sorts, he has a line in the movie where he goes like, “I was in a secret government experiment that gave me superpowers…”, you got to see the joke in that now that he’s going to play Captain America in next year’s big budget adaptation, ‘The First Avenger: Captain America’. Zoe Saldana (Avatar) shows off her amazingly toned body on quite a few occasions throughout. The rest of the gang does a competent job but nothing really memorable. Do listen to the atrocious Apu-like Indian accent of the scientists & shake your head in disbelief at the ignorance of the filmmakers.

‘The Losers’ isn’t too shabby, just pretty ordinary other than a decent acting turn or two & a few worthwhile jokes. If you can’t get tickets for ‘The A-Team’ & you really have to watch a movie, then maybe you could give this a try.

Final Verdict: Not really a loser, but not much of a winner either.

Grade: C

 

- Reviewed by Danish Bagdadi

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