Directed by Joe Carnahan
In 2010, a crack commando unit was transferred to the big screen in a time when 80s remakes were a hit. Today, still wanted by nostalgic fans, they survive as creators of catchphrases and chocolate bar endorsers. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire… The A-Team. Just don’t expect them to explain the storyline.
Oddly and infuriatingly, director Joe Carnahan gets the hard stuff right and the easy stuff very, very wrong. Even if you were not a fan of The A-Team, it would be difficult not to have knowledge of loving it when a plan comes together and the art of pitying fools. This is because, for all the talk about that bit when the tank flies out of a plane, The A-Team is first and foremost about the four leads and their camaraderie, which has become iconic over the past three decades.
Quite simply, this update could not be more perfectly cast. Liam Neeson as leader Hannibal is smug yet deadly, fittie Bradley Cooper as Face is, well, a fittie, and even unknown fighter Rampage Jackson is a suitably badass mummy’s boy in the role made so famous by Mr. T, B.A. Baracus. An opening sequence which shows how the Alpha Team was first assembled is both stylishly shot and totally bonkers, especially because it introduces the film’s highlight - Sharlto Copley as map-cap helicopter pilot Murdock. The multi-accented South African works mainly with improvised dialogue and provides most of the laughs, particularly in his heated relationship with B.A., proving that he is of of the best actors working in Hollywood today.
It is almost as if the team behind the film tried so hard to get the relationship between the team right (which, to their credit, they do) that they forgot those other two important components: plot and set-pieces. It is ludicrous that The A-Team are not given the opportunity to shine within a simple yet effective narrative, and instead their full characterisation is scuppered by some MacGuffin-laden bunkum about forged plates or summink. Add in the fact that there is no central antagonist towards whom we can direct our boos (Patrick Wilson as shifty CIA agent Lynch undoes any credibility he earned from Watchmen), and the film becomes a muddle of double crossing and uninspired motives which detracts from the well constructed moments where the team are discussing a plan or taking the piss out of each other.
Many will argue that, while not perfect, The A-Team is a lot of fun and does exactly what it says on the tin. This is only true for half of the film. As already mentioned, the opening sequence is hilarious and explosive, while it is difficult to suppress a grin when the largely pointless Jessica Biel notes in that scene: ‘They’re trying to fly the tank’. It is a shame that after this point, the film descends into incoherence which fails to play the line between silliness and irritation. Of course, in the TV show, the storyline played second fiddle to the characters, but when poor storytelling muscles out hard men like Baracus, you know some fine tuning is required before the van goes out for another spin. Pity the screenwriter.
