Whatever Works

Director: Woody Allen
Starring: Larry David, Rachel Evan Wood & Patricia Clarkson

The combination of Woody Allen and Larry David certainly results in a film that has some entertainment value but the collaboration does not live up to either David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm or Allen’s other Manhattan based comedies like Annie Hall.

Woody Allen’s later years as a director has been a mixed bag of results. For each Melinda and Melinda or Match Point which have been well received, there has been and Anything Else or Cassandra’s Dream that has been poorly received. With many of his most recent films having been made out of the US and his most recent, Vicky Cristina Barcelona being particularly well received, Woody Allen now returns to Manhattan, home of his greatest films, with Whatever Works which rides high on expectations since it sees Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry David taking his first leading role in a film. The result though is somewhat disappointing with David enjoyable but less so in Allen’s film, with Allen’s script that in his own, more improvised work.

Boris Yelnikoff (David) is an eccentric physics graduate once nominated for the Nobel prize in physics and is now a self-confessed genius and near-recluse that rarely leaves home except to talk to his few friends about how other people waste their lives. When one night he encounters a homeless girl named Melodie (Evan Wood), Boris shows an uncharacteristic sign of kindness by taking her home however, Boris then finds it difficult getting her leave and the girl’s naivety testing to his patience and intellect. Melodie though, develops a crush on Boris despite a massive age difference between them and despite the advances of other, younger men and the disapproval of her parents who insert themselves into Melodie, and therefore Boris’, lives causing further upheaval in Boris’ life.

Whatever Works is a Woody Allen film that, on the surface, looks ideal. It is set in Manhattan, features a somewhat neurotic male lead, deals with themes of happiness and romance and features Larry David, writer/star of TV’s Curb Your Enthusiasm and writer of Seinfeld in the lead role. However, what would appear to be the film’s strengths turn out to be its weaknesses too. Many of the themes, characters, situations and even lines seem overly familiar having seen them covered several times before by Allen in other pictures where even the best lines often feel like they’ve been said before them being so typically Allen. Some themes/situations also feel familiar to the point of tired with some like the age difference between the two leads and its effect on their relationship feeling more and more like Allen justifying his own off-screen life choices every time he uses it. Larry David also feels out of place in the film despite seeming like ideal casting at first glance. The reason for this soon becomes clear that while some of the humour between David and Allen seems similar, David succeeds better in the more improvised format of his TV shows than he does following a script and this shows here where the humour and situations feel restrained by sticking to Allen’s script and rarely shows sign of life.

Larry David does make for an entertaining lead even if his performance lacks in comparison to any work where David has had a hand in the script as his inexperience in performing a role other than himself and sticking to a script is evident in his delivery and the general lack of spontaneity in the film. Nevertheless, David is reliably grumpy and witty with his best moments when he addresses the audience in the manner Allen himself once did in his earlier films. Evan Rachel Wood is much more likeable. While her character sticks pretty closely to innocent and ditsy stereotypes even as her character becomes more educated but the performance is still hugely likeable and more sympathetic than David’s Boris. Ed Begley Jr. and Patricia Clarkson both entertain as Melodie’s melodramatic parents with their performances funny in spite of being occasionally OTT.

Despite his last film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, being an impressive return to form and his new film returning him to Manhattan and pairing him with comedian Larry David, Woody Allen’s Whatever Works is fairly disappointing. Allen rehashes too much old material for this to satisfy and David, while still entertaining, is not as good when he isn’t improvising with his own material.

Rating: 2/5

Shrek Forever After

Director: Mike Mitchell
Starring (voices of): Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz & Eddie Murphy

A fun sequel and a marked improvement over Shrek the Third which means this, possibly, final installment in the Shrek series leaves the series ending on a good note.

Following the success of Shrek and Shrek 2, the third film in the series Shrek the Third saw disappointing Box Office results and poor critical reception. With Shrek Forever After intended to be the last in the Shrek film series, though a spin-off film for Puss in Boots is in production, the pressure for the fourth film to be an improvement over the third and end the series in a manner both pleasing to audiences and critics is high. The resulting film is very enjoyable and while it doesn’t achieve the same heights as the first two Shrek films with its plot revisiting many scenes from those films, it is certainly a marked improvement over Shrek the Third and at least ends the series on a satisfying, though not spectacular, note.

