A-Team

Ben’s Review of A-Team
I am 32 almost 33 and this puts me in the age group that spent early parts of my childhood watching the Mr. T and the A-Team. I am pretty sure that the 20th Century Fox had the 28 to 40 age group in mind when deciding to do a live movie version of everyone’s fugitive team for hire. Best of all my wife also falls into this age group and was likewise eager to take advantage then 80s nostalgia fest. Couple this with the near blind rage I have been harboring for sheer audacity of anyone deciding to remake the Karate Kid, and you will pretty much guarantee my attendance for this movie. But did A-Team come off cool and interesting like 2006’s Miami Vice or overly produced and lame like Transformers 2?
The A-Team begins at a very novel place, the beginning. Colonel Hannibal Smith, played by the always cool Liam Neeson, is bringing down a corrupt Mexican Official while at the same time bailing Templeton Peck, aka Face, played by Bradley Cooper, out of trouble. On his way to rescue Face, Hannibal car-jacks car thief and ex-army ranger, Bosco Barracus, aka BA, played by UFC star Quinton Rampage Jackson. BA, knowing the legend of Hannibal agrees to help a fellow army ranger and rescue Face. Upon rescuing Face, Hannibal, BA, and Face all need to get out of town before the Mexican authorities catch up with them and what better way to do this then to spring everyone’s favorite schizophrenic army ranger helicopter pilot, Howling Mad Murdoch, from a Mexican mental hospital. Having worked so well together to escape from Mexico, Hannibal keeps this team together to form the A-Team. The Army uses the A-Team for special missions in Iraq because they are always successful. All is well until the A-Team is solicited for one last mission by the CIA to retrieve counterfeit money plates that are set to be smuggled out of Baghdad. Employing a perfect plan by Hannibal, The A-Team retrieves the plates, however at the last moment the plates are switched, military officials are killed and the A-Team is framed and convicted for the crime. But do you really think the Hannibal, Face, BA, and Murdoch are really going to sit around and rot in jail? So is this remake worth finding for help?
The secret to a good remake is to take the concept seriously and not dumb down the premise for your audience and A-Team does this beautifully. This movie is exciting, well paced, and a lot of fun while not becoming unbelievable or goofy. The movie is perfectly cast: Bradlley Cooper looks and acts like a Face; Liam Neeson is cunning but not a con artist; Sharlto Copley, last year’s break out star from District 9, is crazy but not insane; and even Quinton Jackson, while obvious not a Shakespearian actor, handles his new acting duties very well. The action comes at you and plot keeps moving. More importantly, if you are going to pay $10 to go to theatre you want to be entertained and this movie does just that. Is this Schindler’s List, no, but its not Charlie’s Angels Full Throttle either.
Overall I will give this movie a Great but not Oscar Worthy and four and quarter bullet holes in the side of building out of five. A remake of Karate Kid with Will Smith’s son, seriously, Pat Morita must be rolling over in his “Arnold-from –Happy-Days-grave.”


Elisa’s “A-Team” Review


After 10 years of production, 11 screen-plays, re-writes, two directors and rumors of Hollywood Stars such as Bruce Willis (Hannibal Smith), Woody Harrelson (Murdoch) and Ice Cube (BA Baracus), somehow a plan did come together and a GREAT movie was made.

There is nothing I did not LOVE about the TV show, and there was nothing I did not LOVE about this movie. The casting was perfect. Every nuance of Hannibal Smith’s cigar smoking, cocky-but-love-him demeanor was perfectly portrayed by Liam Neeson. Bradley Cooper (now well into Hollywood thanks to last summer’s Hangover fame) was a perfect Templeman “Faceman” Peck, and the acting of Sharlto Copley (Weird Alien/Australia movie from last summer) as Howling Mad-Dog Murdoch was spot-on to the role first reprised by Dwight Schultz. Many critics and bloggers wondered if anyone other than Mr. T could play the role of BA (BAD ASS) Baracus as well, and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson nailed it. Of course the A-Team always had a hot chick around, and Jessica Biel plays the role of irrelevant hot-chick quite well.

The beginning of the film gives a brief re-write of how the team comes together and updates the team as Iraq-war Veterans. Flash-forward to present-day Baghdad and the team is approached with a top-secret mission to retrieve “stolen” plates that are replicas of US Currency. This set-up is similar to the TV show, where the team was accused of robbing a bank in Hanoi, with a General Morrison to prove their innocence. Morrison reappears as a General in the movie, giving the die-hard fans a compelling story-line based on the original show.

Generally special effects and stunts are not my thing, however, there are some really cool scenes and “awesome” special effects. In fact, after splitting a large pop with Ben, I still sat through the entire movie.

A note to band geeks everywhere--I was extremely happy to see, actually hear, the original A-Team theme song written by Mark Post was used in the movie. It is one of my favorite songs to hum!

This movie is so good it definitely is a candidate to EGOT during the 2010 award season, or, at least the Emmy Award and an Oscar.