This summer we saw three variations-on-a-theme of '80s' throwback action team-up movies. The first based on a comic book by a British writer and artist duo, the second on a popular TV series and the third on the fantasies of a bunch of old men trying to relive their heyday. What was interesting to see was as the films were released, the movies got more bombastic and unbelievable as the star quota went up, and the box-office takings went up proportionally. Basically as the films (of this particular genre) got worse, the more money they made. I have a fair idea what that says about the industry and the audiences but this is not the time or place to address it.
Of those three movies - THE LOSERS, A-TEAM and THE EXPENDABLES - the best was, for me, THE LOSERS, possibly because it came out first and was an unknown quantity with no expectations. As soon as I watched it I thought it was
A-Team (the TV version by the recently departed Stephen J Cannell) but with more sex and violence, something the A-TEAM movie seemed to outdo. It may have been derivative, but it was witty and action-packed, which was undoubtedly influenced by its British origins. And the ensemble cast gave it a certain indie sensibility. Jeffrey Dean Morgan (WATCHMEN) is Clay, the leader of the group; Zoë Saldana (AVATAR, STAR TREK) plays Aisha, the love interest, and a pivotal character; Chris "the best thing in it" Evans (FANTASTIC FOUR) is Jensen, the gang's tech guy and all-round hacker; Idris Elba (
The Wire) plays Roque, the explosives expert, with a temper to match; Columbus Short (STOMP THE YARD) is Pooch, who's in charge of transportation; and Oscar Jaenada (CHE: PART TWO) is the marksman Cougar. The film also stars Jason Patric (IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH) as Max, the rogue government agent, who is the target of their mission.
One of the problems with films like this is they don't stand up to much scrutiny, or second viewing. They aren't meant to contain profound or subtle messages, or to be taken too seriously because, for the most part the action is totally implausible. For example, there is a fight between Morgan and Saldana in a hotel room, and the slip of a girl is throwing the hefty frame of Morgan around the room. He also gives as good as he gets, and she manages to escape on her hands and knees with a gratuitous shot of her rear. This is pretty indicative of what the film represents, although there is a lot more blowing shit up than the close-contact fighting.
Of course it looks better on a big screen, but seeing it for a second time on DVD, knowing what was to come, and having already seen its two big budget rivals, I was expecting to be a little disappointed. However, it is still a fun action movie that doesn't go too over the top (comparatively) and the screenplay, by HANCOCK director Peter Berg, still zings along. If, for some reason, you didn't see it on its cinema release then do check it out.
The extras are a fairly standard set of behind-the-scenes featurettes. For collectors amongst you, there are two different Blu-ray/DVD combipacks available. One with The Losers comic and one with artwork from comicbook artist Jock.
THE LOSERS is out now on DVD and Blu-ray combipack from Optimum Releasing and is available from Play and all good retailers.
