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The Losers (2010 film)

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The Losers
A group of six looking down from above, with the word "Losers" in the center.
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySylvain White
Screenplay by
Story by
Produced by
Starring
Narrated byGérard Depardieu
CinematographyScott Kevan
Edited by
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures (United States)
Hollywood Pictures (Through Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures) (Worldwide)
Release date
  • April 23, 2010 (2010-04-23)
Running time
97 minutes
CountryTemplate:Film US
LanguageEnglish
Budget$25 million[1][2][3]
Box office$29,379,723[1][2]

The Losers is a 2010 American action based on the adaptation of the Vertigo comic book series of the same name by Andy Diggle and Jock. Directed by Sylvain White, the film features an ensemble cast that includes Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Idris Elba, Zoe Saldana and Chris Evans, was filmed in Arecibo, Caja de Muertos, Canóvanas, Hato Rey, Pinones, Rio Grande, San Juan and Santurce in Puerto Rico, Brickell Key, Miami and South Beach in the state of Florida in the United States and was also the first film produced by Hollywood Pictures since The Invisible in 2007.

The film received mixed to negative reviews from critics and drew comparisons to The A-Team, a remake of which was released shortly after The Losers premiered.

Plot

The Losers are an elite black-ops team of United States Special Forces operatives, led by Clay (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and formed by Roque (Idris Elba), Pooch (Columbus Short), Jensen (Chris Evans) and Cougar (Óscar Jaenada), who are sent to Bolivia in a search-and-destroy mission on a compound run by a drug lord. While painting a target for an upcoming air strike, the Losers spot slave children in the compound and try to call off the attack, but their superior, codenamed "Max" (Jason Patric), ignores their pleas.

With no other option, the Losers enter the compound, successfully rescue the children and kill the drug lord in the process. As a helicopter arrives to pick them up, Max, convinced that they know too much, orders it to be destroyed, unaware that they decided to rescue the children first. The Losers watch as a missile destroys the helicopter and kills 25 innocents. Knowing that the attack was meant to kill them, they fake their deaths and become stranded in Bolivia, determined to get revenge on the mysterious Max.

Four months later, Clay is approached by Aisha (Zoe Saldana), a mysterious woman who offers him the chance to kill Max, against whom she wants revenge. Clay accepts and Aisha arranges for the Losers to return to the United States, where they proceed to attack a convoy supposedly carrying Max, only to discover that they were tricked by Aisha into stealing a hard drive with Max's secrets.

Unable to access the files, Jensen infiltrates the company that made the drive and steals an algorithm that allows him to crack the code, discovering that the drive contains credits for a $400 million transfer in Max's name, which he received for selling "Snukes" - eco-friendly bombs with the potency of a nuclear warhead, but no fall-out - to international terrorists. Tracing the money flow to the Los Angeles International Port Of Entry, which the Losers deduce is Max's base, a plan is formed to attack it and kill Max.

While studying the drive, Jensen discovers that their mission in Bolivia was a cover so Max could steal the drug lord's money, and that Aisha is the man's daughter, seeking to reclaim what Max stole from her. After her cover is blown, Aisha shoots Jensen and escapes. Believing that she might betray them, the Losers decide to speed up their attack on Max's base, only to be betrayed by Roque and captured by Max and his right-hand man and chief of security, Wade (Holt McCallany).

As the Losers are lined up to be executed, Aisha returns and ambushes Max's team. In the ensuing fight, Clay confirms that he killed Aisha's father. Roque attempts to steal Max's plane, loaded with his money, and tries to escape. As Roque's jet heads down the runway, Wade takes a motorcycle and goes after him to retrieve Max's money. Cougar shoots the engine of a pursuing Wade's motorcycle, causing Wade to be hurled into the jet's engine and the flaming motorcycle to be hurled into the cockpit of the plane, which explodes, killing Roque.

As Jensen, Cougar and Aisha help Pooch, who has been shot in both legs by one of Max's security guards, Clay pursues Max to a crane, where Max says that he has activated a Snuke that'll destroy Los Angeles, and Clay will have to choose between de-activating it or killing Max. Clay choses the former and Max escapes, but Clay affirms that he now knows what Max looks like and will soon find him.

