Monday, November 29, 2010

Movie Review: The Losers

I finally got around to watching Sylvain White's adaptation of the comic book The Losers.  I thought the trailer looked good, but it hit right before the A-Team and at the time I wasn't sure I was ready to accept the knock-off version of that.  And most of the reviewers I respect had a hard time with it. But as a Netflix rental, I was ready to take the plunge.

For the most part it was a pretty fun movie.  The movie moves along at a really brisk pace.  You know the characters right from the onset, although further character development takes a serious backseat to the brisk plot and paper thin plot.  And I guess like any 'fun' movie, it completely unravels in the third act - when things are actually supposed to add up and/or be resolved.

One of the things I didn't like about the movie was the 'villain'.  Jason Patric spends most of his screentime chewing the scenery, and even for a movie that is over the top - he is even more so.  It makes a somewhat ludicrous plot completely unbelievable and sucks you right out of the movie.

I also think that White was a bit too free-wheeling with the hyper-stylized techniques he applied to the film and its editing.  It was like he was doing his best Tony Scott and it just didn't work for me sometimes.  His use of slo-mo and jump cuts, for the most part, was unnecessary and only seemed like he was covering up deficiencies in the film with tricks.

Oh yeah, Zoe Saldana is very hot.  Although unbelievable as someone with her extensive military-esque training and CIA-like master of disguises (especially when you find out who she really is).

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