BOTTOM LINE: The editing and pace are a bit too fast to give it any sense of good narrative rhythm, but “The Losers” is an enjoyable piece of popcorn entertainment, boosted by its likeable cast who are clearly having a lot of fun.

THE GOOD: “The Losers” does not waste any time in getting started, throwing you right in to the deep end with the special forces crack team led by veteran soldier “Clay” who are sent to mark a target in Bolivia, but end up contravening orders when they see kids in the target zone. They save the kids just in time, only to see the rescue chopper with the kids on board being blown to pieces. Stranded in Bolivia, and framed by a crafty and mysterious bad guy named “Max”, the team meet up with tough chick Aisha (Saldana) and before you know it, the team are back in business to clear their names and get some revenge. You cannot ask for anything better than this for pure popcorn fun, and director Sylvain White certainly develops this to great effect, even including homages to the original comic with comic-book style frames interspersed throughout the live action. The film works best when it is exploiting the personalities of the characters, particularly Clay and Aisha who have a complex relationship (as much as one can be in a film like this). Watching this film and these characters is a very cool experience. Zoe Saldana is in her element in this film, proving to be the beautiful girl and the feisty tough chick who can take care of herself beautifully. She is more than matched by Jeffrey Dean Morgan who plays Clay; he brings a subtle world-weariness to the role, and despite his character’s predicament, still manages to play it as if he is having a lot of fun. The rest of the cast are equally as impressive, clearly enjoying the time they are having in each scene. “The Losers” is an enjoyable, action, popcorn flick.

THE BAD: What ruins this film is the editing and pacing. There is no sense of rhythm whatsoever, leaving the dramatic tone of the film quite flat. Many moments in this film are lost simply because there is no sense of build up, and director Sylvain White seems more interested in taking the “throw as many scenes, action and one-liners as possible” at the audience without giving much consideration as to how a proper build-up would have delivered those moments so much better. The best example is the finale when Clay despatches an unexpected bad guy; the concept is great, and it is a rousing action climax, but because everything before it was so rapid and rhythm-less, it just comes off as yet another cheap stunt, just like the thousand or so you have seen before. This film could have been so much better if more attention was paid to the edit and pacing of the narrative.