Shortly thereafter, the Losers help Pooch reach the hospital where his pregnant wife is giving birth to their son and attend Jensen's 8-year-old niece's soccer game.

Cast

Production

Development

In 2007 it was announced that a movie adaptation is in development with a screenplay by Peter Berg and James Vanderbilt, to be directed by Tim Story for Warner Bros. and Hollywood Pictures[4] In October 2008 Variety reported that Sylvain White had now taken the director's chair, with Weed Road Pictures, Dark Castle Entertainment and DC Entertainment acting as the financiers.[5]

In February 2009, it was reported that Jeffrey Dean Morgan would headline the upcoming adaptation playing Clay. In March 2009, it was confirmed that Columbus Short will play Pooch, Idris Elba will play Roque and Zoe Saldana will play Aisha, Chris Evans playing Jensen, and Óscar Jaenada playing Cougar. In August 2009, it was announced that Jason Patric will play Max.[6]

White explained how he worked closely with the creators of the comic book to recreate the visual tone of the story.[7] The film adapts the first two volumes of the comic book, "Ante Up"[8] and "Double Down"[9] and tells the story in a more linear way than in the comic books. Elements of the story have been left out instead of trying to squeeze the whole story into one film and the director would like to tell the rest of the story if the film does well at the box office.[10]

Filming

Jeffrey Dean Morgan took the role of leader very seriously and was on set every day, even if he was not in the scene.[11][dead link‍]

Filming for The Losers began in Miami, Florida and Puerto Rico in July 2009.[12]

Many of the movie's scenes were filmed in many of Miami's neighborhoods such as Brickell, Downtown Miami, Midtown Miami and South Beach. City scenes were shot in the Downtown Miami area, with driving scenes in the city filmed along Brickell Avenue and near the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.

Filming in Puerto Rico included scenes at the Arecibo Observatory, Port of San Juan and the Milla de Oro area of Hato Rey, Puerto Rico.

Marketing

Promotional artwork for the film was released at Comic Con, the poster was drawn in the style of the comic book by series artist Jock, and was later recreated photographically with the cast from the film and used as the theatrical release poster.[13]

A four minute preview of the film was shown at WonderCon.[14]

A special "double volume" collected edition graphic novel was released to tie in with the film adaptation collecting including the volumes Ante Up and Double Down. A second book to collect the rest of the series was also released.[15]

Release

In June 2009, Warner Bros. set a tentative release date of April 9, 2010 for the film.[16] The release date was then pushed back to June 4, 2010, to avoid going up against Clash of the Titans also from Warner Bros.[17] The trailer for the film was released online January 29, 2010, and was shown in theaters with Edge of Darkness.[18] An official photo for the film was released online.[19] The release date was subsequently moved up to April 23, 2010.[20][21]

Reception

Critical response

The film has received mixed to negative reviews. It holds an approval rating of only 48% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 152 reviews, with a consensus stating The Losers is loud, fast, and unrelentingly violent.

Review aggregation website Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 44% based on 32 reviews from selected critics.[22]

Peter Debruge of Variety criticized the film as "the sort of pyro-heavy exercise parodied in Tropic Thunder. He notes that casting against type helps make the team more memorable but complains that despite the polished production the film offers only a hollow junk-food high.[23] John Anderson describes the film as a good idea pushed to excess, and with all the freshness of last week's salad bar.[24] Scott Tobias of The AV Club complains about the lack of humility or self-deprecation in the heroes despite their title. He notes how the film tries so strenuously to be cool and describes the film as nothing more than style for its own sake.[25] Kyle Smith of the New York Post lambasts the film giving it half a star out of 4. He describes Zoe Saldana as a femme banale, saying actors Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Idris Elba, deserved better and Chris Evans deserved worse. He dismisses the film as G.I. Joke, The D-Team, and says that even though the film tries to do so little, it still falls so short.[26]

Phelim O'Neill of The Guardian newspaper gave the film 3 stars out of 5. He notes similarities to the A-Team and criticises the film for being full of action movie cliches. He praises the film for the lighter comedic touches, and overall describes it as big dumb fun.[27] His colleague Philip French of The Observer described the film as being in "A-Team territory" with the action sequences being well enough put together but that it was all done far better in Walter Hill's Extreme Prejudice.[28]

