The Losers

Recently, I was told by a friend of mine that I needed to lighten up and realize that an action movie is just an action movie. He told me that I was taking the fun out of action movies if I expect them to be anything other than guns, explosions, and bad dialogue. In my defense, I don't dislike action movies on principle, just as I don't dislike romantic comedies or horror films or kids movies. I like action movies when they're done well. I dislike them when they're, well, Clash of the Titans. I don't have to worry about defending The Losers. It may not be a perfect movie by any stretch of the imagination, and it's certainly not anything more than a run-of-the-mill action movie. But it's an action movie done the way that an action movie is supposed to be done.

The Losers centers around an elite task-force of soldiers who are, when we meet them, laser-marking a drug lord's compound so that it can be bombed into a crater. Once marking it, it's quickly realized that the compound is using children as drug runners and, wouldn't you know it, a whole bus-load of them show up at the most inopportune time. The group tries to call off the strike, but a man who identifies himself as Max (Jason Patric) informs them that it's not going to happen. Being the good guys, they quickly decide to go guns blazing into the compound to rescue the kids, producing one of the best action sequences of the film. Once they've managed to get the kids out, they find out that there's only room for them or the kids on the one helicopter that was sent for them. They put the kids on, and that's quickly blown up by a missile that was clearly meant for them. Shaken and willing to disappear into hiding, they toss their dog tags into the wreckage and start trying to make their lives there in Bolivia. Since it's an action movie about a team of soldiers, we know that each of them has to have a specialty. Clay (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is the leader and tactician. Roque (Idris Elba) is the bad-ass fighter who's adept at hand-to-hand combat and loves knives. Cougar (Oscar Jaenada) is the impeccably perfect sniper. Jensen (Chris Evans) is the computer/tech guy and the smart-ass. Pooch (Columbus Short) is the pilot/driver and is mostly useless through the movie. Shortly after the movie shows us the group trying to blend in, Clay meets Aisha (Zoe Saldana) at a bar. Aisha is clearly more than she seems, and she offers her help getting the group back into the U.S. if they kill Max for her. She only offers this help after a fantastically shot fight scene that I'm still wondering why it happened at all, but that's neither here nor there. The important thing is the agreement that they make, and that sets the rest of the story in motion.

There's really not a lot here separating this movie from The A-Team, or at least what I feel we're going to be getting from the upcoming movie. They're both movies that center completely on the group of guys at the center of it. I only hope, for The A-Team's sake, that the chemistry they put together in that film comes close to this movie. The Losers is held together completely by the group of men it focuses on. That the group has been together a while feels very natural, and that isn't a small achievement. Each of them are believable in their roles. Jeffrey Dean Morgan does a good enough job as Clay that I didn't really question why anyone else would follow him implicitly. Though rank was cited as a reason for their loyalty (then dismissed by Clay in saying "We're not soldiers anymore," then re-cited later in the film when Clay pulls rank), it clearly goes beyond that. They respect Clay, and Clay reciprocates it. He gives them every opportunity to walk away. They don't. He warns them how dangerous it will be. They don't care. Sure, these are action movie tropes. But it takes a considerable amount of doing to make that feel not so cliche, and that's accomplished in The Losers. Chris Evans is fantastic in his role as Jensen. Sure, he's the comic-relief character and he's not presented as much more than that. But he plays that role with a cockiness and a wink at the camera that really keeps this from bogging down and feeling too serious. He's at the center of every great moment in this movie, and he knows it. I didn't really like him in The Fantastic Four movies because that cockiness felt too strong. He's definitely toned that down for this role, and it serves the character well. Idris Elba is solid as Roque, and his character helps give the movie some emotion. I could've pointed to Pooch's family situation as the emotional center of the movie, and I'm certain that was the intent. But Columbus Short really does little with that character or his emotional conflict, and that character in general is really a weak spot of the movie. While I was watching, I noted that he was the one character in this that I didn't care about. I cared about the villain's survival more than his and it's because the film, whether the fault of the writers or the actor, never established any kind of connection. I felt for Roque, though. Here's a guy that's served Clay loyally for a large portion of his life and career. That certainly led to the situation he found himself in. And Roque is much bigger and more skilled at combat than Clay is, so why shouldn't Roque have some say? Why shouldn't he be in charge? Why doesn't he just rip Clay's arms off and beat him to death with them? All fair questions.

I have to say also that Zoe Saldana surprised me in this movie. While she rarely did more than look pretty and kick people in the face, she really solidified herself as an action star in this. Sure, she was good in Avatar, but we never see her in Avatar. We see her without the benefit of CGI in this, and she looks good spinning around, beating people half to death, and standing on top of a container shooting a rocket launcher. She handles her part well, and even handled it better than I suspected. Over the last year or so, she's now been in two action films, a sci-fi film, and a comedy. No one can argue with her range or talent at this point. Jason Patric was really the other highlight of the film. Maybe I'm biased here. I do tend to like my villains snarky and self-reverential. Patric is both of those things personified in this. He's unpredictable as a character, and really that helps keep this from following the same path that so many action movies have tread before it. Even in ridiculous situations, his Max never loses his cool. That's not to say he isn't quick to anger. He hilariously shows it during a scene on the beach sometime around the middle of the movie. I won't spoil it, but what he does is so hilariously ridiculous that it comes completely out of left field, and the fact that he does it completely calmly is also both amusing and off-putting. Max is a villain that has an extremely large reach and a great deal of control and influence. That combined with his unhinged nature in general makes him a funny and dangerous character. Just the way I like my bad guys.

I haven't talked about the plot much, and that's because there isn't much to say about it. It does just enough things differently to not be completely predictable, but at its core it's an action movie equipped with all the tropes and cliches that one would expect. What does set The Losers apart isn't the plot, or even the dialogue (which is fantastic in parts and groan-worthy in others). Like any movie, especially an action movie, that centers on a core group of people, the chemistry and acting has to be the linchpin of the whole thing. The Losers seems to know this, and it puts a lot of emphasis on it. It may not make the movie any less formulaic and ultimately predictable, but it certainly makes it a whole hell of a lot more fun to watch.