The Losers (2010)
I'm a big fan of bang, bang shoot 'em up movies, it's one of my favorite genres, but for some reason, this movie was painful to watch. It had everything it needed: mercenaries with a conscious, bad guys with no remorse and the ability to kill children, and explosions. So why didn't I like it?
I think part of the reason was because there was no chemistry between the characters. They were flat. They tried to give them some personality, like Jensen having a niece in a soccer tournament or Pooch having a family, but it seemed forced. I mean, really? These bad asses who covertly go into other countries are going to have ties? Um, probably not. I appreciate the effort to humanize them, but it didn't work.
Then their relationships to one another seemed forced. The film starts out with 4 of them in a jungle playing poker and gambling with weapons. That sets up an expectation right there that the only connection they have to one another is through violence. I understand that after going on so many missions together that they would care for one another, but that didn't come across on screen. They tried, but, again, it didn't work. Roque folded too easily. Clay was way too trusting of women, especially after his track record. I understand that this might have been the point, but it didn't work for me.
The movie was based off a comic book, and I know that there are time constraints in a film. What may have taken several series to build up in a book had to be portrayed in under 2 hours on film, but there are things the director could have done. The Expendables is pretty much the same film as this one, but I thought it was done so much better. The relationships between the men seemed more fleshed out without being overly done, and they didn't have any ties. They tried, but because of the nature of their work, it didn't work out.
The Losers had some funny parts, and I chuckled a few times, but overall I wasn't blown away (literally and figuratively) by anything that occured on screen.
Has anyone else seen this film? What did you think?
