The Losers

Well, it's time to take a trip in the Way-Back Machine. Yep, we're going all the way back in April 2010 when I was relatively new to this whole blogging thing. Some movies need a revisit, like 2010's The Losers, an ultra-entertaining action flick that my cousin got me for a birthday present a couple years back. Timely, no, but I caught up with it this weekend. Yes, still an excellent, entertaining movie.

An elite black-ops team working with the U.S. Special Forces has been deployed into Bolivia to take out a compound run by a drug cartel. Headed by their commander, Clay (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), they've worked together for years, including Roque (Idris Elba), Jensen (Chris Evans), Pooch (Columbus Short) and Cougar (Oscar Jaenada). The mission isn't everything it seems to be, the team rescuing a group of 25 young children being held as drug mules and hostages. The kids board the helicopter intended for the team, but the helicopter is struck by a missile. Clay and Co. have become targets. Who wants them dead? More importantly, why? The man's name is Max (Jason Patric), a C.I.A. operative gone rogue. Trapped in Bolivia and believed dead, the Losers are left with no alternatives, getting help from a beautiful, mysterious woman, Aisha (Zoe Saldana), who promises to help them. Can this group pull off the impossible and survive the suicide mission ahead of them?

Hitting theaters in spring 2010, 'Losers' received middling reviews and did okay in theaters but was far from a hit. It seemed to have some horrific timing, released in a wave of men-on-a-mission movies like The A-Team (June 2010) and Takers (August 2010). Of the three, I liked this one best, director Sylvain White turning in a stylized, fun, shoot 'em up that more than holds up on a repeat viewing. Does it rewrite the genre? In a word? No. It doesn't need to. It is one of those perfect popcorn movies. Just sit back and watch it, clocking in at an action-packed 97 minutes. Very stylish, lots of cool characters, bullet and explosion-riddled action scenes. An easy movie to recommend. Too bad it didn't do better in theaters. I would have loved to see where the Losers went from here.

What works so well is the casting, and probably was at least part of the movie's struggles in theaters. There just ain't a ton of star power on display here. Now for me, I count that as a positive, but we're not talking Ocean's 11 star power to round out the Losers. The dynamic works, the men-on-a-mission premise that's one of my favorites. Each team member has a specialty, Clay the no-nonsense leader, Roque an expert in tactics and detonation, Jensen the nerdy tech specialist, Pooch able to drive anything with an engine and wheels and Cougar proficient in long-range eliminations (Yes, we've got ourselves a sniper). Their backstory is never spelled out, just hinted at, but we know they're damn good at their job...right up until they're betrayed and left out in the dark. Of the group, there's no weak spots, but I especially liked a scene-stealing Evans ("That's right. I've got a crossbow, bitches."), Morgan, Elba, Short and Janeada all getting their chances to shine too.

'Losers is actually based off a graphic novel series that was adapted into a screenplay written by actor/director Peter Berg and James Vanderbilt. And that's where we get a surprising angle on the movie. With graphic novels, character development isn't the first thing that comes to my mind, but here it is an essential part of the story. We get that development through dialogue, lots of quick, fast-firing conversations among the team. One that especially stands out has Jensen and Pooch debating whether to take a car or not, the back and forth coming in almost monosyllabic grunts, one-word answers in rapid fire succession. If there isn't more star power, so be it. The chemistry with the cast is spot-on perfect from beginning to end. This is a fun movie, and the cast is clearly having a ton of fun making it. We've got tough guys on a suicide mission with lots of action, funny, memorable one-liners and a great chemistry. That's a winning formula if you ask me.

Adding some sex appeal to the action-heavy hijinks is Zoe Saldana as Aisha, a mysteriously beautiful woman who wears slinky and/or tight outfits but who can also handle herself when the bullets start to fly. What's her motive? What's her end-game? Well, that's part of the fun. Hamming it up and clearly enjoying himself is Jason Patric as the maniacally evil Max. It's a ridiculous character, but Patric commits and it works in a big way. This is a villain that seems ripped from so many over-the-top 1980s action movies, but it fits right in with all the craziness. Holt McCallany plays Wade, Max's much-maligned enforcer, the straight man to Max's off the wall antics.

