Starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Zoí« Saldana. Rated PG. Opens Friday, April 23

A title like The Losers could signal something kooky by Lars von Trier, or a new low in reality-TV programming. It happens to be a noisy action flick based on a graphic novel, something that isn’t particularly rare in contemporary Hollywood; what is rare, or at least refreshing, is the film’s wit and energy.

The Losers themselves are an elite unit of Special Forces operatives who execute covert missions for the CIA. After an assault on a Bolivian drug lord goes awry (because they refuse to kill children at the location), the group is betrayed and left for dead by their handler, Max (Jason Patric).

This poor display of HR skill inspires the squad—consisting of leader Clay (Jeffrey Dean Morgan); his brooding sidekick, Roque (Idris Elba); wheelman/pilot Pooch (Columbus Short); silent sniper Cougar (Oscar Jaenada); and motor mouth techie Jensen (Chris Evans)—to go after the absurdly villainous Max, a man they’ve never met, and who seems to have unlimited influence over the American intelligence establishment.

In other words, it’s the A-Team, right down to the lively banter, quest for redemption, and frequent, mostly bloodless shootouts. But the Losers, as conceived in the comics by Andy Diggle and Jock, and respectfully translated by director Sylvain White, have a better balance of wit and martial abilities. They are funny guys—the movie is properly described as an action-comedy, rather than pure bang-bang—but they’re sufficiently buff and intense to make their many feats of derring-do just barely plausible.

Smokin’ Aces’ director Joe Carnahan has his own A-Team movie coming out, but it won’t have Zoí« Saldana, here continuing her run as a breakout geek-movie icon (Star Trek, Avatar) as Aisha, a rogue spy with intelligence connections to Max and, inevitably, hot skin-on-skin connections with Clay. With her in the mix, the Losers are, at present, the A+ Team.