The official "The Losers" movie thread.

[Antonello Blueberry]

Roger Ebert liked the movie a lot instead:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100421/REVIEWS/100429990

"The Losers" is a classical action movie based on a comic strip. It does just enough nodding toward the graphics of drawn superheroes, and then gets that out of the way and settles down into a clean, efficient and entertaining thriller. It's a reminder of how exhausting this kind of material can be when it's brought to a manic level by overwrought directors. But "The Losers" looks, feels and plays like a real movie. There is another reason to be grateful: It's not in 3-D...

"The Losers" knows what it's doing and how to do it. Sylvain White doesn't have a lot of credits but he knows how to direct and not trip over his own feet. The movie gets the job done, and the actors show a lot of confidence in occupying that tricky middle ground between controlled satire and comic overkill. It's fun.

 

[Webhead2006]

well thats nice to hear from ebert, he usually hates comic based films.

 

[Crosswind Ghost]

well thats nice to hear from ebert, he usually hates comic based films.

I think it's quite the opposite.

Roger has given positive reviews to

Spiderman 2
X2
X3
Batman Begins
The Dark Knight
Daredevil
Watchmen
Hulk
Iron Man
Hellboy
Hellboy II

 

[bestever23]

I'm scared Roger is just getting old. but I love him to death, glad he likes this movie

 

[KenK]

Don't forget Blade II, which he called "A brilliant vomitorium of viscera!"

 

[Webhead2006]

cross that is why i said usually he doesnt like comic films. i know he has liked some in the past.

 

[Webhead2006]

edit

 

[Octoberist]

6/10

I honestly wanted to like it but it was waaay too uneven. There's so much one-liners that it gets to the point where it doesn't feel like dialog. Infact, it's 70% funny one-liners, 30% actual dialog and character development.

Honestly, it got old after a while. There were certain points where I WANTED the characters to be serious for once. And I love one-liners, but there's always a limit.

I hated the editing, the movie was overly stylized and Jason Patric probably wanted to film the movie in his underwear because he was so NUT-ragous. On the plus side, the main cast has chemistry.

 

[Webhead2006]

nice review octoberist.

 

[Lord Blackbolt]

I thought Jason Patric was one of the best parts of the movie. I found him hiilarious.

 

[S.A.A.D.]

I can't believe this made as much as it did yesterday,according to Box Office Mojo it made an estimated $3,245,000.

http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=losers.htm

 

[Gilpesh]

I thought Jason Patric was one of the best parts of the movie. I found him hiilarious.

"You're so short. Are you standing in a hole or something?"

 

[FlawlessVictory]

FRIDAY: J-Lo & Joel Silver Pics Both Bomb
By Nikki Finke | Friday April 23, 2010 @ 10:50pm PDT

FRIDAY PM UPDATED: Sources are telling me it's shaping up already as a very lackluster weekend for North American grosses before the summer movies really get going. The Back-Up Plan with its horrible high concept debuted No. 1 but will fall to No. 2 by Sunday. (When it gets beaten by charming How To Train Your Dragon 3D from DreamWorks Animation distributed by Paramount for its 5th weekend.) J-Lo's pic is the 2nd straight loser from newcomer CBS Films which kept delaying the release for obvious reasons: because everyone knew Jennifer Lopez can't open a movie anymore, except Les Moonves. (Sheesh, J-Lo can't even keep a record label...) And the Warner Bros-distributed The Losers, from Joel Silver's unsavory Dark Castle, was marketed like a low-rent A-Team -- and still it disappointed like most of his pics from that brand. (Please, Joel, put it out of its misery already.) The actioner was only #4 Friday behind several holdovers. And Hollywood expects a steep drop for Kick-Ass after Lionsgate unethically inflated its opening numbers by including Thursday midnight's take in order to grab the No. 1 title last weekend. No self-respecting studio does that anymore. But Lionsgate is feeling the heat from Carl Icahn and needed the PR boost. The Top 10 numbers:

1. The Back-Up Plan (CBS Films/Sony) NEW [3,280 Theaters]
Friday $4.2M, Estimated Weekend $12M

2. How To Train Your Dragon (DWA/Par) Week 5 [3,665 Theaters]
Friday $3.6M, Estimated Weekend $15.5M, Estimated Cume $178.4M

3. Date Night (Fox) Week 3 [3,294 Theaters]
Friday $3.275M, Estimated Weekend $10M, Estimated Cume $63M

4. The Losers (Warner Bros) NEW [2,936 Theaters]
Friday $3.245M, Estimated Weekend $9M

5. Kick-Ass (Lionsgate) Week 2 [3,065 Theaters]
Friday $2.9M (-62%), Estimated Weekend $8.3M, Estimated Cume $33.5M

http://www.deadline.com/2010/04/jennifer-lopez-joel-silver-pics-both-bomb/

 

[Octoberist]

well, Kick-ass will get its money back at least. Hopefully..

