A-Team

*Spoiler free review*
The resurrection of the 80’s continue with the remake of the mercenary action series, The A-Team. When I was kid, the A-Team was one of my favorite shows. In fact, In 6th grade I formed a club with 3 of my closest friends at the time. I played the huff’n & puff’n, hard-hitting BA Baracus. Not because I was particular tough, I was just the only minority in the group. I absolutely loved everything about the formulaic and cartoonish action that characterized the show. So when I heard that the noble and respected Liam Neeson was playing the part as John “Hannibal” Smith, I was worried. But, as he often touts in this movie, ‘there is always a plan’. The question is, does the plan come together?

A-Team starts with the origins story of how the team became a team. As you expect they are all involved in their own hair brained scheme when fate (and when I say fate, I mean Hannibal) brings them all together. Sharing allegiance as former Army Rangers, they soon become a special ‘black ops’ team saving the world behind closed army tents. However, the team is double crossed and convicted of a crime they didn’t commit. They make their escape and now are bent on proving their innocence while capturing the true traitors.

I was pretty shocked to realize halfway through this movie that I was actually going to enjoy this even though Rotten Tomatoes scored it in the 54%. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of problems with this reincarnation. The story is convoluted, the action is ridiculous, and the CGI is substandard in this new age of AVATAR. The pace of this movie is similar to a riot scene. You know something important is happening but all you manage to see are fists, explosions, and gun shots. There were times where I thought they just substituted actual choreography with shaky camera work hoping it would fool the viewer. Much of this was basically a gender change version of Charlie’s Angels. But despite these flaws, A-Team manages to accomplish two mission critical objectives.

First, the casting is surprisingly pretty good. Although I was skeptical of Rob Roy and Qui Gonn playing the snarky, pompous Hannibal Smith, he does quite well. The rest of the replacements do an enjoyable job as BA, Face, and Murdock too although BA was unfortunately under utilized. As the icon of the 80’s, I thought they should have played him up more. Out of the bunch Sharlto Copley (District 9) does the most impressive job as the mental, yet lovable team pilot. The second thing they did well was capturing the comradely of the team. They seem to genuinely care for each other and need each other to succeed. They each have their flaws and doubts but the team pushes forward together. This is no ‘Saving Private Ryan’ by any means but their brotherhood helped turn from a generic action mess and into a story about commitment and teamwork.

By the way, most don’t know but there is a couple of nice cameos after the credits so hang tight.

Overall, I enjoyed this film. It’s pretty forgettable and made of fluff, but it does capture the essence of summer movie. Going with the other Babblers, it made for the perfect guy flick. in fact I think I counted 3 girls in the whole theater. So, if you have a job that no-one else can handle and if you can find them, maybe you can hire….The A-Team!

I gave this a 2.5 Babbles out of 5

A-Team Preview

So here is the first look at the new A-Team movie. Check out the preview tha has just been released today. I don’t know about Liam Neeson yet, but I still want the A-Team lunch box I never had as a kid.

For a real treat you can search for the new Marmaduke trailer as well.

The A-Team.

When I was a kid, few shows rocked my world like The A-Team did. Who didn’t like the clever bunch of whimsical rogues on the run from the government over a false accusation? Who didn’t love it when a plan came together under the leadership of Hannibal? Or the smooth talking ladies man Face? Who didn’t pity the fool who ran afoul of B.A. Baracus and most of all, who didn’t love the mad antics of Murdock? Now they are making a movie out of it and I have my doubts about it.

TV shows are hard to make into good movies. TV plots and characters are designed to keep going over several seasons, and usually any movie made of a TV show just ends up feeling like a long episode of that show. Still this movie has garnered my interest and here is the cast so far.

Filling in as Col. John “Hannibal” Smith is none other than the great Liam Neeson. I have mixed feelings about this. It seems a little low brow for his skills but if he can pull off Qui-Gon Jinn he can do anything.

Next is Sharlto Copely, playing Capt. “Howling Mad” Murdock. This one really intrigues me and could be the best part of the movie. While you may not know the name, many of you will recognize Sharlto from his bang up portrayal of  Wikus Van De Merwe from the movie District 9.

Filling in for Lt. Templeton “Faceman” Peck is Bradley Cooper from The Hangover fame and He’s Just Not That Into You.

And last but not least, serving up a round of kick ass as Sgt. Bosco “B.A.” Baracus is Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. (What is with all the nicknames here?) Who has yet to really have anything impressive on his resume.

Topping it off for the babe factor is Jessica Biel as the lovely Lt. Sosa.

The cast seems to be pretty solid, what remains to be seen is whether or not Hollywood can come up with an adequate and interesting story line that will do justice to the original series. Whether or not this movie does well or not, you can ebst be assured it will be followed by a huge merchandizing blitz. Maybe this way I can finally get the A-Team lunch box I never had but always wanted.