Finding it difficult to settle into the domestic bliss of being a husband and a father, Shrek (Myers) finds his struggle to find privacy and time for himself leading him to miss the days when he was a real ogre and feared by the masses, where he had the freedom to do what he wanted whenever he wanted. After an argument with Fiona (Diaz), Shrek crosses paths with Rumpelstiltskin (Walt Dohrn) who, unbeknownst to Shrek, holds a grudge against him for saving Fiona years before preventing Rumpelstiltskin from getting Fiona’s parents to sign over the kingdom of Far Far Away to him. Rumpelstiltskin tricks Shrek into signing a deal offering Shrek a chance to be an ogre again for a day if he gives up a day from his childhood in return but Rumpelstiltskin takes the day of Shrek’s birth plunging him into a new reality where he was never born, where he never met Donkey (Murphy), saved Fiona and where Rumpelstiltskin rules the land. Shrek finds himself with just 24 hours to find Fiona and make her fall in love with him again to break the deal but the Fiona in this reality is a much different one from the Fiona Shrek once knew.

Shrek Forever After is an enjoyable addition to the series of films. Like before, taking its story from fairytale, this time bringing in Rumpelstiltskin, the film finds fun in looking at an alternate take on the Shrek tale by taking its lead character down a Capra-esque, It’s a Wonderful Life, road. That Shrek Forever After bases most of its story on revisiting past moments from previous Shrek films to offer alternate takes on them does leave the film feeling somewhat unoriginal at times with it revisiting old glories instead of carving out new ones and, as such, does not have quite the same level of satisfaction as the first two films. However, there is still a lot of fun to be had in the film’s story, in seeing it’s characters living alternate lives particularly that of Fiona who becomes far less of a damsel in distress in this tale. There are also some new elements that are enjoyable to see including, for the first time beyond Shrek himself, a look into the culture of Ogres with a range of new Ogre characters though the appearance of the Pied Piper as a villain results in a scene that might entertain younger audiences but is fairly cringe worthy for adults. Shrek Forever After is also quite fun in spite of the dangers Shrek faces with Rumpelstiltskin making an entertaining villain and the use of 3D, for the first time in a Shrek film, being quite impressive.

Performances in Shrek Forever After are dependably enjoyable. Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas are all familiar enough with their roles now to portray them with ease and the chemistry between the actors and their characters is still as enjoyable as before. While names familiar to TV such as Jane Lynch (Glee) and Craig Robinson (The Office) and Jon Hamm (Mad Men) are featured in smaller roles as witches and ogres, the only notable performance beyond the four stars of the film is Walt Dohrn as the voice of Rumpelstiltskin who, while not a known name to audiences and having voiced several minor roles in the Shrek series before, delivers an enjoyable performance as the film’s villain here and showing himself quite capable of living up to past villains voiced by John Lithgow, Jennifer Saunders and Rupert Everett.

A definite improvement over Shrek the Third, Shrek Forever After is a fun addition to the series with plenty enjoyment to be found in its alternate takes on its main characters though the rehashing of old scenes and themes in doing so means the film does not feel quite as original as the first two Shrek films.

Rating: 3/5

Brooklyn's Finest

Director: Antoine Fuqua
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Don Cheadle & Richard Gere

The impressive cast and the prospect of Fuqua taking a story of crooked cops like in Training Day and applying it to a larger canvas may entertain some but Brooklyn’s Finest plods along predictably and the cast aren’t performing roles they haven’t done before.

After the success of crooked cop thriller Training Day in 2001 which saw star Denzel Washington win an Oscar for Best Actor, director Antoine Fuqua has spent much of the following decade directing a series of average action thrillers such as Tears of the Sun, Shooter and King Arthur. Returning to the genre which brought him such attention in 2001, Brooklyn’s Finest sees Fuqua covering similar territory as before involving what could push cops to break laws whilst showing that crooks are capable of good and exploring such themes with an even larger cast than before including Training Day actor Ethan Hawke. The film though struggles to offer more than superficial explorations of its themes and despite an impressive cast, their stories and performances lack originality in what is a largely average film.

