The A-Team

2010-06-11
By Sergio Mims

CAST: Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Sharlto Copley, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Patrick Wilson, Jessica Biel, Brian Bloom
WRITTEN BY: Joe Carnahan & Brian Bloom
DIRECTED BY: Joe Carnahan
*** THREE STARS

In the annals of bad 80’s TV shows, The A Team stands head above shoulders as one of the worst from that period. A repetitive, lame, cartoonish action show, the series had the truly remarkable and annoying habit of being the only program in history where,  despite numerous death defying stunts, car crashes and endless rounds of ammunition, no one was ever killed, seriously wounded or even suffered a bad scratch.

No doubt the result of bowing in to network censorship demands and over-protective parents. Yet the show was very popular so therefore it goes without saying that Hollywood studios, desperate for any idea they haven’t milked yet, would see it as fodder for a big screen “reboot”.

The joke on us cynics is that The A-Team movie, co-written and directed by Joe Carnahan (Narc, Smoking Aces), is actually enjoyable and entertaining, if a bit on the busy side,  yet not nearly as stupid as big summer action movie are expected to be.

Carnahan, along with his co-writer Brian Bloom who also plays one of the villains (Pike), displays a certain amount of visual flair and style. Though the film displays too much of director Tony Scott’s patented A.D.D.-type hyperactive movement and editing, it has a refreshing, off kilter sense of humor. And unlike the TV series, people actually get hurt and killed.

Following the template of the series, the film copies the set up of an elite Army Ranger unit, on a covert mission to recover a billion dollars stolen by some Iraqi bad guys. Though they successfully pull off the mission, they’re double-crossed and arrested for violating orders, committing a crime against military rules and sent to different prisons around the world.

Thanks to a CIA operative (Wilson), they make their escape and go rogue in attempt to clear their names, while a vengeful Army office (a miscast Jessica Biel in a clichéd role of hot chick trying to be tough broad) is hot on their tails.

Unfortunately like most summer films, The A Team relies too much, on big CGI effects going for overkill. Filmmakers have yet to learn that CGI is more effective in controlled doses and haven’t figured out that it lackthe gravity and weight of real practical effects since they are just basically animation.

What saves the film and makes it fun is its straight forward but complex story with clever touches, such as one sequence which satirizes Hollywood’s latest infatuation with 3D.

Neeson, in the George Peppard role, plays the team’s leader Hannibal, heartthrob of the moment Cooper as Face, the womanizing con man of the group and Sharlto Copley( District 9) is Murdock, the nutcase pilot clearly, are clearly having the time of their lives.

And of course the big question:  How does current Ultimate Fighter athlete Quinton Jackson fare as B.A. Baracus, the role made famous by Mr. T? Well, better than you might expect, with the script giving him just enough of the popular tag lines from the TV series for impact without overdoing it. Certainly his version is less cartoonish that that of Mr. T.

Though it’s destined not to go down as one of the greatest action films ever made - or even for this year - The A Team is harmless, escapist fun. Far better than what usually passes for summer shoot ‘em up entertainment.