The A-Team Review

If you have any interest whatsoever in action, humour, explosions, or Liam Neeson, go see this movie.

Still here? Okay. Let's get into the nitty-gritty.

The A-Team Theme (Guy Pratt Remix)- Spaced
 
THE A-TEAM

We've been looking forward to this movie from the moment we knew it existed, and man, was it good! This film is incredibly stupid, and therefore, incredibly fun.

Serving as a modern-day prequel of sorts, The A-Team (the movie) follows the A-Team (the A-Team) before they became The A-Team (the TV show). This film is perfectly cast, with Liam Neeson being brilliant as always in the role of the team's leader, Hannibal Smith. Bradley Cooper, aka "that dude from The Hangover" is Face, a suave womanizing son of a gun whose performance is simply delightful. Quinton Jackson, a UFC fighter plays B.A. Barracus, and his performance is excellent, but really, there's no replacing Mr. T. Despite this, Jackson's performance does stand out, and his character faces some interesting twists throughout, even if there is no real motivation for the impetus of these twists in the first place. Rounding out the team is Murdock, an insane soldier and pilot played, surprisingly, by Sharlto Copley, aka "that dude from District 9". Sharlto's performance is perhaps the best in the film, as everything his character does or says is screamingly funny.

If this is any indication, I hope to see him in many more roles. Jessica Biiel is also here, adding some sexiness to the cast as....some woman who is trying to track down the escaped A-Team. She has a name, but I can't remember it. I was too busy enjoying  the explosions.

The film opens in Mexico, introducing each of the four members of the team and their quirks in a streamlined and awesome fashion. The film documents their meeting and subsequent escape from the predicament they find themselves in, and picks up again eight years later, where the four are serving together in Afghanistan as the best covert-ops team in-country. Following a tip from a CIA Agent, the team intercepts a convoy transporting engraving plates used to print money, but before they can deliver them their general is exploded, the plates are stolen, and the team is set up to be the bad guys. Stripped of their ranks and honor, and imprisoned in separate max-security facilities, the team must escape, recover the stolen plates, and clear their names.

This film is over the top in every possible sense of the term, and it's fantastic for it. Even the things you've seen in the trailer are every bit as awesome, if not more so, in the film itself. The scene, in my mind, that perfectly sums up the idea of this movie goes thus; Hannibal, Face, and B.A. have escaped from prison, and only Murdock remains in a mental hospital in Germany. He receives a package containing a DVD and a case of 3D glasses, so he and all the other patients settle in to watch a movie, under the watchful eye of Jessica Biel, who knows the team will be coming for Murdock eventually. As the movie starts, playing the classic A-Team theme, btw, the Hummer onscreen suddenly bursts through the wall and into the room, eliciting a cheer from the patients, thinking it's the 3D movie. Face then hops out of the vehicle, moving in tandem with the projected movie and quoting the lines, as Murdock jumps in and they make their escape. Not good enough? They fly a tank. 'Nuff said.

This film is uproarious fun, with plenty of action and explosions, and surprisingly good humour. Nothing in the film screams Blu-Ray (something I consider in any new movie) but the sound is superb, the explosions and gunshots sounding weighty and powerful, and the Alan Silvestri score perfectly suited for the film, containing several re-orchestrations of the classic theme. Despite the reports of Mr. T, this film is fantastic, and *I* pity the fool who does not see this movie.