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==Cast==
==Cast==
* [[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]] as [[The Losers (Vertigo)#Characters|Franklin Clay]]. Morgan took the role of leader very seriously and was on set every day, even if he was not in the scene.<ref>http://www.straight.com/article-318920/vancouver/morgan-gambles-losers</ref>
* [[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]] as [[The Losers (Vertigo)#Characters|Franklin Clay]] is the main protagonist of the film. Morgan took the role of leader very seriously and was on set every day, even if he was not in the scene.<ref>http://www.straight.com/article-318920/vancouver/morgan-gambles-losers</ref>
* [[Idris Elba]] as [[The Losers (Vertigo)#Characters|William Roque]]
* [[Idris Elba]] as [[The Losers (Vertigo)#Characters|William Roque]] is the secondary antagonist of the film.
* [[Zoe Saldana]] as [[The Losers (Vertigo)#Characters|Aisha al-Fadhil]]
* [[Zoe Saldana]] as [[The Losers (Vertigo)#Characters|Aisha al-Fadhil]]
* [[Chris Evans (actor)|Chris Evans]] as [[The Losers (Vertigo)#Characters|Jake Jensen]]
* [[Chris Evans (actor)|Chris Evans]] as [[The Losers (Vertigo)#Characters|Jake Jensen]]
* [[Columbus Short]] as [[The Losers (Vertigo)#Characters|Linwood "Pooch" Porteous]]
* [[Columbus Short]] as [[The Losers (Vertigo)#Characters|Linwood "Pooch" Porteous]]
* Óscar Jaenada as [[The Losers (Vertigo)#Characters|Carlos "Cougar" Alvarez]]
* Óscar Jaenada as [[The Losers (Vertigo)#Characters|Carlos "Cougar" Alvarez]]
* [[Jason Patric]] as [[The Losers (Vertigo)#Characters|Max]]
* [[Jason Patric]] as [[The Losers (Vertigo)#Characters|Max]] is the main antagonist of the film.
* [[Holt McCallany]] as [[The Losers (Vertigo)#Characters|Wade]]
* [[Holt McCallany]] as [[The Losers (Vertigo)#Characters|Wade]]
* [[Morris Jordan]] as Jake
* [[Morris Jordan]] as Jake

Revision as of 21:57, 19 July 2010

The Losers
A group of six looking down from above, with the word "Losers" in the center.
Theatrical poster.
Directed bySylvain White
Written byPeter Berg
(Screenplay)
James Vanderbilt
(Screenplay)
Andy Diggle
(Comic book)
Produced byJoel Silver
Akiva Goldsman
Kerry Foster
StarringJeffrey Dean Morgan
Zoe Saldana
Chris Evans
Idris Elba
Columbus Short
Óscar Jaenada
Jason Patric
Holt McCallany
CinematographyScott Kevan
Edited byDavid Checel
Music byJohn Ottman
Production
companies
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
(United States)
Optimum Releasing
(United Kingdom)
Release date
April 23, 2010 (2010-04-23)
Running time
103 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$25 million[1][2][3]
Box office$27,813,616[1][2]

The Losers is a 2010 American action film adaptation of Vertigo comic book series of the same name by Andy Diggle. Directed by Sylvain White, the film features an ensemble cast that includes Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana and Chris Evans.

The film received mixed or average reviews from critics, and drew comparisons to The A-Team.

Plot

Clay, Jensen, Roque, Pooch and Cougar are members of an elite United States Special Forces team sent into the Bolivian jungle on a search and destroy mission. They attempt to abort the mission when they see children are being used as drug mules. The team finds itself the target of a betrayal instigated from inside by a powerful enemy known only as Max. With an air strike minutes away the team breach the compound and rescue the children. The team allow the children to be airlifted to safety aboard a waiting helicopter but it is destroyed by a missile intended for them. Presumed dead and without passports or money the team are stuck in Bolivia. The group makes plans to even the score when they're joined by the mysterious Aisha, a beautiful operative with rather sly moves. Together they track and follow the ruthless and heavily armed and guarded Max to foil his plans of transforming the world as we know it into a new high-tech global battleground. Aisha agrees to smuggle the men back into the United States if they agree to hunt down and kill Max in what she describes as essentially a suicide mission. An operation to intercept and capture Max in Miami is planned. The mission goes well but instead of Max they only retrieve a hard drive containing valuables Max needs to make his next arms deal. Even with this they can't find him because they do not have the code needed to get into the drive.

Max intends to purchase the latest high tech weapon, an environmentally friendly bomb called a snuke with the power of a nuclear weapon but with no contamination or fall-out. He intends to use it to start a war for the benefit of the United States of America. Back at the losers base, Jensen is looking up his nieces next soccer competition, and Pooch is watching his pregnant wife shop for groceries. Roque walks in and wonders what the guys are doing. Jensen comments that their target from back when they were in Bolivia has 400 million dollars missing. He finds out that it is not really missing but it actually went to a trust fund to his only child, Aisha. In the next room Aisha and Clay are laying in bed. She tries to get information on the mission back in Bolivia, but before she finds out if Clay really killed her father or not the gang bust in on them telling Clay who she really is. Aisha shoots Jensen in the arm during the firefight but manages to escape.

