The Losers (2010) Movie Review

Don't be fooled by the cool poster

Crappy doesn't even begin to describe how bad this movie is. Yes, that is how much I hate this movie.

Movie Summary:

The movie tells of a group of highly trained soldiers from the United States Special Forces consisting of leader Colonel Clay (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, that Danny guy from Grey's Anatomy), second in command Rouge (Idris Elba, no idea who this guy is), the hacker Jensen (Chris Evans, Human Torch in the movie Fantastic Four), sniper Cougar (Óscar Jaenada), and pilot Pooch (Columbus Short). The team, aptly named The Losers, in the beginning of the movie, is on a mission to kill a man named Fadhil in the Bolivia jungle. During the mission they were betrayed from the inside by a seemingly powerful enemy named Max. The team was presumed dead and without passports or money, are stuck in Bolivia. Cue Aisha (played by Zoe Saldana of Avatar), a wanted operative from no where with the promise of money and a way back into the US in return for Max's head. So the team goes on to take revenge on Max losing Rouge to betrayal along the way. In the end, they managed to stop Max's plan to start a war but Max himself managed to escape.

What I think of the movie:

I believe the plot or storyline is mediocre. Nothing special about it. A team of highly trained soldiers out for revenge after being betrayed. Reminds me of the awesome movie A-Team. In fact it's safe to say this is the B movie version of The A Team. The Losers are The B Team. Same basic idea, less entertaining.

The B Team

First of all I find the movie try too hard to be cool. Each and every one of the characters are portrayed to be the typical cool "highly trained" soldiers but in the end the cliches and cheesy one liners only managed to give off the impression of a pathetic attempt to be stylish. I believe the plan where they intend to capture Max in Miami can be thought of by a 10 year old. I mean seriously. A critical part of the plan was to lift up the van where Max is suppose to be in with a huge magnet attached with a chain to a helicopter. Sounds cool? Hell yes! Is it cool when carried out? A big fat NO! When the helicopter is trying to stick the magnet to the van, the bad guys started shooting at the helicopter. Obviously. But the helicopter took maybe 4 or 5 minutes to make sure the magnet is directly centered on the van. All the while it never occurred to the bad guys to actually move the van. The van just stayed put in its placed, not moving an inch letting the pilot adjust the magnet ever so carefully to stick on the van. Speechless. One more thing I find idiotic about the plot. The team is suppose to be highly trained right? Yes. There is a hacker among the team right? True. Then why the hell did it took two third of the movie to figure out that Aisha is the daughter of Fadhil? Background check fail. And how did they react when they found out? They began shooting at her. That's right. Five "highly trained" United States Special Forces emptied their guns on a girl. And guess what? They only managed to scrap her shoulder and she escaped. All together now, Facepalm.

Usually hot girls with guns are a sure success. In this movie? Not so much.

The casts are highly flawed. I don't know if the blame should fall entirely on the actors or writers. Each of the characters are supposed to have their own unique characteristics. Clay, the clear headed leader, planner of all of their operations. Rouge, the hot tempered second in command, highly skilled in close combat. Jensen, the joker hacker providing the humor. Cougar, the quiet guy on the team, genius with the rifle and Pooch the laid back married with children driver. None of the team members quite got it with their characters. Clay as the team leader is indecisive and is in no way clear headed when Aisha is around. Rouge's betrayal on the team was poorly done and seems like a huge plot hole. Jensen is the very definition of cliches. A ladies man who cracks jokes at every corner. Chris Evans as Human Torch in Fantastic Four was very funny. As Jake Jensen? Not even close. Cougar gives this aura as the quiet dangerous guy. But his quiet demeanor provokes laughter rather than awe. And Pooch? He can't seem to decide whether to be the funny black guy or the serious mature one. Together, The Losers team pretty much lived up to their name.

But, I guess there is one win in this movie:

Hot chick with missile launcher!

Thank you Mr Jensen

With that I leave you with this: The Losers is one of those action movies that only have excessive action sequence to rely on but failed at that too.