The Losers is a 2010 American action film and an adaptation, by Peter Berg and James Vanderbilt, of the Vertigo Comic series of the same name by Andy Diggle and Jock. Directed by Sylvain White, the film features an ensemble cast that includes Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldaña, Idris Elba, and Chris Evans.
The film received mixed reviews from critics and drew comparisons to The A-Team, a remake of which was released shortly after The Losers premiered.
Plot
The Losers are an elite black-ops team of United States Special Forces operatives that includes leader Clay, Roque, Pooch, Jensen, and Cougar, who are sent to Bolivia on a search-and-destroy mission on a compound run by a drug lord. While painting a target for an upcoming air strike, the Losers spot trafficked children in the compound and try to call off the attack, but their superior, codenamed Max, ignores their pleas. Out of options, the Losers enter the compound, successfully rescuing the children and killing the drug lord.
As a helicopter arrives to pick them up, Max, convinced that they know too much, orders it to be destroyed, unaware that they decided to rescue the children first. The Losers watch as a missile destroys the helicopter. Knowing that the attack was meant to kill them, they fake their deaths and become stranded in Bolivia, lacking the funds and paperwork necessary to go home.
Four months later, Clay is approached by Aisha, a mysterious woman who offers him the chance to kill Max, against whom she wants revenge. Clay accepts and Aisha arranges for the group to return to the United States. In Miami, they proceed to attack a convoy supposedly carrying Max, only to discover Aisha has tricked them into stealing a hard drive with Max's secrets. Jensen infiltrates the company that made the drive and steals an algorithm that allows him to access the files, discovering that the drive contains credits for a $400 million transfer in Max's name, which he received for selling "Snukes" or Sonic Nukes – eco-friendly bombs that use sonic waves to destroy an area the same size a nuclear warhead can, with no fall-out – to international terrorists. Tracing the money flow to the Los Angeles International Port of Entry, which the Losers deduce is Max's base, they form a plan to attack it and kill Max.
While studying the drive, Jensen discovers that their mission in Bolivia was a cover so Max could eliminate the drug lord, who had discovered his plan, and that Aisha is the man's daughter, seeking revenge for his death. After her cover is blown, Aisha shoots Jensen in the arm and escapes. Believing that she might betray them, the Losers decide to speed up their attack on Max's base, only to be betrayed by Roque and captured by Max and his right-hand man and chief of security, Wade.
Aisha returns and ambushes Max's team to rescue the Losers, despite Clay confirming during the fight that he killed Aisha's father. Roque steals Max's plane, loaded with his money, and tries to escape, pursued by Wade on a motorcycle. Cougar shoots the motorcycle's engine, causing a chain reaction that destroys the plane, killing Wade and Roque. Max then kills the scientist responsible for the Snukes' development after revealing that his true intention is to use the Snukes to spark global conflict to gain power.
As Jensen, Cougar, and Aisha help Pooch, who has been shot in both legs by one of Max's security guards, Clay pursues Max to a crane, where Max says that he has activated a Snuke that will destroy Los Angeles, and Clay will have to choose between de-activating it or killing Max. Clay chooses the former and Max escapes, but Clay affirms that he now knows what Max looks like and will soon find him. Max escapes on a bus and is robbed by two thugs. Meanwhile, the Losers help Pooch reach the hospital where his pregnant wife is giving birth to their son and attend Jensen's 8-year-old niece's soccer game.