Review: THE A-TEAM

Growing up, there were two TV shows that kept me out of trouble on a Saturday afternoon, Knight Rider and The A-Team.  I wanted to be B.A. Baracus, get a mohawk, drive a cool black van and shout lines like, "I pity the fool" and "I ain't getting on no plane".  So when I heard they were going to make an A-Team movie, I felt like an excited twelve year old all over again.  Could this be as good as the TV series and how would a new set of actors handle the iconic characters that make up these 'soldiers of fortune'?

Fans of the TV show will already know the plot, as the film stays pretty faithful to the original story.  The team of army rangers are arrested for a crime they didn't commit and promptly escape a maximum security prison to clear their name.  That's it in a nutshell.  All that's left to do is throw in some action set pieces, a few one liners and a couple of cameos and you've got your above average summer blockbuster.

This isn't a bad movie by any means, but it's not a great one either.  To start with, I wasn't too sure about the casting.  Bradley Cooper (Face), Sharlto Copley (Murdoch) and Patrick Wilson (Lynch) were all great in their roles and fitted the characters well, especially Wilson, who was clearly loving being the bad guy.  However, I wasn't keen on Liam Neeson as Hannibal.  I realise George Peppard's shoes are going to be almost impossible to fill and I'm a fan of Neeson as an actor (especially when he was kicking some serious arse in Taken), but I just don't think he's good at doing that 'tongue-in-cheek' thing. If I'd been casting this I would've given Kurt Russell the role.  But hell, what do I know?  Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson did an alright job as B.A.,  but he was wasted on a boring sub plot that saw him finding his 'inner calm' or something.  Finally, we were given Jessica Biel (Sosa) to help even out all this testosterone and although the bog-standard script tried to give her character some depth, she ended up just being a nice bit of onscreen totty.

Gratuitous Jessica Biel shot

The good thing about this film is it doesn't take itself too seriously. This means, for the most part it's a fun ride, just not a memorable one.  The CGI is a bit ropey in places, especially during the tank vs drone mid-air battle sequence.  Also, without sounding like a grumpy pensioner, the editing was so quick at times you couldn't actually see what was going on. The final set piece wasn't great either and it didn't feel half as clever as they wanted you to think it was.  C'mon guys, a cargo ship full of containers? Surely you could have come up with something a bit more thrilling than that?  I have to admit I expected more from Joe Carnahan (Narc, Smokin Aces), especially as this was produced by Ridley and Tony Scott, but sadly they didn't quite deliver.  That being said, I did leave the cinema feeling I'd been entertained, which can only be a good thing considering some of the rubbish that's been out this summer.

Part of me (a small part) would really like to see them do a sequel.  Now they've set up the characters and the story, it feels like they could have fun with it second time round.  However, as this one cost $110m to produce and only made $75m at the American box office, that might not be happening any time soon.

Michael's Tip:  If you're a big A-Team fan and you want to see some extra footage, make sure you stay till the end of the credits.  I was the only person left in the cinema at the time, so clearly not too many people knew about it, but if you're willing to wait 15 minutes or so, you'll get to see a couple of cameos from the original TV series.  Why they hid them away here is beyond me and to be honest the footage isn't that good, but I did enjoy seeing some one the old team back on the screen. 

Michael's Movie Mark     6/10