The Movie
Based on a lesser-known DC/Vertigo comic, The Losers is immediately conspicuous in its repeated attempts to remind us visually, "That's right... this was a comic book!" as if that's supposed to make us somehow enjoy it more. Did they learn nothing from the biggest comic book movie of all time, The Dark Knight, which went to great lengths to be a mainstream movie, shedding the stigma (right or wrong) of the graphic novel? Under the direction of Sylvain White, The Losers tries a little too hard to shock and awe, investing heavily in action flick clichés (so-nasty bad guys, too-cool good guys) and nausea-inducing dialogue, when just an inch or two of character depth would have worked wonders.
The story finds a small group of Black Ops soldiers, good men for the most part, on a mission to thwart a notorious drug dealer in Bolivia. Turns out they're objective is illegal, and it goes from bad to worse, so they fake their own deaths and disappear. A mysterious stranger gives them the chances to take revenge on the man responsible, a next-generation arms dealer, but this job promises to be the most dangerous--and possibly last--mission of their lives.
The Picture
The deliberately oversaturated colors work well to help put us in the mood for this exaggerated adventure. The 2.40:1 image is softer than I'd like, a little noisy too, although clear enough give the digitally-added special effects that telltale hinkiness. Unfortunate artifacts also plague the geometric patterns on long shots of office buildings in the city skyline, enough to knock a full star off of this rank.
The Sound
The Blu-ray's DTS-HD Master Audio presentation is enjoyable I suppose, in its own over-the-top way. By the end we've witnessed jets, missiles, helicopters, explosions, fireballs, car crashes, and shootouts involving all sorts of weapons. There's even an eco-friendly bomb that achieves total destruction through sound waves, including plenty of bass, so be ready to duck and cover. The environments are also meticulously rendered in 5.1 channels.
The Extras
The extras here come mostly in the form of video featurettes. "Zoe and The Losers" explains how the lovely and talented actress Zoe Saldana fit in with her burly co-stars (about five minutes), while the three-part "Band of Buddies: Ops Training" totals 17 minutes, revealing the secrets of Black Ops, the Puerto Rican location, and the distinctive style of the stunt work. "The Losers: Action-Style Storytelling" introduces us to the comic book creators, writer Andy Diggle and artist Jock (ten minutes); while a 45-second deleted scene includes a cameo by Chris Noth. All of this content is in HD, and the disc supports BD-Live.
Disc two is a Combo DVD packing a standard-def version of the film, in addition to a Digital Copy for Windows Media and iTunes.
Final Thoughts
The Losers could also be compared to The A-Team, wherein an elite military unit is also wrongly disgraced and pursued, despite their ongoing efforts to do good and clear their names. The title gives a big hint as to which of the two was the winner at the box office, and although the sound here is often a treat, it's not quite enough to end this movie's unlucky streak.
Product Details
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