Detective Sal Procida (Hawke) is a cop desperate for cash so he can afford to move his children and his pregnant wife out of their mould-ridden home and has taken to stealing cash from the sites of drug busts to fund the move. Detective Clarence Butler (Cheadle) has been working undercover in the drug community in the hopes of getting a promotion but it may come at the cost of him setting up, known criminal, Caz (Wesley Snipes) who saved Clarence’s life while he was undercover in prison. Officer Eddie Dugan (Gere) is a beat cop only a week away from retirement and pessimistic about the job which has led to 22 years of merely average service and no friends on or off the force. Events over the next week will lead each cop to question what is right and what is wrong by which course of action is most justified with each coming away changed by the experience.

Brooklyn’s Finest is a film that demonstrates ambition on the behalf of director Antoine Fuqua. Here he takes the world of crooked cops and murky morality that he delved into so enjoyable in Training Day and spreads it over a much larger canvas with a larger cast to suit. However, the exploration of right and wrong featuring cops and crooks never really satisfies as the morality tales he is telling are far too simplistic with the ultimate decisions each cop will make, what leads them to make them and what will happen once they do all feeling far too predictable. The film lacks depth or surprise and each plot feels too familiar to other films and the themes once explored in Training Day spread too thinly here. Also somewhat disappointing is that, for all that the three main characters operate out of the same district and the events occurring over the same period, each story is kept too independent from each other to warrant the question of having anything in common at all. No character’s arc has any relevance on another’s adds to the feeling of this being three separate short stories merely being run concurrently to justify being called a single feature whereas films such as Crash weaves separate strands together to make the film feel more cohesive.

Brooklyn’s Finest does boast quite an impressive cast list. Ethan Hawke and Don Cheadle are both decent in their roles, Cheadle more so than Hawke, as cops facing the decision to break rules and laws but neither is covering any ground they haven’t covered before in other films. Richard Gere is more memorable as the disillusioned older cop who grows pangs of conscience in his final days as a cop. Gere shows himself adept at playing someone rather less charming than the roles he is best known for even if his character’s arc is predictable, Gere at least makes the performance convincing. Amongst the supporting cast, there is a memorable turn from Wesley Snipes as the recently paroled crook Caz, with Snipes playing a character and giving a performance that is much more calm and sympathetic than he has done since moving towards straight-to-video action films and serves as a reminder that he is able to deliver strong dramatic performances.

Despite an impressive cast list and some decent performances from its cast, Brooklyn’s Finest is too long and too unoriginal to stand up to Antoine Fuqua’s past crooked cop film Training Day or even against many other films in the same genre. The film is too predictable to really be memorable for anything more than the cast involved, all of whom have performed better. A disappointment.

Rating: 2/5

She's Out of My League

Director: Jim Field Smith
Starring: Jay Baruchel, Alice Eve & T.J. Miller

While filled with character and situational clichés common to romantic comedies, the likeability of the film’s cast particularly Jay Baruchel, makes the film more enjoyable than its formula should allow.

Having often played supporting roles in comedies such as Knocked Up and Tropic Thunder and recently voiced the lead role in animated film How to Train Your Dragon, Jay Baruchel is the latest actor from the Judd Apatow crew to graduate from supporting act to leading role with romantic comedy She’s Out of My League. The result, while playing with convention by having an attractive woman fall for a less than attractive man, does add some novelty to the romantic comedy formula but generally the film is a predictable affair sticking too closely to many other conventions.

Kirk (Baruchel), a twenty-something with low self esteem, working as an airport security guard, is getting over a recent break up. When he defends an attractive woman named Molly from the advances of his colleagues he ends up meeting her again when he finds her phone left at the airport. As a thank you, Molly invites Kirk to a hockey game where he discovers Molly is interested in him which is news surprising to Kirk as he places himself, on a scale of attractiveness, as a 5 and Molly as a 10. Why would Molly be interesting in Kirk when he feels she’s out of his league and can Kirk himself deal with the pressure of living up to expectations he believes are beyond him?

