Filmstalker: The Losers gains Director, loses a lot

When I first heard the story of the graphic novel The Losers I was interested, in fact I've added them to my wishlist because the story sounds so strong. With the announcement of the film adaptation I was more excited, this could make a great film, dark, intelligent, looking at the issues of betrayal by one's country, and so on. A strong political thriller with some heavy action I thought.

The original announcement was that Peter Berg, who had written the script, was set to direct. Then it moved to McG. Now the batton has passed again according to Variety.

Now though the announcement of a Director has put paid to the idea of that film. Tim Story, the Director of Fantastic Four films, says the following about The Losers:

"I haven't made a movie in the real world since 'Barbershop,' because I've been locked into the superhero fantasy world…
…I'm a big fan of the edge of war movies like 'Black Hawk Down' or 'Band of Brothers,' and this has some of that. I was looking for a vehicle that would have that edge, but I didn't want to lose my personality, which is a bit tongue-and-cheek, where the characters have a little fun with each other"

None of which sounds very promising for this story. Now granted, I haven't read the source material and my ideas are borne from my initial reactions after reading all about it, but the idea of making it fun and tongue in cheek has just made the project flop on its face for me.

Mixing Band of Brothers and Fantastic Four or Barbershop just isn't an idea that attracts me, and I should think that Peter Berg is now wishing he had stayed on to direct the project, instead he's off Directing a similarly light tale Tonight, He Comes.

What did you think about The Losers idea when you first read it? Here's the blurb of the story, see what conjures itself into your mind and see if it agrees with the choice of Tim Story as Director.