Onto the action! There's no time to waste in a 97-minute movie so in between scenes of the team bitching and moaning, ripping each other almost non-stop, we get action. LOTS of action. The opener at the drug compound sets the tone, quick and flashy and fun. The same later for almost back-to-back sequences, the Losers taking out Max's heavily armored convoy in Miami, the follow-up Jensen trying to navigate a well-guarded building with security on his tail. The obvious high-point is saved for the end though, the Losers forced to stop Max (and his diabolical, ecological-minded plan) at the Port of Los Angeles -- because all action movies require a good shootout at the Port of L.A. Like the whole movie, it's fun. Get some popcorn, sit back and appreciate it for all its entertainment value. Your time will not be wasted.

The Losers (2010): ***/****
Rewrite of April 2010 review

In the Valley of Elah

Maybe 15 or 20 years down the road, there will be a wave of movies in theaters about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, much the way movies about WWII and even Korea and Vietnam were released. I doubt it, but who knows. For now, the wounds may be too fresh so we get movies kinda about the war, related but not directly about the fighting, like 2007's In the Valley of Elah.

A former army veteran and military policeman, Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones) lives in Tennessee with his wife, Joan (Susan Sarandon). He is more than surprised one day to get a call that his son, Mike, recently back from a tour in Iraq, has gone missing and is days away from being reported as going AWOL. Curious what's going on and sensing something suspicious, Hank drives to the army base in New Mexico to look into it himself, investigating what's happened to his son, if anything. He gets various responses, some more helpful than others. Hank is stonewalled by some, greeted by others, and gets some less than willing help from a local detective, Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron), who joins him in the investigation. It doesn't take long before clues mount up, but it might all be for naught. Mike's body has been found, dismembered and burned. What was Hank's son into?

Over the last ten-plus years, there hasn't been too many things more divisive than the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some support it wholeheartedly, others question why American forces are there at all. This film from director Paul Haggis goes down a different part -- mostly -- by having the fighting serve as a jumping off point for a police procedural. What happened in Iraq affects the police investigation. We follow Hank and Emily as they investigate Mike's disappearance, eventual murder and what led to it. The movie is at its strongest in those moments, a low-key but tense mystery that keeps us guessing. Hank, Emily, local police and army investigators all search and pursue each and every clue, anything that might lead to answers. Most lead to nothing, just dead ends, but all it takes is one clue to bring it all together.

What the movie is more focused on -- via the investigation -- is how the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan has impacted the lives of the soldiers involved. A nasty little sub-genre of war movies dating back to The Best Years of Our Lives through Born on the Fourth of July and many more all deal with Post-traumatic stress disorder following their deployments. Through some videos and photos recovered from Mike's phone, Hank sees what his son and his fellow soldiers went through on a daily basis. Much like Vietnam was a new war, the Iraq war was unlike other conflicts. It becomes almost impossible to identify who your enemy is. Anyone and everyone could be trying to kill you. Thankfully the script and story from Haggis and Mark Boal doesn't hit us over the head with its message (for the most part). What the soldiers see, do and experience affects them in horrendous ways, ways that they can't just shake off because they're not overseas anymore.

Taking two familiar-ish characters and making them more than a cliched, cardboard cutout are Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron. Who better to play a world-weary, semi-retired MP and army vet than TLJ? He's quiet and understated, knowing the answers he's looking for will almost certainly bring nothing positive. Just the same, he goes about his investigation so he knows what really happened to his son, and maybe more importantly, what drove him down that path. Theron's part is more familiar, a female detective who gets no respect from her colleagues, also a single mother with a son at home. She takes on this case for a couple reasons, to show she can, a little out of spite, and sometimes even against her better judgement. It's two really good performances, both with chances to show off dramatically, but neither actor overdoes it. Like their characters, they just go about their business.

