A winnerBy John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time," "Cinema Classics," and "On the Marquee"
"Svmer is icumen in
Lhude sing cuccu" (Middle English lyric)
Well, you get the idea: Summer is coming in, and you better watch your significant other because that cuckoo bird is a symbol of distrust. Appropriate lyrics for The Losers, a high-spirited pre-summer action romp in which comic book hero types defy gravity and human intercourse to fight the baddest man in the world. Five U.S. Special Forces operatives have just been deceived and take revenge seriously.
If you toss in a beautifully dangerous agent, missiles, and improbable escapes, you'll be ready to ride through the summer's blockbusters and less expensive thriller fare . The Losers provides just about everything an early summer action film could offer except logic and witty dialogue. Why these very smart heroes got hoodwinked in the Bolivian jungle, out maneuvered in a bright heist with a magnetic hoist, and betrayed by one of their own is surely the stuff of comic book adaptations to the screen.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays leader Clay with the cool of William Holden and his Professionals, Zoe Saldana takes on the Tandy Newton B movie role of alluring femme fatale, the four other macho men are just right with their quips and banter in the face of death, and Jason Patric as Max could as easily have played a James Bond world domination megalomaniac.
Do you think the lady is really a traitor? Will she make love with Clay? Will Clay and Max face each other at the top of a precarious piece of machinery? Will a helicopter blow up? Will Max's chief of security make you killing mad?
If you don't care about the answers, then you're prime to start your summer right with a comic thriller that is by no means a loser.
John DeSando teaches film at Franklin University and co-hosts WCBE 90.5's It's Movie Time, Cinema Classics, and On the Marquee, which can be heard streaming at http://publicbroadcasting.net/wcbe/ppr/index.shtml and on demand at http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wcbe/arts.artsmain Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.RR.com