Collider has the first two official pics and a synopsis for The Losers, by way of Omelete. Nothing heart-stoppingly cool, but it’s enough to show that the visual of the movie is close enough to the comics to make me happy.

The synopsis? Ay, there’s the rub.

The synopsis in question:

An explosive tale of double cross and revenge, “The Losers” centers upon the members of an elite U.S. Special Forces unit sent into the Bolivian jungle on a search and destroy mission. The team-Clay, Jensen, Roque, Pooch and Cougar -find themselves the target of a lethal betrayal instigated from inside by a powerful enemy known only as Max. Presumed dead, the group makes plans to even the score when they’re joined by the mysterious Aisha, a beautiful operative with her own agenda. Working together, they must remain deep undercover while tracking the heavily-guarded Max, a ruthless man bent on embroiling the world in a new high-tech global war.

Okay, they’ve got the “presumed dead” and “Max is the mastermind” aspects, but Bolivia? I’ve said it before, I really hope that there are a few cosmetic changes for understandable reasons–maybe they felt Afghanistan was too emotionally close to comfortably use in an action movie–but Hollywood has proved, again and again, it is awesome at completely destroying a cool idea.

While the “bent on embroiling the world in a new high-tech global war” is a little too bad-Bond-plot, it isn’t any worse than the reveal in the actual series. I loved a lot of the Losers, and the action up to the end was outstanding, but I’m on record as being disappointed both in Max’s bio and the plan as revealed in the final few issues. Changing Max’s goals, and changing Max himself, I wouldn’t be against.

But don’t change Aisha, even the climax of her character arc. Don’t change Roque. Don’t change the tenor or atmosphere of story. The comic did so many cool things so well, don’t just change for the love of changing.

Final thought: as expected, Zoe is looking hot, but these pics make her look quite different from her Uhura character, which is a good thing. I’m actually surprised at how different she looks. The pic of her alone really reminds me of Thandie Newton. That’s a very good thing.

Bifrost Bridge, that is.

In the land of interesting developments comes word that Idris Elba will be playing Heimdall in Kenneth Branagh’s Thor. I have no value judgment one way or the other, as I know nothing of Mr. Elba’s work. I will say that he better be bringing something mighty to the table, since he’s going to be showing up in two movies that get me excited–Thor and the Losers.

There is, of course, the fact that Mr. Elba is a Black man and Heimdall is Scandinavian. Whatever. Branagh cast Keanu Reeves as Denzel Washington’s brother in Much Ado About Nothing. All “he could be a step-brother” equivocating aside, the casting didn’t bother me a bit, any more than I would have been bothered by an East Indian Aragorn or a Thai King Arthur. These are mythical figures, as in not real. Seriously, who gives a fig over skin colour? I only care about acting calibre.

In fact, you get me a good enough actor, and I can easily ignore ethnicity. Graham Greene as John A MacDonald? I’m all for it. Ahn Sung-Gi as John F. Kennedy? In a second. Chow Yun (motherfuckin’) Fat as Colin Powell? Sold!

My apologies, this is about to get . . . florid. If foul language offends you, move along. Nothing to see here.

3-D Musketeers? By Paul W. S. Anderson? Couldn’t he just anally rape me then take me behind the chemical shed and put a bullet in my brain pan? No, apparently that’s not enough suffering.

Hmmm, contemporary feel but 18th Century setting? Really? Interesting, considering the Three Musketeers was set in the 17th century. Oh, and contemporary? Been done. That one sucked, though it was far from the worst. Now that PWSA may be on the case, worst could take on a whole new meaning . .  a worse meaning . . . what’s worse than worst?

According to the Production Weekly twitter account, Thor begins filming in mid-January. The filming apparently will last until late April, and the locations are listed as Los Angeles and Santa Fe. Not much to chew on, but it’s nice to hear that things are heading for that first practical step, the one that leads to something coming to our theatres.

The release date for the movie is May 20, 2011, and that’s a long darn time for me to wait for my live action Thor.

Kenneth Branagh, don’t fail me now.

In its rundown of some of the cool stuff coming in 2010, Collider offers up some sweet information on an Eagle of the Ninth movie. Now this is pretty cool, as I love me some Roman action. The book was pretty good, though—I have to be honest—I didn’t find the climax all that exciting. It seemed like a done deal about 2/3 of the way through. But that’s just me.

The book itself was for young adults, but from the synopsis (courtesy of Collider), it sounds like things have been altered and made somewhat more mature. Perhaps more exciting.

Newly arrived in Britannia on his first command, young Centurion Marcus Aquila (Channing Tatum) heroically defends his ford against a massive Celtic attack but is so badly wounded that he is discharged from the army.  Angry and bitter that his army career is over, Marcus chooses to risk his life on a seemingly impossible journey into the unconquered north to find the Eagle of the Ninth, the legendary golden standard lost fifteen years earlier when his father marched the Ninth Legion into the wilds of Scotland and never came back.  As a companion, he takes his slave Esca (Jamie Bell), a Celt whose life he saved in a gladiatorial contest but who hates all things Roman.  Their journey together into the wild north forgers the beginnings of a precarious relationship between them.  But when they are captured by the Seal People, the most feared of all the Celtic tribes and the guardians of the lost Eagle, Esca claims that he is the master and Marcus his Roman slave – and Marcus has no choice but to entrust himself into the Celt’s hands.  Just as Marcus fears Esca’s loyalty is lost and he is to remain a slave for life, the Celt proves true to his friend.  Together they manage to retrieve the Eagle from an island temple and, keeping one step ahead of their pursuers in a thrilling chase to the safety of the border, they take a stand in a final, unexpected battle that reveals the secret of the Ninth.

This is another movie on my radar, and likely one I won’t get to see in the cinema.

Do you see that little violin? That’s right, it’s playing just for me.

Apparently, they will, in fact, y’know . . . clash.

So, we finally have a trailer for Clash of the Titans.

I was a big fan of the original Clash of the Titans. It was a very Victorian look at the Greek myths as an adventure movie. Granted, there was violence, and a certain amount of gore—the guy was carrying a gorgon’s head around with him, after all—but it was relatively sanitized.

This movie does not look sanitized at all. Rather, it looks 300-ized. That is not necessarily a bad thing, and as grist for the  goes, this could be awesome, but I kind of like my Greek myths relatively clean. And no matter how actually dirty they get, I don’t think this movie has any better grasp on “gritty” than the original, rather it looks like it’s just more over the top action. In my mind, that does not gritty make.

Of course, this is all based on the trailer, and I could be completely wrong. Ask anyone, it is possible.

I will not lie to you, this movie has got me excited. Not quite “thankfully-I-didn’t-wear-track-pants” excited, but pretty up there.