Supporting Jones and Theron is an equally impressive supporting cast. Sarandon nails a smallish part as Jones' wife, waiting at home for a phone call she doesn't want to hear. Jason Patric is a scene-stealer as Sgt. Kirklander, an officer with Army intelligence trying to do his job as best he can while also seemingly trying to cover the Army's butt just in case. James Franco plays an Army officer who meets Hank early on while Josh Brolin plays the Chief of police, two small parts that didn't seem to justify the star power associated with them. Cool to see, just odd. Barry Corbin and Frances Fisher have quick appearances as people Hank meets/contacts during his questioning. Playing some of Mike's buddies from his squad are Wes Chatham, Jake McLaughlin, Mehcad Brooks and Roman Arabia with Jonathan Tucker playing Mike via flashback. 

It's funny how one scene can change your feelings about a movie, and how quickly it can happen. Obviously, this is an anti-war movie, but I thought for the most part, Haggis did a good job getting his message across without screaming "THIS WAR IS BAD!" at us as viewers. Then there's the final shot of the movie which came across as heavy-handed and awkward. It's too bad because the build-up got that message across. The war is bad, and the effect it is having on our soldiers is horrific. I thought he got that message across building up to the finale. Too bad because the final reveal about Mike is a whopper, shocking and uncomfortable to hear. Still a really good film, but the ending left me with a sour taste because of one single shot. Go figure.

In the Valley of Elah (2007): ***/****

The Alamo (2004)

Right from the get-go, it seemed 2004's The Alamo was doomed. Casting problems with casting and directing and especially the rating -- make it a hard R or a more family friendly PG-13 -- hung over the production.  Then once director John Lee Hancock finished the movie, an hour of his finished product was hacked away and the release date pushed back three months.  Finally released in theaters Easter weekend against Passion of the Christ, Hancock's movie bombed, barely making $20 million. Failure in theaters, yes, but that doesn't take away from one of my favorite movies on one of my favorite subjects.

It's February 1836 and less than 200 Texans and Mexicans have holed up in the Alamo, a crumbling adobe mission outside San Antonio.  Mexican dictator Santa Anna (Emilio Echevarria) leads an army numbering almost 5,000 men and means to squash this rebellion no matter the cost.  Inside the Alamo, three men lead the tiny garrison; Jim Bowie (Jason Patric), the infamous knife fighter, David Crockett (Billy Bob Thornton), a famed frontiersman and ex-Congressman, and William Travis (Patrick Wilson), a young unproven officer in the regular army.  As the siege wears on day after day, General Sam Houston (Dennis Quaid) tries to assemble an army to come to the aid of the besieged Alamo.  But inside the doomed mission, the defenders see more Mexican troops arriving daily and know what awaits them if they don't surrender.

Before I dive in, I'll say that ever since I was a kid, the story of the Alamo has appealed to me. I'll read and watch anything I can find on the subject. John Wayne's The Alamo is one of my two favorite movies, and even with extremely high expectations going into this one upon its initial release, I loved this movie. It feels crazy that it's almost 10 years since it was released in theaters. It is a shame also that Hancock's believed 3-hour version will never see the light of day. As is right now at 137 minutes, it has its fair share of flaws. At times, it's far too rushed. It has Pearl Harbor Syndrome as well, insisting on a happy ending as opposed to a more appropriate ending. But when it does get right? It hits a home run.

The shame of it is, Hancock has finished the most accurate re-telling of the Alamo battle, including the build-up and actual battle. An immense set in Dripping Springs, Texas was built including the actual Alamo mission and the nearby town of San Antonio. Like Wayne's version, having a full-scale set adds to the realism of the story and battle. The characters are not the legends we remember them as, but the people they actually were. People with personalities, hopes and dreams, fears and desires. The Alamo defenders weren't frontiersman, but townspeople like bankers, lawyers, farmers, and store owners. Without making them into the mythological characters they've become, Hancock has made a very human, personal movie. It's easy to see and feel what the defenders went through; an impossible situation with no easy resolution.

