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OBS at the Movies
THE LOSERS Review by Ron Covington
Creative types in the movie industry rely on inspiration to drive their craft. Non-creative types rely on trends or business models to fuel their ventures.
The latest trend seems to be the action story where a group of mercenaries, each with special skills, disparate moral compasses, and dysfunctions, engage in a dangerous mission. A technique used to hook the audience immediately is to have the mission itself have a personal relevance to one or more team members. To add depth to the proceedings, scribes will add a moral dilemma to the situation, usually involving the main character. To further amp up the heat, the hero may begin to take immoral action to achieve his goal and this will drive a wedge between the hero and his main confidant and maybe even the rest of the team. The tension is increased because the hero begins to look more like the villain, who we already know is evil.
Acting-wise, Idris Elba and Columbus Short are the stand-outs with each giving their character nuance that lifts them out of the standard hard-bitten action guys. The rest of the cast isn’t bad. Zoe Saldana, the lone female lead, gets to flex her kick-ass skills and even does so in a twist on the old-romantic conquest scene with Clay.
There’s action galore and it’s all written deftly but without many surprises and that’s okay from a business point of view. The comic-book source material vibe is very much a part of the style so we know we’re in a world of over-the-top shenanigans. It’s not THE DIRTY DOZEN. It’s much closer in spirit to THE A-TEAM, which along with THE EXPENDABLES, debuts later this summer. Depending on how many of these merc-for-hire films succeed determines how many more are put in the pipeline. If you’re a writer, you must understand this trend was put into motion at least two years ago, so if you’re thinking of entering the fray, understand that you’re behind the curve. This is not to discourage anyone but you must have an understanding of the business side of things to increase your chances of getting noticed and produced. It’s always advisable to know about trends but to write those things that inspire your passion. Action movies will always be popular fare. At different points certain sub-genres will be the "flavor of the month."
Ron Covington is a former Disney and Cosby Writing Fellow. Currently with two TV projects and a stage musical in development, he’s added executive producer to his skill set.
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A lot of this
template is used in the story construction of THE LOSERS, the latest
big screen comic-book adaptation. A group of mercs, working for
"Max", a CIA handler, is dispatched to take out a Bolivian jungle
stronghold of a real nasty guy. The team calls in an air strike and
then discovers there are children in the compound. They try to call
off the strike but it’s too late. So the guys rush in, save the
children, and race out as the place is demolished by air missiles.
The extraction chopper doesn’t have enough room for the kids and the
mercs so the guys put the kids on board and stay behind. The
chopper explodes and the team realizes Max was trying to kill them.
They throw their dog tags into the burning wreckage to make Max
think they’re dead. The mercs take refuge in Bolivia when Aisha,
with her own agenda and grudge against Max, convinces Clay, the
leader, and the others to join her in taking the CIA baddie down.
Of course a couple of twists and turns ensue and the film ends with
the door left wide open to make this a franchise.