{"id":17312,"date":"2010-05-08T11:01:51","date_gmt":"2010-05-08T17:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=17312"},"modified":"2010-05-08T11:09:48","modified_gmt":"2010-05-08T17:09:48","slug":"move-review-the-losers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/05\/08\/move-review-the-losers.html","title":{"rendered":"Move Review: The Losers<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a> \"The<\/a><\/div>\n

\nThe Losers<\/em><\/a> (2010)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Overall<\/strong><\/td>\n\"\"<\/td>\nStory<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Production<\/td>\n<\/td>\nActing<\/td>\n\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

I never wrote\u00a0 a review of The Losers<\/em><\/a> after I watched it last weekend because … well … there wasn’t much to write about.\u00a0 It’s a competent action movie based pretty solidly on The Losers<\/em>, a Vertigo comic series<\/a> from the early-mid-00s by Andy Diggle and Jock.\u00a0 It has appropriate amounts of action, stuff blowing up, guns, action shots, Big Government conspiracy, more stuff blowing up, bad guys getting their just deserts, good guys getting some victories, Evil Smarmy Uber-Villains walking away for a sequel unlikely to happen …<\/p>\n

The movie didn’t do very well in the theaters, from what I heard, which makes that sequel, as noted, unlikely.\u00a0 I’m okay with that because, honestly, the movie doesn’t add much to the books (which I read at the time, and am considering re-acquiring as TPBs).\u00a0 There are a few differences — the family backstories were padded out, the Clay\/Aisha relationship is bumped up (so to speak) a bit, and we learn up-front what created the team and their antipathy to “Max” — but there’s a lot of scene-by-scene adaptation here, not quite of Watchmen <\/em>slavishness but enough to show that the producers knew they had a good thing that was actually portrayed pretty cinematically to begin with.<\/p>\n

Where there are changes, they’re mostly to accommodate a stand-alone 98-minute movie, which parallels most of the events in the initial “Goliath” storyline of the series, plus the elements noted above.\u00a0 And it’s well-done in a workmanlike fashion. Definitely worth seeking out on Netflix when it gets there, or as an inspiration to read the books (which are being republished in 12-issue collections).<\/p>\n

Actingwise — well, Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Clay is a bit beaten-down soft (though that works), and Zoe Saldana’s Aisha is a bit too pretty (but suitably vicious).\u00a0 The rest of the team are all handled pretty well (as makes sense for largely paper-cutout figures — the nerd, the sniper, the cutthroat, the enforcer — at least as presented here), and Jason Patric’s Max is a nicely iconic villain you both chuckle over and long to see meet a truly horrific end.<\/p>\n

I don’t at all regret seeing it, and it was an entertaining way to pass some time, but I’m not hot and heavy to see it again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Losers (2010) Overall Story Production Acting I never wrote\u00a0 a review of The Losers after I watched it last weekend because … well … there wasn’t much to write about.\u00a0 It’s a competent action movie based pretty solidly on The Losers, a Vertigo comic series from the early-mid-00s by Andy Diggle and Jock.\u00a0 It … Continue reading “Move Review: The Losers<\/i>“<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media-comics","category-media-movies"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/losers-comic1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4631,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/07\/27\/bt03_additional.html","url_meta":{"origin":17312,"position":0},"title":"BT03 – Additional thoughts","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 27-Jul-03 2:55am","format":false,"excerpt":"Hrm. Thought I posted that last item at the bottom of the hour, but just did it now. So I'll quick whip up another post. Doyce headed back out. Many...","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19197,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/11\/14\/shades-of-red.html","url_meta":{"origin":17312,"position":1},"title":"Shades of RED","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 14-Nov-10 10:38pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Whilst Kitten was off on a Girl Scout outing, Margie and I, the afternoon free, went off and watched RED (official site). It was, as I tweeted, a splended Bruce Willis action adventure spy comedy political violent PG-13 thriller. \u00a0Loads of fun, Margie enjoyed it, etc. Willis character is fun,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":160781,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2025\/07\/12\/movie-review-superman-2025.html","url_meta":{"origin":17312,"position":2},"title":"Movie Review: Superman (2025)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 12-Jul-25 9:53pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Much better than I'd hoped, and a great kick-off to a new DC cinematic universe","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"Superman (2025)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Superman-2025-poster-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Superman-2025-poster-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Superman-2025-poster-2.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12457,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/04\/28\/comics_and_the_movies.html","url_meta":{"origin":17312,"position":3},"title":"Comics and the movies","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 28-Apr-08 1:29pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Movies: Stop Adapting The Wrong Comics\u00a0 Some suggested comics to adapt. I've read some of these -- and Thunderbolts is (conceptually, stripped of its Marvel history) a great idea. 1602,...","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9722,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/05\/03\/superman_return.html","url_meta":{"origin":17312,"position":4},"title":"Superman Returns (soon)","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 3-May-06 8:01am","format":false,"excerpt":"The trailer is loose for the upcoming movie ... Overall impressions? Gutsy yet very satisfying move to not simply reboot the movie series, but return to it (ignoring the last...","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/superman.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":160492,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/29\/movie-review-deadpool-wolverine-2024.html","url_meta":{"origin":17312,"position":5},"title":"Movie Review: “Deadpool & Wolverine” (2024)","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 29-Jul-24 6:35pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A very funny, very actiony, very enjoyable way to wile away a couple of hours. NO SPOILERS.","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"deadpool wolverine poster 1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/deadpool-wolverine-poster-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/deadpool-wolverine-poster-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/deadpool-wolverine-poster-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/deadpool-wolverine-poster-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}