The A-Team reviewed
Considering the mediocrity of the midyear blockbuster season, The A-Team is about the best of the bunch in terms of offering mindless, good-natured, nostalgia-flavoured fun. It’s this year’s Star Trek in this regard – only dumber and more forgettable. It has to be added though that the degree to which you enjoy the film will probably be heavily influenced by your feelings towards the beloved, cheesetacular 80s TV show on which the film is based, as well as your personal definition of what makes The A-Team the A-Team… because the new movie deviates from its source material in some important areas.
The big screen A-Team is in essence an origin story. The film doesn’t centre on the four-man squad of outlawed ex-soldiers cruising around the United States in their iconic black and red GMC van, helping the weak and downtrodden – as they did every week during the TV series’ three year run. The A-Team film reveals how cunning strategist Hannibal Smith (Liam Neeson), smooth-talking Faceman Peck (Bradley Cooper), surly muscleman B.A. Baracus (Quinton Jackson) and mentally unstable pilot Howling Mad Murdock (Sharlto Copley) met, and why exactly they’re on the run from the military authorities. During the film’s two hour running time, a few other important A-Team questions are answered, such as why BA is terrified of flying – and yes, Murdock is to blame.
There are lots of things that work in The A-Team film, and just as many that are less successful.
On the positive side, the casting and camaraderie of the team is spot-on. Providing the most comic relief, and therefore the most likeable, are South Africa’s Copley and MMA star Jackson. Frankly, I never expected the latter to make an impression, given that he has Mr T’s very big shoes to fill. However, Jackson does a great job. He’s both physically imposing and fair game for the various jokes at BA’s expense. In keeping with the TV show, the character is frequently duped by his team mates to get him onboard various aircraft.
The A-Team is at its strongest during its quieter, light-hearted moments of character interaction, as well as during the boisterous “plan” sequences where the squad complete their missions. On the whole, these scenes provide an adrenalin spike and are both engrossing and enjoyable. The A-Team has always been about silly stunts, and the “flying tank” sequence is the film’s highlight – sublimely ridiculous but not quite as logically grating as bulky transport helicopters performing inversions.
It’s a pity that the film’s climax isn’t as good as the tank sequence or even the earlier Baghdad heist. Once again, in what is becoming an all too common problem with action films these days, The A-Team’s big culminating battle is over-reliant on CGI that looks blatantly fake. And therefore lessens the viewer’s immersion in the film.
Another problem in The A-Team is the inclusion of Jessica Biel’s character – a career-driven military investigator and ex-girlfriend of Face. It’s perfectly understandable why Biel is there, and there is little wrong with the actress’s performance, but it’s a character and situation we’ve seen all too many times before. Biel’s Charissa Sosa is a morally conflicted pursuer who vacillates between wanting to catch the heroes and wanting to exonerate them. The thing is, The A-Team has always been a sausage fest; a macho bromance, and audiences expect that. This makes Biel’s character unnecessary and unwanted. Also, the intimate scenes with Sosa and Face always slam the brakes on the film’s pacing. Face’s irresistible charisma comes through far more successfully, and less formulaically, in brief scenes like his prison incarceration.
If you’re still nit-picking about the new A-Team’s fidelity to the TV series, you may be surprised about how violent the 21st Century interpretation is. Given that deaths were rare in the 1980s A-Team – the villains were always shown crawling away from horrendous car accidents – the new A-Team has a surprisingly high body count.
In the end The A-Team is pleasantly amusing, but hampered by enough flaws that it’s prevented from being as good, and authentic A-Team-feeling, as it could have been. As much as the film strives to convey its own unique cinematic identity, you just can’t escape the generic flavour that keeps seeping through.
As a final note for A-Team fans, stay in your seat until after the end credits, for a split-second cameo by two of the original series stars.
The big screen A-Team is in essence an origin story. The film doesn’t centre on the four-man squad of outlawed ex-soldiers cruising around the United States in their iconic black and red GMC van, helping the weak and downtrodden – as they did every week during the TV series’ three year run. The A-Team film reveals how cunning strategist Hannibal Smith (Liam Neeson), smooth-talking Faceman Peck (Bradley Cooper), surly muscleman B.A. Baracus (Quinton Jackson) and mentally unstable pilot Howling Mad Murdock (Sharlto Copley) met, and why exactly they’re on the run from the military authorities. During the film’s two hour running time, a few other important A-Team questions are answered, such as why BA is terrified of flying – and yes, Murdock is to blame.
There are lots of things that work in The A-Team film, and just as many that are less successful.
On the positive side, the casting and camaraderie of the team is spot-on. Providing the most comic relief, and therefore the most likeable, are South Africa’s Copley and MMA star Jackson. Frankly, I never expected the latter to make an impression, given that he has Mr T’s very big shoes to fill. However, Jackson does a great job. He’s both physically imposing and fair game for the various jokes at BA’s expense. In keeping with the TV show, the character is frequently duped by his team mates to get him onboard various aircraft.
The A-Team is at its strongest during its quieter, light-hearted moments of character interaction, as well as during the boisterous “plan” sequences where the squad complete their missions. On the whole, these scenes provide an adrenalin spike and are both engrossing and enjoyable. The A-Team has always been about silly stunts, and the “flying tank” sequence is the film’s highlight – sublimely ridiculous but not quite as logically grating as bulky transport helicopters performing inversions.
It’s a pity that the film’s climax isn’t as good as the tank sequence or even the earlier Baghdad heist. Once again, in what is becoming an all too common problem with action films these days, The A-Team’s big culminating battle is over-reliant on CGI that looks blatantly fake. And therefore lessens the viewer’s immersion in the film.
Another problem in The A-Team is the inclusion of Jessica Biel’s character – a career-driven military investigator and ex-girlfriend of Face. It’s perfectly understandable why Biel is there, and there is little wrong with the actress’s performance, but it’s a character and situation we’ve seen all too many times before. Biel’s Charissa Sosa is a morally conflicted pursuer who vacillates between wanting to catch the heroes and wanting to exonerate them. The thing is, The A-Team has always been a sausage fest; a macho bromance, and audiences expect that. This makes Biel’s character unnecessary and unwanted. Also, the intimate scenes with Sosa and Face always slam the brakes on the film’s pacing. Face’s irresistible charisma comes through far more successfully, and less formulaically, in brief scenes like his prison incarceration.
If you’re still nit-picking about the new A-Team’s fidelity to the TV series, you may be surprised about how violent the 21st Century interpretation is. Given that deaths were rare in the 1980s A-Team – the villains were always shown crawling away from horrendous car accidents – the new A-Team has a surprisingly high body count.
In the end The A-Team is pleasantly amusing, but hampered by enough flaws that it’s prevented from being as good, and authentic A-Team-feeling, as it could have been. As much as the film strives to convey its own unique cinematic identity, you just can’t escape the generic flavour that keeps seeping through.
As a final note for A-Team fans, stay in your seat until after the end credits, for a split-second cameo by two of the original series stars.
Comments
I disagree with this. It always seemed that there was a woman in every situation they faced who had it for Face or Hannibal. They'd be a nurse or an innkeeper or a vet, but they would be there week in and week out. Inevitably, they would help the characters out of their situations (just like Sosa does) and allow the team to escape on to the next "mission" (just like Sosa does).