The Losers...
Last night I watched The Losers, another film based on a comic book.
And I loved it.
First of all, it stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan, whom I don't seem to see nearly enough.
Secondly, as soon as it started, I thought, "This is Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos", variation #6,020. And from that moment on, the protagonist, Clay, was in my mind a ringer for Nick Fury and I couldn't escape the thought. (As if I would want to.) Yeah, it's a Nick Fury who grew up to be a special ops action-man soldier, not the man of mystery Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., but the difference isn't significant. I'd love to see Jeffrey Dean Morgan cast as Nick Fury in a S.H.I.E.L.D. movie. It isn't going to happen - Samuel Jackson has the part bagged, and when that public memory fades and it's time for a change, Morgan will be too old. Which is a shame. At least he's there as the Fury of my imagination.
And as Franklin Clay. Nice part. I immediately wanted to read and write Clay/Cougar slash, but so far I've only found one story online that does - very short, but good. I fell for Cougar's lovely smile. And his hat. Yeah, I quickly developed a crush on Cougar. Most of the slash out there seems to be Clay/Jensen, or Cougar/Jensen, which is fine too, though in some indefinable way it makes me feel old - do I perceive Jensen as very young? I guess I do. Which is odd, because he isn't much younger than Captain America... unless you factor in the fact that Cap is 90 if he's a day. Well preserved. Nice trick, iceberg.
The Losers started life as a comic put out by Vertigo (DC's adult line), by Andy Diggle. Looking at it quickly, I see why I didn't read it: I'm not a big Vertigo fan. I find their comics as a whole to be too violent, too harsh in tone, too archly clever. This was the case here, and the art by Jock didn't appeal.
But the film was most palatable.
Okay, I'll make another confession here, since I'm into the comics-obsession thing: Cougar reminded me of Gambit, one of my comic book favourites, which is an odd fit because Gambit is chatty and charming, not tough and laconic. But I got the same vibe, especially with that Cougar smile. And Gambit wore a hat in the Wolverine movie, though his role was sadly wasted.
It was also fun that I am in the middle of reading my way through "Troubleshooters", a series of romantic thrillers by Suzanne Brockmann, in which the heroes are all tough Navy SEALS. The guys in The Losers fit the paradigm rather nicely, though they play with higher tech.