The Losers -- Review

This weekend will be a showdown of the comics. After it's opening weekend last week, I feel as though Kick-Ass needs a make-up session, and the challenger in the other corner is Vertigo comic's The Losers.  Last week Kick-Ass just barely beat out the family film from Dreamworks How to Train Your Dragon, but I feel this weeks challenger should put up less of a fight.  Unfortunately I did not buy the hype of The Losers.  Yes, it looks cool.  Yes, there is a hot chick that can kick ass and will give any guy a hard on for her flexibility and ability to handle dangerous weapons.  But other than that this film lacks in a variety of areas.

As an action fan from the female prospective, The Losers left me wishing I had not wasted my time.  Regardless of several "hot" male actors there was nothing that truly appealed to action fans.  There wasn't quite enough action to keep me satisfied, and the overall dialog and story fell short even in comparison to some of the worst comic book adaptations like The Punisher, Hulk (Eric Bana version)  and The Fantastic Four.  I get that they tried to appeal to females by adding in Chris Evans who previously starred as Human Torch, but even for how bad the Fantastic Four films were we (female audience) were at least given a little skin to help us get through the painful moments of the film. But there was very little for me to hold onto during the 98 minute running time of The Losers.

 The Losers gave the impression to have great potential, but after Kick-Ass and the witty dark humor I felt the dialog and story choices made for The Losers just reached too far.  Granted I have not read the comics, but I have a feeling that several of the characters are not quite as bad as they are portrayed.  Jensen is over the top and is almost "clueless" to an extent that is unbelievable.  It's "cute" that he loves his niece but there is something about an elite special forces hacker that acts the way he does that just doesn't make it for me.  Clay is the most relateable character, however his character is so one-dimensional that I just couldn't seem to like him.  Aisha is a bad ass chick suffering from lack of bi-polar medication.  Her history and connection to the Losers makes sense but the lead up to the reveal make it less believable as to who her character is.  My only real porblem with Zoe Saldana as Aisha is the fact that I find her hard to believe as an action star.  Her dancing background adds to her ability to make the appearance believable, but her acting style is hard to keep up with.  I wish she would stick with drama films and leave the action genre to other actors for the time being.  The best part of the film for me was Cougar and Pooch.  Their contrast together made for the perfect pair in the team. Cougars lack of need to speak makes him a true bad-ass, and adds to his character as a sharpshooter. 

Over all I struggled to find something steady throughout The Losers to keep me grounded long enough to really appreciate it.  I guess having just come off Kick-Ass I have higher standards for comic adaptations and just wanted something more.  The Losers cannot touch Kick-Ass in overall quality of entertainment.  Personally I would suggest putting The Losers on the back burner and waiting to see it after it's out on DVD.  But who knows, maybe I just missed the point and maybe one of you can help explain to me what I missed.