The group is betrayed by Roque, who had been working with Max since the Miami mission. Aisha ends up coming in and saving everyone from being executed, but lets Clay know that their fight is not over yet. Roque is killed along with Wade in a collision between Roque's get away jet and Wade on his motorcycle. Ultimately Max escapes, but without money, muscle, or any equipment at all, and is actually mugged on a city bus. Max calls the Losers to taunt them, saying they are back where they started but Clay replies that at least they now know what Max looks like.

Seemingly as a last mission, the Losers (now including Aisha) appear on a stormy night. Pooch scales the wall of a building which turns out be a hospital as he reunites with his wife and new son.

After the beginning of the credits, the Losers attend a Petunias soccer game against the Marigolds. The Marigolds are apparently playing rough and elbowing Jensen's niece. Jensen runs onto to the field and argues with the ref, having to be restrained and pulled off the field by the rest of the Losers.

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.[5] In October 2008 Variety reported that Sylvain White had now taken the director's chair, with Dark Castle Entertainment acting as the financiers.[6]

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.[7]

Director explained how he worked closely with the creators of the comic book to recreate the visual tone of the story.[8] The film adapts the first two volumes of the comic book, "Ante Up"[9] and "Double Down"[10] 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.[11]

Filming

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, 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 subsequently 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 reviews. It holds an approval rating of 47% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 146 reviews, with a consensus stating The Losers is loud, fast, and unrelentingly violent, but it's also funny and well-acted, which will make all the difference for some action fans."[22] Review aggregation website Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 44% based on 32 reviews from selected critics.[23]

Roger Ebert gave the film 3 and a half stars, writing "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."[24] Cindy White of IGN gave the film 4/5[25]

Michael Phillips writes "The movie is all revenge, all the time" but complains that the film is a lesser version of "The A-Team".[26] Phillis gave the film 2 and 1/2 stars. Peter Debruge of Variety criticized the film as "the sort of 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 is a offers only a hollow junk-food high.[27] John Anderson describes the film as a good idea pushed to excess, and with all the freshness of last weeks salad bar.[28] 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.[29] 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.[30]

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.[31] 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.[32]

Box office

The film played in 2,936 theaters and earned $9,406,348 on its opening weekend at the box office at #4.[33][3] The film went on to earn $23,543,581 in the United States and $26,643,420 worldwide.[1]

Home media

In the United States, the DVD release date for the film is July 20, 2010.[34]

References

  1. ^ a b c The Losers at Box Office Mojo Amazon.com Retrieved 2010-06-03.
  2. ^ a b "The Losers". The Numbers. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
  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. ^ http://www.straight.com/article-318920/vancouver/morgan-gambles-losers
  5. ^ McClintock, Pamela; Fleming, Michael (June 8, 2007). "Tim Story to direct 'Losers'". Variety. Retrieved June 8, 2007.
  6. ^ Fleming, Michael (November 6, 2008). "Sylvain White to direct 'The Losers'". Variety. Retrieved November 6, 2008. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  7. ^ Michael Fleming (July 13, 2009). "Jason Patric joins 'Losers'". Variety. Retrieved July 15, 2009.
  8. ^ Rick Marshall (March 24, 2010). "'The Losers' Director On Creator Collaboration, Scheduling, And His Favorite Scenes". MTV Splashpage. Viacom.
  9. ^ Ante Up (collects #1-6, 158 pages, 2004 ISBN 1-40120-198-9)
  10. ^ Double Down (with Shawn Martinbrough, collects #7-12, 144 pages, 2004 ISBN 1-40120-348-5)
  11. ^ Rick Marshall (April 23, 2010). "'The Losers' Director On Where The Movie And Comics Connect, Revealing The Villain, And Potential Sequels!". MTV Splashpage. Viacom.
  12. ^ "The Losers". Hollywood Reporter. [dead link] (subscription required)
  13. ^ http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/01/30/new-promo-photo-for-the-losers-recreates-comic-con-teaser-poster/
  14. ^ http://www.thecinemasource.com/blog/interviews/jeffrey-dean-morgan-interview-for-the-losers/#page3
  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 June 25, 2009.
  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 (February 17, 2010). "The Losers Release Date Moved (Again)". Retrieved May 20, 2010. 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 Movie Reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved June 3, 2010.
  23. ^ "The Losers Reviews". Metacritic. CBS. Retrieved June 3, 2010.
  24. ^ Roger Ebert (April 21, 2010). "The Losers (2010)". Retrieved May 20, 2010.
  25. ^ Cindy White (April 22, 2010). "The Losers Review. Making action movies fun again". IGN. News Corporation.
  26. ^ Michael Phillips. "'The Losers': Another comic book makes the big screen".
  27. ^ Peter Debruge (April 21, 2010). "The Losers Review". Variety.
  28. ^ John Anderson (April 23, 2010). "Only Action Clichés Win in 'Losers'". Wall Street Journal.
  29. ^ Scott Tobias (April 22, 2010). "The Losers". The AV Club. The Onion. Rating: D
  30. ^ Kyle Smith (April 23, 2010). "'The Losers' is a no-win situation". New York Post. {{cite news}}: Text "url http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/movies/no_win_situation_ck3uSWcYtuS0ZnsazoFIAJ" ignored (help)
  31. ^ Phelim O'Neill (Thursday 27 May 2010). "The Losers". The Guardian. London. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  32. ^ Philip French (Sunday 30 May 2010). "The Losers". The Observer. London: The Guardian. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  33. ^ "The Losers (2010) - Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Amazon. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
  34. ^ The Losers (2010)

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to The Losers.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Losers (film).

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