Directed by: Joe Carnahan
Starring: Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Quinton Rampage Jackson, Jessica Biel
The 1980's NBC series "The A-Team" capitalized on Mr. T's wild popularity at the time and its cartoonish action to become a huge hit. It was only a matter of time before the creatively bankrupt folks in Hollywood targeted it for a movie makeover. I can't imagine that there will be a TV series that won't get the Hollywood treatment. Silver Spoons fans don't worry, your day will come.
The movie is loud, cartoonish, and full of CGI. There is in fact so much going on and being hurled at you that your mind eventually shuts off from overload. The A-Team is a relentless barrage on your senses that wears itself out well before the conclusion. CGI makes almost anything appear plausible, but you know it simply isn't. Such as the scene in which the plane the A guys are flying blows up and they escape in a tank which the crew can seemingly steer in mid-air. Or such as the mass explosions during the final showdown in which large things are being blown up and shrapnel flies everywhere, yet never seems to hit anybody.
And how do explosions know to stop their flames just short of the heroes so they don't get injured? Let's also not forget the falls from great heights that the good guys can shrug off with hardly a scratch while the bad guys of course die from those same falls.
I could go on and on and I understand that many movies are made to be cartoonish exercises and action-packed, but mind-numbingly so like The A-Team? There are good actors here who do what they can with very limited characterizations, although Jackson's Mr. T impersonations fall short. Say what you will about Mr. T, but his style is inimitable. Neeson doesn't even bother to hide his Irish brogue, but he is convincing anyway. Cooper is a cool Faceman while Sharlto Copley manages to switch between his native South African accent and a Southern one. Sure his Murdock is crazy, but can't he at least keep one accent?
The plot is similar to the TV show's, in which these former Army rangers are framed, jailed, and break out of jail to prove their innocence. Whether innocent or not, they should know that causing untold property damage and mayhem while trying to prove innocence will still put them back in the joint for a little while longer. And wouldn't you know it, Neeson's Hannibal Smith chomps on cigars and declares, "I love it when a plan comes together." If you were expecting anything less, you would be watching the wrong movie.
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