THE A-TEAM

Dir. Joe Carnahan US 2010

"I love it when a plan comes together."

So, just to be upfront, I've never seen an episode of the TV show. And I probably never will. I appreciate its place in the annals of pop culture, but in never struck me as something I needed to experience. I went into this with modest expectations to say the least. I had recently been crushed (as you will know if you read this regularly) by the epic disappointment that was The Losers, which has a premise remarkably similar to The A-Team. Additionally, I was disappointed in Joe Carnahan's last film, Smokin' Aces, which was all style, no substance. He had made a brutal, heart-breaking cop drama called Narc in 2002, and I was saddened to see him go the commercial route, a path that The A-Team seemed deadset on following.

It's nice to be wrong once in a while. The A-Team was much more fun than I expected and, while definitely ridiculous, never gave me a second to think about it, which was nice. I won't bother with a plot recap, since I imaging anyone reading this pretty much knows how the A-Team rolls. I will say that the updated plot (set in the very near future and concerning the US withdrawl from Iraq and missing plates capable of printing illegal US currency) was nicely topical without overreaching for any kind of greater meaning.

While this movie would technically fall into "The Gritty Reboot" category, it is still fairly light hearted, which one would expect of an A-Team movie. The action/violence, which hits often and relentlessly, is almost completely bloodless, and despite featuring Bradley Cooper as the super-suave Faceman, the film features almost no sex or nudity of any kind. This is all strictly PG-13 territory. Normally that alone is enough for me to call bullshit on any action movie, but this movie has such an unabashedly fun (one might be tempted to say self-satisfied) tone, that it never bothered me. If you go to this movie to get your action fix, you will not be disappointed. While not gamechanging, some of the sequences are pretty inventive. The truck heist that ends the first act is exactly what The Losers should have been, and the "flying tank" scene that dominated the trailers features a finale that is so awesome I can't believe it hasn't been done before (that I'm aware of).

Again, I've never seen the original show, but I'm familiar with the four man dynamic of the team, and the new cast they've assembled is pretty brilliant. Liam Neeson is reliable as ever as Hannibal, the too-cool-for-school team leader (although I could have done with about half as many instances in which he verbalized his love for plans and how they come together. We get it.). Bradley Cooper, with the same super smug, 'you-want-to-punch-him-but-goddamn-is-he-handsome-and-charming' schtick that served him so well in The Hangover, slips easily into the role of Faceman. Both of them seemed shoe-ins for their parts, but the biggest surprise was Sharlto Copley as the wacky pilot, Murdock. Copley, who turned in a tour-de-force in his first role as the lead in last years District 9, successfully goes the classic route of most foreign actors when migrating to Hollywood by taking a safe, fun part in a big-budget movie (Christoph Waltz is making the same move, following Inglorious Basterds with Green Hornet). Well done. The dark horse award for the film, however, goes to Patrick Wilson for bringing some smarmy humor to Lynch, the shady CIA handler who alternates working with and against the team.

On the weaker side of the acting spectrum, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson has admittedly big shoes to fill, replacing Mr. T as B.A. Baracus, but it was fairly obvious that he was struggling to keep up with the other actors in most scenes. Far worse was Jessica Biel, as a completely unnecessary DOD officer hunting the A-Team once they go rogue. The character is poorly written, existing only to have sexual tension with Faceman and explain the fairly simple plot as it happens. This is all compounded by Jessica Biel's ability to be completely boring in everything she's in. Sure, she's gorgeous and all, but I can name you dozens of other actresses who are also super hot, while actually having a compelling screen presence.

A week later, it sucks to see that this movie came in a distant second at the box office behind The Karate Kid, but I hope that people will consider it. The action is fun, the humor is consistant and everything speeds along at a impressive pace. It's nice to be able to call a summer movie big and fun, while leaving out the dumb.