The A-Team
My rating:




It is the film critic's lot in life to make the occasional unpopular judgement. One of my recent ones was for The Losers, a film that hardly anyone liked but me (and Roger Ebert, so there) - and to those who moaned about that and any other of my reviews that went against popular opinion, tough titties. A critic is under no obligation to like and dislike only the same things as you. In fact, there's a word for those whose tastes always and exactly match those of everyone else's, and it sure ain't "discerning".

Guess what? I'm gonna make another unpopular judgement: I liked The A-Team, but not as much as The Losers.

The A-Team are an elite U.S. Army Ranger unit comprising H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock (Sharlto Copley), Bosco "B.A." Baracus (Quinton "Rampage" Jackson), Templeton "Face" Peck (Bradley Cooper), and their leader John "Hannibal" Smith (Liam Neeson). While stationed in Iraq, they are contacted by CIA agent Lynch (Patrick Wilson) and told of U.S. currency plates in the hands of Iraqi insurgents being used to print counterfeit currency. They conduct an unofficial mission to recover the plates, but are subsequently betrayed; their commanding officer General Morrison (Gerald McRaney) is murdered, the plates are stolen by mercenary Pike (Brian Bloom), and they are framed for it all. Now fugitives from the law, they must recover the plates and clear their names, all the while hotly pursued by Lt. Sosa (Jessica Biel), an old flame of Face's.

Just like my last review, I grew up on The A-Team. It was one of the holy quadrifecta of '80s TV that included Knight Rider, MacGyver and Airwolf, plus a few also-rans such as Automan, Street Hawk, Manimal and V. Indeed, this was the era in which American prime-time television seemed to cater exclusively to 9-year-old boys, and as I was 9 years old back then it was perfect for me. (Incidentally, this was also the decade in which TV3 was launched, and they scored almost all of these shows. We hardly ever watched RTM from then on.) So yes, I am pretty damn familiar with Hannibal, B.A., Face and Murdock, and I gotta say, this movie doesn't quite do them justice.

First, the good parts. Contrary to your rose-coloured memories of watching it when you were 9, the TV show was actually incredibly cheap and cheesy. The movie does the most obvious thing a movie adaptation should do, which is to have all the big-budget production values a major film studio can cough up. The action scenes have the same sense of ridiculous fun as the show did, only a lot more elaborate and over-the-top. This is one advantage it has over The Losers, whose action was mostly pedestrian. On the other hand, The Losers didn't film its action scenes in shaky-cam. I swear, shaky-cam has practically become Hollywood's default mode of filming action scenes, and that's just stupid. During the Iraq truck heist scene, I couldn't barely make out what the hell was going on.

But while it may not be fair to compare one movie to another, even one with the same premise and a great many oddly coincidental similarities (they both have climaxes that take place at the Port of Los Angeles, for chrissake), it is entirely fair game to compare a remake to its source material. Of the principal cast, only Bradley Cooper is faithful to his character. Liam Neeson's Hannibal is quite a departure from George Peppard's, who was cocksure, unflappable, and had a shit-eating grin permanently affixed to his face. Movie-Hannibal was fiercely loyal to his men and righteously pissed off at the injustices done to them. It's a new and different interpretation of the character, but I could dig it.

However, movie-Murdock and movie-B.A. don't fare as well. Sharlto Copley, last seen in District 9, is an unusual choice for a big-budget Hollywood action movie, but he proves to be a less than inspired one. Dwight Schultz brought a manic improvisational genius to the role of Murdock, whereas Copley just competently performs his lines. (Although he does get plenty of funny lines.) And despite being given plenty of opportunities to be badass, MMA fighter Quinton Jackson is wooden and uncharismatic, which are the last things anyone taking over a role originated by Mr. T should be. There's also a subplot in which B.A. takes a vow of non-violence, which the film inexplicably treats as a serious thing.

The original A-Team was a marvel of casting; four actors that flawlessly inhabited four iconic, larger-than-life characters. It was lightning in a bottle, and this movie doesn't quite manage to capture it again. I still liked it, I still think it's a fun action movie that does a decent job at turning an '80s TV show into a '00s theatrical blockbuster, and that alone is probably enough for most people. But for me, and for this one instance, I'm placing more importance on the characters. I liked the original's better than these. And yes, I liked The Losers better than these guys.

NEXT REVIEW: Toy Story 3
Expectations: ohhhh yes