The Losers (I) (2010)

A CIA special forces team are betrayed and left for dead by their superiors, galvanizing them to mount an offensive on the CIA.

Director:

Sylvain White

Writers:

Peter Berg (screenplay), James Vanderbilt (screenplay),

Stars:

Idris Elba, Zoe Saldana, Jeffrey Dean Morgan

1 win & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jeffrey Dean Morgan	...	Clay
Zoe Saldana	...	Aisha (as Zoë Saldana)
Chris Evans	...	Jensen
Idris Elba	...	Roque
Columbus Short	...	Pooch
Óscar Jaenada	...	Cougar (as Oscar Jaenada)
Jason Patric	...	Max
Holt McCallany	...	Wade
Peter Macdissi	...	Vikram
Peter Francis James	...	Fadhil
Tanee McCall-Short	...	Jolene (as Tanee McCall)
Mark Ginther	...	Goliath Guard
Daniel Kalal	...	Goliath Guard
Colin Follenweider	...	Goliath Guard
Garrett Warren	...	Goliath Guard

Storyline

A tale of double cross and revenge, centered upon the members of an elite U.S. Special Forces unit sent into the Bolivian jungle on a search and destroy mission. The team-Clay, Jensen, Roque, Pooch and Cougar -find themselves the target of a lethal betrayal instigated from inside by a powerful enemy known only as Max. Presumed dead, the group makes plans to even the score when they're joined by the mysterious Aisha, a beautiful operative with her own agenda. Working together, they must remain deep undercover while tracking the heavily-guarded Max, a ruthless man bent on embroiling the world in a new high-tech global war.

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Plot Keywords:

mission | cia | special forces | betrayal | suicide mission | 

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Taglines:

Jensen - Comms And Tech

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

14A

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Warner Bros. [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 April 2010 (Canada)

Also Known As:

Los perdedores

Filming Locations:

Arecibo, Puerto Rico

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£391,938 (UK) (28 May 2010)

Gross:

$23,527,955 (USA) (11 June 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Dark Castle Entertainment, Weed Road Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The uniforms that the security company at the end of the film wears is the Navy Working Uniform made from digital camouflage. The color and pattern was designed specifically for the U.S. Navy. This is the first movie to be shown with this uniform worn by anyone.

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Goofs

At the end of the movie, during the soccer game when Jensen's niece is knocked down; Jensen runs onto the field and in the background you see the rest of the Losers leaving the bleachers towards the field. But when Cougar spots Jensen in the binoculars everyone is sitting down.

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Quotes

Jensen: Did you know that cats can make one thousand different sounds and dogs can only make ten? Cats, man. Not to be trusted.
Pooch: You know what? Do me a favor - NEVER say that again.

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Crazy Credits

The Warner Bros/Dark Castle/Vertigo (DC Comics)/Weed Road Pictures logos are seen in panels from "The Losers" comics, sporting their color scheme.

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Connections

References Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

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Soundtracks

The Oath
Written by Tom Morello & Boots Riley
Performed by Street Sweeper Social Club
Courtesy of Street Sweeper Social Club
Boots Riley appears courtesy of Epitaph Records

User Reviews

a guilty Saturday-afternoon pleasure

The Losers isn't a movie I can recommend outright as a really fantastic example of its genre, far from it. It has some logical gaps, especially towards its ending with the character resolutions (or lack thereof), and the use of slow-motion in the action scenes already dates it to an extent by its 'Hipness'. But it's also got just the right attitude, humor and energy to get by as what I might call a 'Saturday afternoon' quickie. This is the kind of flick that a guy would watch when he should be doing something else around the house or something. It's tough and unapologetic and a little too slick to be anything else than what it is. I enjoyed The Losers against my better judgment.

The premise and follow-through is kind of predictable, as it's about a group of elite fighters (think the A-Team) who get double-crossed by a rogue CIA agent and find a possible entry point with a mysterious woman to get back at him and clear their names. We see who will probably betray who, or what twists might occur, and sure the BIG WEAPON (in caps) that is used by Max (played with a cartoon character debonair by Jason Patric) is so preposterous as to be wholly entertaining. But the cast is up for playing these parts with every ounce of fun and excitement in the material, and I liked seeing the camaraderie between Morgan, Evans and Elba (the latter really coming into his own as a star), and Zoe Saldana shows off again how she's becoming a formidable talent in Hollywood films.

It's a hard movie to always defend for its plot inconsistencies, but it works in its own lets-just-play-it-loose logic. And sometimes the actors just cut loose, which is nice; seeing Chris Evans somehow inject life into using 'Don't Stop Believing' by Journey in an espionage scene is one of the most brilliant things of the year (if only because, simply, how could you use that song again after the Sopranos). And when it comes time for the BIG action set-piece at the end, it gives a good dose of what action movie fans look for: plausible implausibility, some gritty violence (albeit PG-13, it's still pretty intense), and a few real surprises in the course of events, for better and worse. I can't stress enough that it's not a particularly high achievement in its sort of movie. But for what it sets out to achieve, it does alright, which is enough sometimes.