Box office

The film played in 2,936 theaters and earned $9,406,348 on its opening weekend at the box office at #4.[29][3] The film went on to earn $23.5 million in the United States and more than $5 million internationally for a worldwide total of over $29 million. Added to this, it made over $8.2 million on DVD sales in the USA alone, giving it a minimum earning of $37.6 million - a profit of over $12.6 million before worldwide DVD sales.[1]

Home media

In the United States, the DVD release date for the film was July 20, 2010.[30]

References

  1. ^ a b c "The Losers (2010)". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved 2010-08-14.
  2. ^ a b "The Losers". The Numbers. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
  3. ^ a b Horn, John (April 22, 2010). "Movie Projector: 'Dragon' will breathe fire again". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. Retrieved May 9, 2010.
  4. ^ McClintock, Pamela; Fleming, Michael (June 8, 2007). "Tim Story to direct 'Losers'". Variety. Retrieved 2007-06-08.
  5. ^ Fleming, Michael (November 6, 2008). "Sylvain White to direct 'The Losers'". Variety. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
  6. ^ Michael Fleming (2009-07-13). "Jason Patric joins 'Losers'". Variety. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
  7. ^ Rick Marshall (2010-03-24). "'The Losers' Director On Creator Collaboration, Scheduling, And His Favorite Scenes". MTV Splashpage. Viacom.
  8. ^ Ante Up (collects #1-6, 158 pages, 2004 ISBN 1-40120-198-9)
  9. ^ Double Down (with Shawn Martinbrough, collects #7-12, 144 pages, 2004 ISBN 1-40120-348-5)
  10. ^ Rick Marshall (2010-04-23). ""the Losers" director on where the movie and comics Connect, revealing the Villain, and potential sequels!". MTV Splashpage. Viacom.
  11. ^ Ian Caddell (April 22, 2010). "Jeffrey Dean Morgan gambles on The Losers".
  12. ^ "The Losers". Hollywood Reporter. [dead link‍] (subscription required)
  13. ^ Peter Sciretta (2010-01-30). "New Promo Photo for The Losers Recreates Comic Con Teaser Poster". /Film.
  14. ^ Rocco Passafuime (April 22, 2010). "Jeffrey Dean Morgan interview for The Losers". The Cinema Source. p. 3. Retrieved 2011-02-14.
  15. ^ Book 1 (collects #1-12, 304 pages, ISBN 1-4012-2733-3). Book 2 (collects #13-32, 480 pages, ISBN 1-4012-2923-9)
  16. ^ "The Losers". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
  17. ^ Ian Mason (February 14, 2010). "'The Losers' release date put back".
  18. ^ The Losers Trailer (2010) on YouTube Retrieved 2010-05-20.
  19. ^ Promotion photograph of cast
  20. ^ BrentJS (2010-02-17). "The Losers Release Date Moved (Again)". Retrieved 2011-10-22. It's likely that Warner is looking to avoid a box-office shootout with The A-Team, which opens on June 11th.
  21. ^ Ronnita Miller (February 16, 2010). "THE LOSERS' release date moved again".
  22. ^ "The Losers Reviews, Ratings, Credits". Metacritic. CBS. Retrieved 2010-06-03.
  23. ^ Peter Debruge (April 21, 2010). "The Losers Review". Variety.
  24. ^ John Anderson (April 23, 2010). "Only Action Clichés Win in 'Losers'". Wall Street Journal.
  25. ^ Scott Tobias (April 22, 2010). "The Losers". The AV Club. The Onion.
  26. ^ Kyle Smith (April 23, 2010). "'The Losers' is a no-win situation". New York Post.
  27. ^ Phelim O'Neill (May 27, 2010). "The Losers". The Guardian. London.
  28. ^ Philip French (May 30, 2010). "The Losers". The Observer. London: The Guardian.
  29. ^ "The Losers (2010) - Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
  30. ^ "The Losers (2010)". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2011-01-31.
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