Playing against a few conventions of the romantic comedy genre by having one its lead characters be less than, by Hollywood standards, attractive means She’s Out of My League has some moments that are not only fantasies of many an audience member of average appearance, but also funny and sometimes insightful reflections upon the importance of looks in relationships and in the building of self confidence. The twist isn’t as daring as it could be if the story had revolved around an attractive guy and an average looking girl, but the attempt to play against convention at all has its appeal even though some reasons for why Molly is attracted to Kirk are less well explained than the problems Kirk has (his own inadequacy and elements of placing Molly of a pedestal) with dating Molly. Aside from the novelty of the relationship that the differences between Kirk and Molly present, the rest of the film follows fairly close to formula with misunderstandings, competition from other suitors, interfering friends and gross out gags over physical appearance all falling within the realms of “seen it all before” right up to the predictable conclusion.

She’s Out of My League does benefit from a likeable cast and enjoyable performances from them. Jay Baruchel is loveable and funny as Kirk with his nervous energy and spindly frame making him enjoyably awkward and sympathetic when facing a romance with someone as glamorous as Molly yet still manages to come across smart and quick witted. Alice Eve is also likeable as Molly, bringing more to the role than just being a pretty face which is also necessary for the role of Molly who, despite her appearance, has struggled with self esteem problems herself, notably the pressure others have placed on her to be perfect based on her looks. There is also enjoyable support from comedians such as T.J. Miller and Nate Torrance as Kirk’s loudmouth and shy friends respectively and from Lindsay Sloane as Kirk’s ex-girlfriend Marnie who, having dumped Kirk previously, become amusingly jealous upon seeing how attractive his new girlfriend is in comparison to her.

Predictable both in plot and in gags, She’s Out of My League still entertains based on the likeability of its cast, especially Baruchel, and from some of the novelties of the romance.

Rating: 3/5

Greenberg

Director: Noah Baumbach
Starring: Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig & Rhys Ifans

Well performed and well shot, Greenberg is technically well made but the lack of likeability in its main character makes it difficult to sympathize with his character and journey leaves the film feeling unimpressive.

Following the critical acclaim of his film The Squid and the Whale in 2005, Noah Baumbach’s follow up film Margot at the Wedding felt cruel and cold in comparison. Greenberg, Baumbach’s latest film, is certainly warmer and more enjoyable than Margot at the Wedding but despite some strong performances and a few touching scenes, its central character suffers from a similar level of unlikeability that plagued the character of Margot before making his story and our engagement with his issues difficult to sympathize with or understand.

Florence (Gerwig), a nanny for a successful family, finds her life upset when she encounters the brother of her employer who is staying in their house whilst they are on holiday. The brother, Roger Greenberg (Stiller), has just come out of a mental health facility following a breakdown and is a 40 year old under orders to not do anything for a while. Roger’s prickly demeanor makes it difficult for him to reconnect with old friends, including Ivan (Ifans), and also engages in an awkward relationship with Florence despite also being interesting in rekindling a relationship with an old lover, Beth (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who is now going through divorce. Roger’s attitudes and issues cause problems for those around him, particularly Florence, while he assesses what his future will be.

Greenberg, both the character and the film, is difficult to relate to due mostly to the character. Having uncertainty over one’s direction in life is something many can relate to even some in the same age range as Roger Greenberg and while such feelings as those Roger and Florence experience can be empathized with by audiences, it is a common theme in many films including those Noah Baumbach has written before. While Greenberg is certainly warmer overall in comparison to Baumbach’s previous film, mostly due to the supporting characters like Ivan, the character of Roger Greenberg is portrayed as very difficult to like and even the reasons that led to the breakdown he suffered prior to his arrival in the film is left largely unexplored so is also hard to sympathize with Roger over. The character’s relationship with others also works against his relateability. While there are some attempts at kindness or empathy towards others, Roger is generally portrayed as unable to consider the feelings of those around him particularly when it comes to the effects his own actions may have upon them. The end of the film is where sympathy for Roger is finally achieved when his niece throws a party in the house in which he is staying and Roger’s inability to relate comes over as almost cute when he is surrounded with people half his age and this scene then leads to an almost climactic argument with his closest friend where Roger finally acknowledges the effects his actions have had and while this offers some hope, some redemption for the character in that he might be a better person there is still the sense that it is too little, too late.