 

[Lord Blackbolt]

I'm really suprised this movie bombed. People seem to ignore traditional action movies...unless it's Bond or Bourne. If this movie had come out in the 80's they'll call it a classic. Its a fun movie. I'd actually like to see a TV series based on these guys.

 

[Lord Blackbolt]

well, Kick-ass will get its money back at least. Hopefully..

Oh Kickass already is on it's way to make back it's money, no doubt.

 

[Dr. Evil]

Saw a review from Michael Phillips and Tony Scott about this movie yesterday and both liked the movie, calling it (in a nutshell) mindless fun.

 

[deathshead2]

I'm kind of interersted in seeing this. Heard it ends setting up a sequel which I hate, and doesn't look like it'll happen now. But depending on if I have a date Saturday and if we don't see NOES; we might see this instead.

 

[Gilpesh]

Saw a review from Michael Phillips and Tony Scott about this movie yesterday and both liked the movie, calling it (in a nutshell) mindless fun.

The action was pretty awesome in this movie.

I'm kind of interersted in seeing this. Heard it ends setting up a sequel which I hate, and doesn't look like it'll happen now. But depending on if I have a date Saturday and if we don't see NOES; we might see this instead.

The setting up a sequel ending was blegh. But there's then two more character endings which sort of make up for it.

 

[Lord Blackbolt]

Really....what caused the general public skip this movie. I guess all the guys were stuck taking their dates to see that crappy J-lo movie.

 

[cerealkiller182]

My review

Spoiler

The Losers is the story of an elite military outfit framed for the murder of a terrorist and the innocent children that were currently with him. After being presumed dead, the group meet up with Aisha, an unknown operative, who has special information on the man who framed them: Max. The group travel back to America to take down Max, a rogue CIA operative bent on starting a new World War.

It is pretty much your average PG-13 revenge flick. And as with most PG-13 revenge flicks, the protagonists are much more charismatic and likable than in their R-rated counterparts, where they are usually troubled and intense. Casting actors such as Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chris Evans, and Columbus Short make this much easier. The actors naturally have that kind of appeal the filmmakers are looking for. Zoe Saldana, Oscar Jaenada and Idris Elba bring a much needed intensity and melodrama to help balance out the rest of the cast. Fortunately, the strength of one trio is not the weakness of the other. Morgan, Evans, and Short are not without their moments of intensity and melodrama, and vice versa. It is set to be one of the year's best ensemble with such great chemistry that everything clicks. They perform admirably in their attempt at elevating the material, but it was never meant to be incredibly ambitious.

The story itself is glitzy and energetic. Of course, they take full advantage of slo-mos and speed-ups burying itself under action cliches. It has just enough over-the-top action sequences to entertain, yet not so much to roll eyes, except for the antagonist's ultimate weapon which made me sigh out loud. Max, played by Jason Patric, is a take' em or leave' em kind of antagonist. He seems to be channeling Gary Oldman circa Leon, but just never gets it right. He is certainly a familiar espionage villain. He has a big picture outlook and is looking to do good by doing bad. The only problem is he never seems very concerned with the "good" part. Except for a throwaway line explaining his motivations, he seems far more driven by his own sociopathic nature.

The Losers is a literal comic come to life on screen. Energetic, thrilling, light-hearted, and a little bit cheesy. It is lacking in a number of areas specifically with its writing, but it is bound to entertain.

6/10

6/10

 

[Dr. Evil]

IMDB says that the budget is $25 million.

Not sure if they can make it back, especially with Iron Man 2 out in two weeks.

 

[deathshead2]

No date this weekend. Doesn't look like I'll be seeing it till it hits the redbox.

 

[Compi716]

Saw the movie. It was really a lot of fun. Just a light, action flick with some really great scenes (Chris Evans + Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" = awesomeness). I don't really get all the animosity The Losers seems to be getting...

 

[KenK]

Th sad thing is, the people who blasted it for being a dumb action flick will probably blow loads raving about the A-Team, which will almost definitely be a dumb action flick.