The A-Team

In Mexico, a group of veteran Army rangers come together to thwart a corrupt general. Led by the wily, cigar-chomping Col. Hannibal Smith (Liam Neeson), the team includes ladies’ man Lt. “Face” Peck (Bradley Cooper), tough mechanic Cpl. B.A. Baracus (Quinton “Rampage” Jackson) and possibly insane helicopter pilot Cpt. H.M. Murdock (Sharlto Copley). Eight years later in Iraq, the A-Team is hired by CIA Agent Lynch (Patrick Wilson) to recover some valuable printing plates. When the mission goes wrong, the team becomes a group of fugitives fighting to clear their name.

A staple of my childhood, The A-Team television series left me with fond memories of bullets that didn’t actually hit anyone, Mr. T calling people “fool,” and a souped-up van. When I saw the trailer for the film remake, my first two thoughts were “You’re kidding?!” and “This is going to suck.” Because I am a sucker for nostalgia, I went to see it anyway, expecting, at best, some decent entertainment.


On that level, The A-Team delivered...and then some. Unlike last year’s insipid G.I. Joe remake, The A-Team kept its sense of fun intact. B.A.’s fear of flying is played up for comic relief, and Murdock’s oddball shtick is entertaining more times than not. In addition, Joe Carnahan is a competent action director. His kinetic staging of certain sequences (i.e. a tank falling from the sky) allow for suspension of disbelief.


Make no mistake about it though: this is a dumb movie. The convoluted plot pits the team against, at various times, Mexicans, Iraqis, a Blackwater knock-off, the CIA, and the U.S. Army, all without skipping a beat. Attempts at imbuing a message – what is the cost of violence? – are laughably mishandled.


The acting is tougher to evaluate. Any time someone walks into a role someone else made famous, there is going to be criticism of the replacement. On the whole, Neeson, Cooper, Jackson and Copley do an admirable job of filling in for George Peppard, Dirk Benedict, Mr. T and Dwight Schultz. The non-actor Jackson in particular had some big shoes to fill and exceeded expectations. However, the vain and arrogant Cooper is pressed awkwardly into a leading role, Jessica Biel is only so-so as his Army officer love interest, and Wilson is too smarmy to be a really effective antagonist.


Certainly, the cinematic A-Team is more violent and harder-edged than its television counterpart. And while this will upset purists, the spirit of the original – dumb, loud, likeable, vapid and fun – is nevertheless alive and well.


6.5/10