The Alamo story typically presents three main characters, the Alamo trinity of Crockett, Bowie and Travis. I'll get to all three, but the best performance hands down belongs to Billy Bob Thornton as Crockett. This is not the Fess Parker Crockett, but instead a regular guy who's tied down by his own legend he had little to do with creating. Of all the Crockett performances, this is the best, one I thought Thornton deserved an Oscar nomination for. The defenders look to him for support, for answers, for a way out. A monologue mid-siege is transfixing to watch, subtle and quiet but nonetheless highly effective. Another scene has Crockett playing his fiddle atop the Alamo walls, harmonizing with the Mexican army's band playing the Deguello (a high point of Carter Burwell's unassuming but still moving score). Watch the scene HERE. Somewhat controversially, the 2004 Alamo handled Crockett's death in a way no other Alamo movie even dared touch, Thornton rising to the occasion.

The diary of a Mexican soldier -- Enrique de la Pena -- who served at the Alamo claims that Crockett was captured in the closing moments of the battle and brought before a gloating Santa Anna. He was executed with a handful of other prisoners who survived the battle. This is the way the 2004 version chooses to go with, a scene that ends up being the most memorable one in the whole movie. This is Thornton bringing this man to life. Under his breath, Crockett mumbles 'Davy Crockett' as he faces death, his legend hanging over him as the Mexican army awaits what he will do. You can watch the scene HERE. Crockett's death -- whether by surrender/execution or going down fighting -- is maybe the most controversial aspect of the battle for Alamo buffs, but as presented here I can't understand anyone objecting to it.

Onto the other 2/3 of the Alamo trinity. About as far removed from a Hollywood star as possible, Patric is ideally suited to play Jim Bowie, a man who's earned his reputation where Crockett has had his thrust upon him. He's a hard-drinking, stubborn fighter, willing to fight it out if he believes he's right. Playing Colonel Travis, Wilson too shines, showing the transformation the young Alamo commander makes in such a short time as he attempts to rally the mission. All three men make these historical figures people and not just a name. Echevarria doesn't fare so well as Santa Anna, making the Mexican dictator a villain in the vein of a James Bond movie. Quaid too struggles to bring Houston to life, but much of his part was cut when the movie was hacked at to the tune of an hour of lost footage. Jordi Molla as Juan Seguin, a Mexican messenger from the Alamo, especially represents himself well as does Leon Rippy, Marc Blucas (as messenger James Bonham) and Kevin Page as Micajah Autry, Crockett's friend.

What The Alamo does well is especially evident in the choice to stay accurate to the final assault the morning of March 6 when the defenders were overwhelmed and killed to a man. It shows the attack in the morning darkness in an extended sequence that runs almost 15 minutes. Watch most of the sequence HERE. The scale is impressive, giving a real sense of what the battle must have been like. Actually imagine the setting; an enemy closing in on four sides and you've got nowhere to run. It isn't presented as a noble, heroic fight but a gruesome hand-to-hand conflict as sheer numbers overwhelm the Alamo defenders. It starts off in a great sequence as Crockett plucks the string on his fiddle, the shot changing with each pluck as the Mexican army silently approaches the Alamo walls. The most effective moment is a quiet one. Delirious with sickness, Bowie lies in bed barely able to move. He buttons up his vest, ready to face whatever comes through the door. As Rippy's Ward says "We know what awaits us and are prepared to meet it."

Wrapping up the movie is a rushed 20-minute follow-up, Houston's victory at San Jacinto. Like the Doolittle Raid being tacked onto Pearl Harbor, it feels unnecessary. It doesn't take away from a moving story though. The cast is nearly perfect, the music fitting and not your typical historical epic score, the actual Alamo set is a sight to behold, the camerawork and the visual are stunning, and like other successful Alamo movies, it gets the message across. Facing impossible odds, these defenders stood their ground, ready to give their lives because they believed they were right.

