It's always fun when a movie that wasn't a box office success becomes a cult hit. The
latest one to do it is "The Losers." It's not hard to see why, either. It's a tremendously
fun movie with thrilling action and a great sense of humor.
"Huh. No. Yeah. Really? Why not? Can you? Of course."
This high-energy 2010 action film is directed by Sylvain White and based on a Vertigo comic
series of the same name by writer Andy Diggle and illustrator Mark "Jock" Simpson. It tells
the story of the titular elite Special Forces strike team whose members are betrayed and
left for dead in the Bolivian jungle with no way to get home.
The cast of The Losers is absolutely stacked: we've got Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Clay, the leader,
and Idris Elba as "demo and tactical" specialist Roque. Then there's Chris Evans
as wisecracking computer expert Jensen.
"I got a crossbow."
Plus, Oscar Jaenada plays Cougar, the sniper, and Columbus Short stars as transport and
heavy weapons guy Pooch. On top of that, Zoe Saldana turns in a scene-stealing performance
as the mysterious Aisha. If you're keeping count, that's three Marvel stars before they
were Marvel stars, plus one "Walking Dead" baddie. If you missed this high-octane gem
the first time it came around, here's everything you should know about it.
"The Losers" is a pretty faithful adaptation of Diggle and Jock's comic series. It's based
on the first two volumes of the comic, "Ante Up" and "Double Down," and many of the scenes
and shots are straight from the source material. The character designs and sense of humor are
straight from the comics, as are all the exotic locations.
"The Losers" is set all over the world - it starts in Bolivia and ends up in Los Angeles
- but it was mostly filmed in Puerto Rico. The island stood in for a number of far-flung
locales, from Mumbai to Dubai. Producer Kerry Foster said in the film's production notes:
"It was staggering what we found when we came to Puerto Rico to scout. There is a city,
obviously gorgeous beaches, a close approximation of a desert, and a rainforest that was ideal
to double for Bolivia. It's a beautiful island and the people could not have been more wonderful."
Puerto Rico wasn't paradise for everyone in the cast though.
Chris Evans told The New York Daily News:
"I'm not built for the heat. I'm Irish-Italian from Boston. I sweat, I burn. In Puerto Rico,
you're looking at 100 degrees with 100% humidity in Army fatigues. […] It was not an easy
experience for me. Everyone else was loving it."
Chris Evans made "The Losers" after the "Fantastic Four" movies - where he played Johnny Storm-slash-Human
Torch - but before he became Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Along with
"Snowpiercer" and "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," it's one of three non-Marvel live-action comic
book adaptations that Evans has made so far. Plus, "The Losers" clearly proved that the
actor had the charisma to become one of the world's biggest stars.
"Ssss, where you from, originally?"
"The wilds of northern Africa."
"Wow, so that must have been………sandy."
﻿As some critics have pointed out, ﻿Evans' performance in "The Losers" demonstrated that
he understood how to execute the tone of comic book humor and could give fantastic performances
both individually and as a member of a larger team, which would serve him well as Steve Rogers.
﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿But for his part, Evans wasn't drawn to "The Losers" because it was
a comic book adaptation but because it reminded him of funny action movies he loved growing
up, like "Die Hard" and "Lethal Weapon," which - like "The Losers" - were produced by Joel
Silver. The character chemistry in particular was a huge draw, and it shows in the film.
"I was good at that, right Roque?"
"Shut up."
"Thanks man. Robert De Niro who?"
"Jensen! Shut up!"
"You shut up, Roque. You're dead. I'm spinal injury. Spinal injury can talk. Dead can't
say shit."
"Stop talking or I'll break your neck really."
"You know you really gotta start getting into character."
"The Losers" was meant to set up a franchise, but it didn't pan out. Star Jeffrey Dean Morgan
believes the movie's lackluster box office performance was due to how the film was marketed,
not the film itself. Morgan said in a 2018 interview with Fandom:
"We had this amazing cast. And, I mean, really amazing cast when you look at it now. I think
something got lost on the other end of things."
It really is a surprise that "The Losers" didn't get more traction at the box office,
considering the movie had such great talent, a riveting story, and uniquely entertaining
graphic novel source material to work with. Morgan also said that he'd be down for a sequel,
should the opportunity ever arise. Hey - with The Losers' newfound popularity, it could
still happen. Don't stop believing.
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