The Losers

As summer is quickly approaching, another season of blockbuster films are about to be released. There will be comic book action movies, the R-rated comedy hits, and all kinds of films that more times than not, always please the audience. However, all entertaining action film do not have to come out in the summer. A good example is “The Losers," a fast-paced, shoot-em-up action film which is good enough to tide me over until the summer season.

Meet the Losers, a team of five men that carry out special missions for the U.S. government. Clay (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is the leader of the group that controls the operations. Pouch (Columbus Short) is the one that knows technology (in one scene he refers to himself as the black MacGyver). Roque (Idris Elba) is one of the tougher guys that does not always agree with the decisions made by the team. Cougar (Oscar Jaenada) is the sharpshooter who almost never misses with his sniper rifle. Last is the team’s funniest and most sarcastic member, Jensen (Chris Evans). These five are performing an operation in Bolivia and everything is going well until a group of children show up at the location that an air strike is about to be carried out in. When Clay tries to call off the air strike, he is talked to by a man named Max who, after the operation, tries to kill The Losers. Now presumed to be dead, The Losers are living in South America knowing that if they return, Max will most likely find them and kill them. Clay soon meets a girl named Aisha (Zoe Saldana) who claims to know how to get to Max. Longing for revenge, Clay and his team agrees to go with the girl back into the U.S. in an undercover operation to pay back Max and to clear their names.

The main attraction to "The Losers" is the action. Whether it involves chases, fist-fights, or gun slinging madness, this film is covered with action from start to finish. I figured this out at the very beginning in which the first ten minutes of the film consist of the five men taking out fifty bad guys. Is it pointless action? No. Is it well shot, entertaining action? YES! Many times action films only focus on action while totally ignoring other things, but thankfully this isn't the case for "The Losers."

Not only does this film have action, it also contains quite a bit of comedy (a good mix for a film). The Losers can take down men easily and they can crack jokes while doing it too. Most humor in the film is seen from my favorite character, Jensen that was played by Chris Evans who has played a smart-talking "hero" before (The Human Torch from the "Fantastic Four" films). Since I'm talking about comedy, this would be a good time to talk about the antagonist of the film, Max(Jason Patrick). You could tell from the dialogue and the way that Jason Patrick delivered his lines that the makers of the film were intending for the character of Max to be a both humorous and at the same time cruel villain. Sadly, the character was hardy funny and more of a wannabe villain than a smooth-talking, sarcastic bad guy.

A pro for "The Losers" is that the film had good acting. I am primarily speaking about Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Chris Evans who, after both staring in past comic-book films, showed that they are capable of being entertaining action stars(which is great for Chris Evans since he will portray Captain America next year). A con is that the film doesn't really have a complex story line and because of this, it doesn't focus that much on it's characters. One thing I would have liked to have seen was maybe a brief back story to each of the five members of The Losers.

"The Losers" is without a doubt a film that most action lovers will enjoy. Though it lacks a few things, the film makes up for it with good acting, plenty of action, and laughs. Once again, the movie is good enough to tide me over until May 7th ("Iron Man 2!!). I give it two and a half stars out of four.

"The Losers has a running time of 98 minutes and is rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action and violence, a scene of sensuality and language.

Casting Call: The First Avenger Captain America

It seems that things are coming together for Marvel's last movie before the main attraction hitting theaters in 2012 that is the Avengers. After this summer's Iron Man 2 and next summers Thor, Marvel will release one more film about the leader of the super hero team that consists of Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Nick Fury, Black Widow, and the leader himself...Captain America. Major casting for The First Avenger: Captain America been announced throughout this past month. The role of Cap's sidekick, Bucky Barnes, will be played by Sebastian Stan (Gossip Girls). The role of the villain, the Nazi general named The Red Skull, will be played by Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith from the Matrix saga). Last but certainly not least, Captain America will be played by a man that has already been part the Marvel Universe...Chris Evans. Most will know Evans from his role as The Human Torch from the Fantastic Four films. I'm liking these casting decisions so far (except for Stan since I've never heard of him.) The film itself will center around WW2 and feature the super hero team, The Invaders. In the original comics, the Invaders included Cap, Namor, and an older version of the Human Torch. I expect that the end of the film will show how Captain America gets frozen and survives till present day where he is found by Nick Fury to lead the Avengers.