The performances in Greenberg are generally strong. In a serious role, Ben Stiller is impressive. Accustomed to playing characters that frequently get frustrated and angry with those around them, Stiller’s performance is much more restrained than in the comedies he is accustomed too and this works well in the portrayal of Roger’s struggle to relate to others. Greta Gerwig, a relative newcomer, is likeable as Florence whose kindness and easygoing nature makes her an easy character for Roger to take advantage of and shows her character as one that, like Roger, is looking for direction but is perhaps to easily drawn into letting others dictate her direction for her. Rhys Ifans also gives a warm and likeable performance as Roger’s friend Ivan whose character is, perhaps, the most likeable in the film and whose acceptance of a life he hadn’t planned on is one that is both sad yet relatable.

While well performed and well shot, Greenberg is technically impressive but the unlikeability of its lead character makes relating to him and to his story difficult to sympathize with though it shows some improvement towards the film’s conclusion.

Rating: 3/5

The Brothers Bloom

Director: Rian Johnson
Starring: Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo & Rachel Weisz

Rian Johnson’s second film after the excellent noir Brick is an enjoyable con artist film with a very likeable cast. It doesn’t hold together quite as satisfactorily as his first film but is still fun to watch and further shows that Johnson is a talent to watch.

While Rian Johnson’s debut film Brick, which successfully fuelled Dashiell Hammett style noir with a teenage cast and school setting, was released to great critical acclaim, his follow up film The Brothers Bloom has taken many years to see release. Despite having been completed in 2008, it saw a limited US release in early 2009 and now a 2010 release in the UK. Whilst such delays in the release of a film do not often bode well for a film’s quality, The Brothers Bloom proves to a very enjoyable con-artist caper. It doesn’t quite satisfy as much as Brick or feel worth the wait but it is nevertheless a likeable and satisfactory follow up to Brick.

Stephen (Ruffalo) and Bloom (Brody) are brothers who spent their youth going from foster home to foster home. Stephen looked after Bloom by constructing elaborate cons that would, whilst providing the pair with illegally gained income, give his shy brother the ability to live out various lives even if they are under the guise of performances. In the present day, Bloom has grown tired of living out the lives his brother has constructed for him and goes out on his own to live a real life but finds himself drawn back for one last, big con, involving the rich, recluse Penelope Stamp (Weisz) who collect hobbies and is drawn out from her home by the promise of adventure as part of the brother’s team unaware she is the subject of a con herself which is further troubled when Bloom finds himself drawn to Penelope and looks to protect her from Stephen.

The Brothers Bloom is an enjoyable con-artist film and like with Brick, Rian Johnson again constructs a very specific environment and atmosphere for his characters and story. Beginning with a flashback to the brothers in their youth and featuring narration from actor Ricky Jay, a familiar face in films of sleight of hand due to Jay’s performances as a magician, the tone for the film is set as con-artist film with dashes of fantasy and adventure. The rest of the film is then one that it is colourful and likeable filled with an assortment of eccentric characters and elaborate cons but one that is also filled with melancholy as Bloom mourns the loss of a real life that he’s never had, of having had no real romances as all those that he’s loved have loved a role he played rather than the real Bloom. The relationship between the brothers is a quite touching one as while Stephen may sometimes appear ruthless in his intent to con another of their money no matter the emotional harm; he nevertheless cares for his brother and provides him with a life that he believes protects him from harsher realities. The character of Penelope too is likeable and offers Bloom the chance at a real romance though it would come at the cost of the con that Stephen wishes to pull and therefore would endanger the brother’s relationship. As charming and likeable as the film is however, is does suffer slightly from too long a running time which makes the film feel slightly less breezy and enjoyable towards the end and certain twists in the plot, a requirement in any film about cons, are predictable but there is one last twist that is able to add emotional weight to the film’s finale.

Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody both deliver warm and enjoyable performances as the film’s titled brothers. Brody is likeable and believably naïve as the younger brother Bloom whose ideas of a real life are perhaps beyond what he expects them to be and Ruffalo, while playing the mature, experienced brother Stephen, still shows his character capable of kindness. Rachel Weisz is incredibly loveable as the bubbly Penelope whose innocence reflects Bloom’s and The Brothers Bloom features enjoyable support from Rinko Kikuchi and Robbie Coltrane as members of Stephen’s team both with their own eccentricities.

The Brothers Bloom is a thoroughly charming con-artist film with warm and likeable characters and performances throughout. There are parts of the plot that are predictable and the film runs a little too long but there are still many enjoyable twists and turns and a sense of fun that frequently allows the film to charm you.

Rating: 4/5

The Killer Inside Me

Director: Michael Winterbottom
Staring: Casey Affleck, Jessica Alba & Kate Hudson

An adaptation of Jim Thompson’s noir, serial killer classic which works well initially as a noir but feels somewhat hollow overall and features some uncomfortable, if message driven, violence.

Michael Winterbottom has built a career out making films that cover challenging subject matters, court controversy and span genres and his latest, The Killer Inside Me, is yet another film that feels in keeping with the choices Winterbottom has made in his career, is an adaptation of the Jim Thompson novel. However, whilst the novel did depict a bleak and violent picture of the life and mindset of a sociopath, Winterbottom’s adaption feels emotionally hollow making its violence more disturbing, its characters unsympathetic and its climax falls flat.

Lou Ford (Affleck) is a deputy sheriff in a small Texas town in 1950s America. Lou may seem quiet and unthreatening to some but beneath the surface he has violent impulses brought to the fore after an affair with a prostitute named Joyce (Alba) leads to the pair plotting a blackmail attempt against the son of a rich developer leaving one person dead and Joyce comatose. With no evidence pointing implicitly at Lou, he continues his job as the deputy but those suspicious of him lead him towards more acts of violence to hide his guilt including towards his fiancée Amy (Hudson) and the truth about his sociopathic nature threatening to come ever closer to being revealed to the townsfolk.

Considered to be one of the best serial killer POV novels, The Killer Inside Me was a disturbing story of a sociopath with heavy noir elements. All of this is present in the film adaptation too but Winterbottom’s representation of them vary in success though always provoke strong emotional responses. As a noir, the first half of the film works very well with most of its action occurring at night, a first person narration from Affleck as Ford, femme fatales, blackmail and murder though as Ford’s predicament begins to unravel and the lengths he needs to resort to, to cover up his initial acts of murder and violence and allay the suspicions of those around him and the noir elements begin to drop away as events lead into the day. The move from night to day and the steady pace at which events spiral out of the control of Ford is highlighted in a line of dialogue early in the film where the town Sheriff remarks that it is lightest before it gets dark so while the representation of this phrase is evident in events that come later, the actions of the characters within the story begin to stretch credulity especially in the film’s climax. Another aspect of The Killer Inside Me that has gained attention is the level of violence, particularly towards its female characters. The violence is disturbing. It is debateable whether the level of violence was necessary or justified but it’s lack of glamour as either way it generates hatred for Ford and his view of women which is, likely, the point but it is uncomfortable viewing. While this also highlights the fact that the story is told from Ford’s point of view with his narration sometimes at odds with what is occurring on screen and while this sometimes portrays his emotional disconnection from his acts it also leaves the film feeling emotionally hollow too with other characters leaving no lasting impressions unless they are subjected to violence.

The Killer Inside Me revolves around a single role and performance, fortunately the film benefits from strong casting in that role. Casey Affleck delivers an often impressive performance in the role of Lou Ford building on a similar performance he delivered as Robert Ford in The Assassination of Jesse James in his portrayal with both being men repressing anger and violent impulses leading others to underestimate them. The role of Lou Ford is certainly a more disturbing character than that of Robert Ford and Affleck’s performance is certainly filled with more subtle gestures with him able to deliver a performance that shows emotion yet feels appropriately faked that shows the character’s true detachment underneath the façade he show to others. Other roles in the film are less developed than Affleck’s performance as Ford due to them being seen through the eyes of Ford. Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson are generally fine as the two women who love Ford and suffer most from his impulses but they, and other characters, are generally ciphers with there motivations for sticking by Ford left unexplored though, because of the level of violence directed against some characters, sympathy can be found for the female characters at least.

