Deep in the Bolivian jungle, an elite US Special Forces unit is preparing an airstrike on a local crime lord�s heavily armed compound.  The group, under the command of square-jawed Franklin Clay (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Grey�s Anatomy), is horrified to see a number of children inside the compound.  They frantically try to cancel the airstrike, only to be informed that the mission is under the control of someone named �Max�, and that the attack will be going ahead as planned, thank you very much. 

Long story short: the group rescue the children, put them on a helicopter, Max blows up said helicopter, everyone assumes Clay and his team are dead.  They meander around Bolivia for a few months before being smuggled back into the states by the leggily mysterious Aisha al-Fadhil (Avatar�s Zoe Saldana).  Her one condition?  That Clay�s men find the elusive, nefarious Max (Jason Patric) and dispose of him for good. 

A big, mindless yet fast-paced affair, The Losers is so unrelentingly action-packed that it�s impossible not be drawn in by its flash and bombast.  Saldana is as smouldering as ever, and a supporting cast which includes Chris Evans (Fantastic Four) do their best to muster some semblance of nuance from an admittedly wafer-thin premise.  Patric doesn�t really have the chops to pull of his role as villain.  The dastardly Max is so unrelentingly evil he makes Adolf Hitler look like Mary Poppins � at one point he shoots a female assistant in the head because she fails to handle an umbrella correctly � but Patric seems unsure whether to play it straight or go for over-the-top comic book supervillainy, and in the end winds up achieving nothing much of anything.   

But by this point it doesn�t really matter.  The focus is on the eponymous outfit and their efforts to track down and assassinate Max, not on his silly high-tech WMD�s or his penchant for talking down to underlings.  Calling these characters cardboard is an insult to a useful packaging material, but there are more than enough explosions and fight sequences to compensate, and the end result is a fun, flamboyantly airheaded popcorn flick that gives plenty of bang for its buck. 

Audio & Video

The �2.4:1� transfer comes up a real treat, and unlike the screenplay is sharp and blemish-free.  The DTS-HD Master Audio English soundtrack is the expected mindless hard-rock affair; the song choices border on the generic but overall your surround system is still given a decent workout.  Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks are also available, somewhat specifically, in Brazilian Portuguese, French and Latin Spanish 

Special Features

There are three behind the scenes featurettes: Zoe and The Losers, a six-minute ode to the stunning Zoe Saldana; Band of Buddies: Ops Training, a three-part, fifteen-minute look at the set designs, cinematography and extensive physical training undertaken by the cast members; and The Losers: Action-Style Storytelling, ten-minute�s worth of interviews with Andy Diggle and �Jock,� the creators of the Losers comic, and a comparison of the graphic novel and the live-action rendition.   

Also included are a short, fairly superfluous bonus scene and a fourteen-minute �early, breathtaking look� at the DC Universe animated film Batman: Under the Red Hood.  There�s also Warner Bros BD Live capability, for those whose Blu-ray players are so enabled.  The lack of a commentary track is a glaring omission, but much of the bonus content is exclusive to Blu-ray, presented in high-definition and proves a satisfying addendum to this silly, guiltily enjoyable potboiler.