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Off My Mind: The Losers (Movie) Vs The Losers (Comic)

Is The Losers a better comic or a better movie?


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The Losers movie has been out for about three weeks now. I wanted to let this all sink in before comparing the two. When a comic is about to get adapted into a movie, there's usually that moment of panic. We all know that when comic characters go through Hollywood, things often change. What was good for me was I wasn't overly attached to The Losers before seeing the movie. In all honestly, I had read the trade a few weeks prior to seeing it. I wasn't really worried about how the translation would be.
 
The funny thing about when I read the comic is I actually said to myself this would probably make a good movie. The trade was fun at times and felt like it was written as a big screen action flick. There were big action scenes along with the typical corny one liners. If I were to rate the trade (in the tradition of our Trading Views segment), I would say it's worth borrowing from a friend (buy it if you can get a really good deal like I did off of amazon). My main problem with the book was the colors. I know it was a matter of style but there was just too much yellow involved. I can't tell you how many times the entire sky was colored yellow. Nothing against the color yellow, I just wonder how some of the pages would've looked if colored differently.
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If the comic were written like an action flick, the movie should have been great, right? Unfortunately it wasn't. My rating on the movie was a three out of five. I did have fun while watching. There were things I liked and things I didn't like. I was disappointed in Jeffrey Dean Morgan's role as Clay. I dug Morgan in Watchmen but in The Losers, his character felt more two-dimensional than his comic book counterpart. I know there were people that liked Zoe Saldana as Aisha but again, I felt the character worked better on paper than on screen. In the comic you could buy that this woman was tough as nails. In the movie, I wasn't convinced. I did like Idris Elba's performance as Roque. And of course Chris Evans was great as Jensen. I enjoyed Jason Patric as Max but let's be honest, it was just too over the top. 
 
Basically it sounds like The Losers worked better as a comic than a movie. That is typical for a comic that gets adapted. While this shouldn't be much of a surprise, I was since the comic just felt like it should be a movie. I really thought the idea would have really worked better as a movie. It was just too stylized.  
 
Which medium worked better for The Losers? I'm still a little on the fence. Since this wasn't simply a superhero comic and it felt like it was meant to be a movie, you would think it'd be a no-brainer. While I did enjoy the Jensen scene in the office that was pretty close to the scene in the comic, the movie was just too flashy and full of too much slow motion effects. On the other hand, the comic, for me, suffered slightly from the style of colors that was used. If you had to choose between the two, the comic is clearly the better choice. If you have seen the movie, I recommend grabbing the trade to see how things should have been. After all the disappointments we've had to sit through, I'm not sure why this one bothers me. Like I said, I wasn't attached to The Losers before. It's not like they were my favorite team or anything. I'm just disappointed that there seemed to be potential in this comic as a great action movie but it just fell a little flat. Hollywood strikes again. I have heard that people did enjoy it for what it was. Maybe we can hope that if there's a sequel, things will get better.

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speedarrow

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Edited By speedarrow

I just saw the movie, then ran out to get the comics after seeing the movie a while ago. The movie definitely isn't as faithful to the comics, but they did keep some similarities and the humor intact. (And I had advance knowledge that the characters wouldn't be completely the same.) I really enjoyed the movie and the comics even with the differences.

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salarymanjam

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Edited By salarymanjam

I haven't watched the movie yet but looking forward to as I want to see how it turned out. Aisha is the one I expect the least from because she hardly says two words in the comic. Will be tough fleshing her out and still keeping her stoic and deadly.

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frogger

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Edited By frogger

I didn't like how the characters Aisha and clay were completely different from the comic. The movie did not even have the in-depth story like that the comic did.

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NXH

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Edited By NXH

Anyone seen spill.com's review of the losers?  So funny lol

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swhorl

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Edited By swhorl
@G-Man said:

"...  I'm just disappointed that there seemed to be potential in this comic as a great action movie but it just fell a little flat.  ..."


 That line sums it all up, in my opinion.  It surprised me, for an action movie, that The Losers movie seemed so flat, when the comic's action tended to pop off the page. 
 
Perhaps the director got lazy?  Figured the comic "storyboard" did all the hard work, and he just had to put it on film, instead of actually making it work as a film?
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DH69

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Edited By DH69

saw this and iron man 2 on the same day. didnt think it was that bad...although i saw iron man again after seein this movie so i was pretty much on an iron man high at the time.

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adoggez1

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Edited By adoggez1

Gman what did u think of kick-ass?

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goldenkey

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Edited By goldenkey

The movie blew moose.  The dialogue was the typical popcorn movie weakness that I expected because a lot of comics are cheesy popcorn movie dialogue, but the movie just sucked.  Jason Patric is usually an outstanding actor and there was nothing menacing about him. In fact, he blew moose too.  I would have liked to see Zoe nekked but oh well, thats just me being a scumbag.  I did like Chris Evans quirky roll.  As bad as the movie was to me characters like that usually come off more annoying then funny but he was good. 
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doordoor123

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Edited By doordoor123
@aztek the lost:  spammer
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KRYPTON

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Edited By KRYPTON

The comic is better than the movie