Overall, what begins as film noir soon becomes less appealing and enjoyable as it progresses. The violence in the film, while not glamorised and intentionally depicted to disturb, is hard to watch and highlights the lack of development of characters other than the lead role since it takes such violence to generate sympathy for those characters at all. Affleck does deliver a disturbing performance as Ford but the film, like its lead character, is too emotionally detached leaving the film with little to attract repeat viewings.

Rating: 2/5

The Losers

Director: Sylvain White
Starring: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Idris Elba & Chris Evans

A fun adaptation of the comic book series that whilst lacking some of the depth of the comic, successfully builds some of its action set pieces and features a strong, enjoyable cast.

With most comic book adaptations hitting the big screen being based on superheroes, The Losers comes as long as one of the less frequent adaptations that adapts a comic from a different genre. When The Losers comic was conceived, it was with the intent of created a series that took action cinema values and apply them to a comic book series where budget issues are not an option and stories are only limited by the imaginations of their writers and artists. As a variant on The A-Team, The Losers comes to the big screen as part of the genre that inspired it. With a strong cast, some enjoyable action sequences lifted directly from the comic and good humour throughout, The Losers is a fun action movie though it lacks some of the depth and tension of the series on which it was based.

The Losers, a special forces team led by Clay (Morgan) and consisting of Roque (Elba), Jensen (Evans), Pooch (Columbus Short) and Cougar (Oscar Jaenada), find themselves presumed dead and framed for murder when their decision to ignore orders to save children from a drug cartel marked for destruction by airstrike sees an attempt on their lives result in the death of those they saved. Having identified the man, named Max (Jason Patric), who targeted them by his voice on a radio, the team go into hiding but are approached by a mysterious woman named Aisha (Zoe Saldana) who claims to have the money to finance operations by the team to find Max and clear their names in return for killing Max for Aisha and stopping his attempts to purchase a deadly new weapon. Max however, being a high ranking member of the CIA, has the means to protect himself and make the Losers mission against him very difficult indeed.

Originally planned to be directed by Peter Berg, who wrote the script, scheduling conflicts saw The Losers delayed before being passed on to Sylvain White. Fortunately, despite White’s inexperience as an action director, the action sequences in The Losers are often very enjoyable with many of the action sequences based on the same sequences in the comic book including some, though not all, of the fun angles that the comic’s artist used to convey those sequences. There is added humour in the film that is enjoyable too with the team bantering back and forth enjoyably and some rearranging of the comic’s plotlines (the film is based mostly on the first year of the series) such as making the character of Max more prominent sooner has varied success. With the character of Max it results in a rather enjoyable villain though in regards to the character of Aisha, she is softened in comparison to her comic book counterpart and her new origins are less interesting but these are issues that may have more relevance to the enjoyment of audiences familiar with the source material than those that those who aren’t. There is also a somewhat frustrating open ending to the film that, while there is more stories from the comic that could be adapted, the lack of guarantee of their being a sequel to wrap up plot threads leaves the film feeling incomplete.

The Losers does boast a fun and interesting cast of character actors in most of its roles. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, building on his tough guy persona in films like Watchmen and his star potential from television, makes for enjoyable Clay while Idris Elba as Roque enjoyably portrays the character’s anger issues always bottling away under the surface. Chris Evans gets the most memorable role as the wise cracking Jensen though he also gets enjoyable support, and competition, from Columbus Short as Pooch with the pair getting most of the best lines while Oscar Jaenada is likeable as the quiet Cougar. Zoe Saldana is decent as Aisha but the limitations of her character in the movie to merely badass chick, deprives the role and Saldana of the depth of the comic book character and the character here, like Saldana’s performance, is often too soft. Finally there is Jason Patric in the role of Max and while the character is pretty much a one note villain, Patric brings some humour to the role making the character evil yet enjoyable.

Lacking some of the depth of the comic book series, particularly in regards to the role of Aisha, The Losers still remains a very enjoyable action film with a fun cast, some good humour and action sequences though none as great as their comic book counterpart. A fun action film nevertheless.

Rating: 3/5