How to Train Your Dragon in a nutshell

Who doesn't love Dreamworks films? I mean there's "Shrek" (awesome), "Madagascar", and "Kung Fu Panda." The newest addition to these characters is Hiccup, a scrawny son of a viking king who constantly has a pest problem on his hands...dragons. Hiccup was never meant to kill a dragon with his bare hands like everyone else. Instead he tries to use his inventions to do the job and one day it works. Hiccup doesn't catch just any old dragon, he catches the fastest, most dangerous kind of dragon called a Night Fury. When Hiccup realizes he can't kill the dragon, he decides to train the dragon and comes to name it Toothless (due to the fact that at first, the dragon seems to have no teeth.) The two embark on an adventure as Hiccup realizes that the dragons are nothing like the vikings make them out to be. This journey includes laughs, thrills, and a dragon so big that, if this wasn't a kids movie, would have killed all the dragons and vikings. Like all Dreamworks films, the animation is stunning. The different kinds of dragons, variety of vikings, and the scenery showed that the people at Dreamworks are moving in the right direction. The script was funny and contained absolutely no cheesy material. The films plot was firm and didn't wonder off into unneeded side stories *cough* Transformers 2 *cough* and the story was enjoyable and original. By the way, for some unknown reason, knowing that the head viking was voiced by Gerard Butler (300) made me enjoy the character more (like when he was laying the beat down on multiple dragons). So, in a nutshell, go see "How to Train Your Dragon." It's just proof the Dreamworks is getting closer and closer to topping Pixar.

Clash of the Titans

The many stories and adventures of Greek mythology have been retold in many ways in our pop culture including various books and movies. Now Greek mythology returns once again in this remake of an 80's film under the same name. Some differences between the two? Well, the plot has been tweaked, there are more action sequences, and the CGI has been ramped up tenfold. As stated in the tag line for the film, titans will clash in this new action extravaganza, "Clash of the Titans."

Perseus(Sam Worthington) never knew his parents. His mother had been drowned by being locked in a coffin and his father, little does he know, just so happens to be the Greek god of lightning, Zeus(Liam Neeson). A fisherman found Perseus and raised him until he was an adult. When the family finds their way to Argos, where a group of soldiers destroys a statue of Zeus, Hades(Ralph Fiennes) rises from the seas and kills everyone around him (save Perseus and a few soldiers) including Perseus' parents. In Argos, the people are celebrating the return of the surviving soldiers of Hades' attack and are comparing themselves and the princess Andromeda to the gods. Of course this doesn't settle well with Zeus therefore the god of lightning allows Hades to attack Argos. During this attack, Hades kills the remaining soldiers with whom Perseus is standing. When Hades' attack has no effect on Perseus, he becomes aware that Perseus is a demi-god and tells him that he is the son of Zeus. After that Hades threatens Argos with destruction by the hands of the Kraken, a monstrous beast that had overthrown the Titans enabling the gods to rule in the first place. The only way to prevent this is to sacrifice Andromeda. Perseus then volunteers to lead a band of warriors to find a way to kill the Kraken and ultimately get his revenge and kill Hades.

Sam Worthington has gone from part machine, to part alien, to part god in his acting career and has proved himself to be a good actor. Alongside Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes, "Titans" boasts an "A" list cast, but does the film make good use of the actors? Well, yes and no. While I enjoyed the fact that it was Liam Neeson portraying the king of the gods, it is hard to take him seriously when his armor is shining like the sun and his beard goes down to his stomach. All of the gods except Hades also have shining clothes that could have been toned down. On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed Ralph Fiennes's performance as the evil god of the Underworld. The same menace seen in his other character, Lord Voldemort from the "Harry Potter" series, is poured into this character as well. Hades is definitely my favorite character in the movie.

For those who have seen the old "Clash of the Titans," they will realize that the biggest difference between the two films is the CGI. The first film used stop-motion effects to create effects such as Medusas' snake hair and the giant Kraken. In the new version, of course, CGI is used to create the giant scorpions, the flying horses, Medusa, and the Kraken that is so big it could probably make the Empire State Building collapse with its steps.

The only downside to the film is that it is cheesy/hokey at times. It is mostly the script but other hokey factors include unneeded characters that are meant to be comic relief, or events that play out and in the end are not necessary. There are also several characters that the film should not have included. For example, a desert tribe of monsters that aid Perseus in his quest are of no importance. If they were kept out, the film would be just the same. These two downsides to the film barely ruined my enjoyment of the film because I was expecting these problems to be there in the first place.

How would I describe "Clash of the Titans" in a nutshell? A slightly hokey, entertaining action film with very impressive visual effects. For myself, a fan of Greek mythology, this film was very enjoyable in almost every way. Oh and as a last remark, do not spend the extra money on the 3D showing. I give it two and a half stars out of four.

"Clash of the Titans" has a running time of one hour and fifty-eight minutes and is rated PG-13 for fantasy action violence, some frightening images and brief sensuality.