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:

Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Chris Evans

1 win & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jeffrey Dean Morgan	...	Clay
Zoe Saldana	...	Aisha
Chris Evans	...	Jensen
Idris Elba	...	Roque
Columbus Short	...	Pooch
Óscar Jaenada	...	Cougar
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 | betrayal | jungle | revenge | cia | 

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Taglines:

Pooch - Transpo And Heavy Weps

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action and violence, a scene of sensuality and language

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros. [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 April 2010 (USA)

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

When Jensen unlocks Max's hard drive, the code that comes up on screen is actually the source code of the web page for ordering a trial version of MathCore, a program for compiling mathematica functions.

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Goofs

When the gang debates at the table after finding the hard drive, the second scene is altered, clearly visible because Aisha's band tattoo is suddenly on her right arm and Cougar's watch suddenly is on his left.

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Quotes

Jensen: Can you stand?
Pooch: I've been shot in *both* of my legs. What kind of dumb-ass question is that, really?
Jensen: So now we're Mister Grumpy-pants? You know, you're not the only one who got shot today.

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Crazy Credits

There is a scene in the closing credits: the Losers attend a soccer match for Jensen's niece.

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Connections

References The Matrix (1999)

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Soundtracks

"Clap for the Killers"
Written by Boots Riley (as Raymond 'Boots' Riley) and Tom Morello
Performed by Street Sweeper Social Club

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.