The A-Team

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen. Sorry, it's been a while since i've written anything, but i've been busy securing the G20 from protesters. Any, without further ado, The A-Team!

The first thing I will say is that I can't give you a comparison to the A-Team television show, as i've never seen it. It was way before my time, give me a break. So if you're looking to see if it was as good as the original show, unfortunately I can't help you out. And I guess should mention for those people who are abysmally unaware of pop culture, that this movie is indeed based on an old television show.

Liam Neeson plays Colonel John Hannibal Smith, known simply as Hannibal. In the first scene, we see him rushing to save Templeton "Faceman" Peck, a.k.a Face. In the process, he pulls over B.A. Baracus and finds out that he, like Hannibal and Face, is an Army Ranger, and together they go to save Face. Later, in the military hospital they meet Murdock, a quirky pilot that borders on insane. Together, they escape the hospital and outmaneuver and destroy to enemy fighter jets - the first mission of the A-Team.

Flash forward to 8 years later, and the A-Team has become the most notorious clandestine unit of the Army Rangers, and are legendary for their outrageous and outside the box plans of action. While stationed in Iraq, they learn that the mercenary company BlackForset (an obvious reference to BlackWater) has been granted a mission that Hannibal believes should be his team's responsibility. The mission is to re-acquire U.S. mint printing press plates from the Iraqis. Hannibal is able to talk the General into giving them the mission, and they are on their way. However, BlackForest storms in during the mission, and steals the plates for themselves. The A-Team are assumed to be working with BlackForest, and are considered rogue. They are all sent to different maximum security facilities after trial. Disgraced and furious Hannibal embarks on a mission to free his team, restore their honour, reinstate their ranks, and re-acquire the plates.

This movie is the second of two movies this summer that revolves around a group of disgraced ex soldiers fighting the system (the other being The Losers), and this one had the misfortune to be released second. Regardless, even were it not the second string, this movie would not stand on it's own two legs as a box office hit. While definitely an entertaining film, it also definitely lacks substance. The plot is not particularily original (Rush Hour 2 - Lee and Carter have to get US mint printing press plates back from the red dragon casino) as well as slightly predictable. The writing was decent, with some witty banter, but I think that it some deliveries of lines could be better if they had decided to stay away from casting MMA fighters.

Liam Neeson, as always, throws down a solid performance as the leader of this team. He's the brain behind the entire operation and never goes on a mission without a plan. Bradley Cooper seems like a surprise to me in this movie, as i've seen him only in romantic comedies in the past few years. He holds his own decently well, but I think that the writing for his character leaves a little to be desired. Newcomer Rampage Jackson really shows...well, why he's a newcomer. He's not a terrible actor, but he's not winning any oscars anytime soon. The surprise gold in this movie is Sharlto Copley (who you might recognize as the main dude from District 9.) For those of you who don't recognize him, you'd hardly peg him for a South African, more just a very talented actor who has a very good South African accent. You'd be partly right except that it is his American accent that is very good.

All in all, this movie seems very much like a trailer movie - one of those ones that pretty much puts its prize ponies on display for you before you find out it's lame. If you don't know what you want to watch, or are a fan of A-Team the tv show, i'd say check it out but otherwise check it out by other means.