The Alamo <---trailer (2004): ****/****

Rush

Never a huge star in Hollywood circles by his own choice, Jason Patric has had an odd career over the past 25 years or so. He's been in some very successful movies, but it's rare you see him in more than a movie or two every couple of years.  Whatever his reasoning, the movies he has made have generally been of a higher quality.  They are rarely big blockbuster flicks, leaning more toward smaller, hard-hitting indie films, but I've yet to see one where Patric wasn't delivering a great performance.  So even though I didn't really like 1991's Rush, I'll recommend it for his performance and one from his female co-star alone. 

There has been a whole subculture of movies since the 1970s (and before I guess if you count gems like Reefer Madness) about drugs, junkies, and the world they live in.  Almost by nature, these movies are going to be difficult to watch, more so depending on how graphic the depiction of drug use is.  Rush is certainly uncomfortable to watch at times, and at a certain point it stops being interesting to watch because of that problem.  It's a very voyeuristic look at two people struggling with addiction.  There's very little entertaining about that because by a certain point you know where this story is going.  There will be no happy ending here.

An undercover cop in a small Texas town, Jim Raynor (Patric) needs a new partner.  He chooses Kristen Cates (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a young cop fresh out of the academy.  Working undercover, the two officers will try to take down part of the local drug culture from the users and the low-level dealers all the way up the ladder to the suppliers and local kingpins that rule things.  But to be convincing in their job, Jim and Kristen have to completely adapt the lifestyle they're trying to take down, meaning to save their own lives they often enough not only have to buy some heavy duty drugs but also use the drugs.  Their only link to the police force, Captain Dodd (Sam Elliott), knows they have to do their job, but they tread that fine line and with pressure from above, the demands become harsher and harsher, pushing the two further down a road that it will be nearly impossible to come back from. 

To the movie's credit, it feels authentic as Jim and Kristen are immersed in this seedy underworld of drug dealers and users.  It feels like a 'Dummy's Guide to the Drug World' as we see all these people caught up in drug use, but more than that, the techniques, the never-ending paranoia, the relationships that develop, a little bit of everything.  But after being introduced to all these different elements, Rush hits a roadblock.  It becomes repetitive to the point where I found myself fast-forwarding through scenes.  At least 15-20 minute probably could have been cut from the 120-minute running time because anyone with a couple of functioning brain cells can figure out how this story is going to end.  That said, the final scene does deliver a great final twist so stick with the story all the way until the end.

Why I'll still give this a modest recommendation is Patric and Leigh.  As veteran cop Jim Raynor, Patric gives his character this cool edge where he knows how tenuous his job is because if he pushes too far, he won't be  a cop anymore, just a junkie.  He of course, does push himself too far and ends up almost killing himself.  It is alarming and disturbing to watch a character completely fall apart in front of you, realizing what he is doing all the time.  It's a great part for Patric who with Leigh carry the movie.  As young Kristen, Leigh still has an innocence about her, a naivete about what she's gotten herself into.  Just on physical appearance alone, it is startling to watch both actors wither away as the drugs take over their lives and bodies.

Two supporting parts stand out including one more unique bit of casting.  Elliott as Dodd makes the most of his part as the one remaining link Jim and Kristen have with the police force.  His presence alone is a reassurance in his few scenes, especially because he used to do what Jim did and suffered through his own addictions and demons only to move on to a better life with a wife and kids.  Dodd must balance out pressure from above with concerns over what his two officers have gotten themselves into.  The other part is Max Perlich as Walker, a low-level drug dealer who is tied in with everyone and can supply anything given enough time. In the lonely world presented, Walker is just looking for a friend and finds it in Kristen, not knowing what trouble he's gotten himself into.  Also look for Gregg Allman (of the Allman Brothers Band) as Gaines, the local kingpin who runs all the booze, drugs and sex in the area.

The movie itself is well-made, well-told and gritty enough to the point where it feels like a documentary at times.  I wasn't expecting a pleasant, happy go lucky look at the drug culture in a small Texas town, but Rush passed my expectations of a dark, dreary, downright depressing look at two professionals pushing their own limits.  It's hard to root for these two characters, and then the movie as a whole.  Could have been a better finished product, but worth at least one watch for the quality acting.

Rush <---trailer (1991): ** 1/2 /****