Random Movie Review – “The Losers”

The Losers, a DC/Vertigo 6-volume series about a special ops team out for revenge against a shadowy government force that left them for dead after mission gone bad, is probably one of my favorite comics.  So when plans for the big-screen adaptation were announced I was pretty apprehensive.

The team of Andy Diggle and Jock crafted an amazing action/espionage comic story with the right amounts of political intrigue and thrills…it just works.  It’s a little time-sensitive, making a lot of references to the peak of the War On Terror in Afghanistan, but still amazing.  Luckily, the movie manages to make an amazing transition, taking some of the politics out while maintaining the consistent level of intrigue and action.

Tessa and I went to a midnight screening of this last night, and were grinning and cheering the whole time.  Seriously, this movie is an amazing time, a revenge tale shot amazingly with bright colors and contrasts, great shots that are totally framed to look like comic book panels without just being panel-by-panel, page-by-page rips straight from the book.

OK, the short version here?  While only loosely drawing from the story of the Vertigo series in terms of rough plot and characters, “The Losers” manages to still maintain a great story with a few more laughs than the original source material.  Chris Evans is totally the standout in here as Jensen, though Jason Patric as the villainous Max is also amazing.  The whole cast is, overall, solid as hell.

Let’s be clear here.  This  isn’t rocket science, it’s a spy/action movie based on a spy/action comic, and it works really really good.  I will totally be getting this on DVD for repeat viewings, because it’s pretty much that good.