The Losers

**1/2 – This second comic book-based movie that I’ve watched in a row doesn’t have the flash or visual impressiveness of “Scott Pilgrim…” but is still relatively entertaining and worth sitting through once. It’s pretty much a by-the-numbers team-of-operatives-gets-betrayed-and-goes-on-a-hunt-for-revenge type of movie that has plenty of gun battles and explosions, if that’s the kind of thing you like. It is a little light on story, but it doesn’t take itself too seriously, which is often the downfall of action flicks. The comic relief is provided mostly the guy who played the Human Torch in the ‘Fantastic Four’ movies, and he has his moments despite his pretty boy looks and lack of charisma. The direction (provided by Sylvain ‘who the hell am I?’ White) and camera work was odd, with lots of choppiness and some sort of goofy strobe effect that was more jarring than compelling. The main fault of this movie (besides its complete lack of originality) was that it kind of jumped into the action from the get go without any exposition. The story is not that complex, but I was somewhat confused by name dropping in the first half, which left me a bit frustrated overall. It’s a decent way to spend 90 minutes, though.