The A-Team (Review)

Few can argue the fact that this summer has devolved into a weekly “who’s making us wait for Inception NOW?” contest. Most of this summer’s movies have been pretty awful, and the passable ones have made no money. This is the season of big budgets, and most movies have not been able to make back these budgets.



Well now that you’ve marveled at my chart-making ability, the latest summer film to get off to an inauspicious start is The A-Team. This is one of the more surprising of the box office struggles because I saw it as an audience-pleasing action movie. Instead all of the box office action this weekend went to the remake of The Karate Kid, leaving The A-Team empty. With the upcoming Toy Story 3 and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, the competition doesn’t get any easier.

This is a shame too, because I found The A-Team to be an enjoyable little romp. Not above average, nor below it, but there are far worse ways to spend your money. The plot here is better than most summer blockbusters, simply based on the fact that one exists, and the cast is so good that at times I was able to ignore the several problems I have with the technical aspects.

The film begins with an extended prologue of sorts which shows the story of how our good friends Hannibal Smith (Liam Neeson), Face (Bradley Cooper), B.A. Baracus (Quinton “Rampage” Jackson), and Murdock (Sharlto Copley) come together to form the so-called “A-Team”. That was my favorite action sequence in the movie because it did not rely on CGI too much. In fact, I was ready to praise this movie for using actual sets and stunts instead of CGI for the first half. Then in the second half that’s all the film used.

The A-Team is similar to Iron Man 2 because I found it much more compelling when the characters were speaking and planning as opposed to the action sequences. That is because The A-Team, like Iron Man 2 actually has characters that I cared about when I watched it. That is quite impressive for this time of year. However, I have more of a problem with the action sequences in this film than in Iron Man 2, simply because this film got ridiculous with the CGI.

I understand that ridiculousness is the whole point of these people, but at a point I have to buy that what I’m watching could actually happen within the parameters of the universe that is created. The A-Team has a problem keeping a single tone throughout, casually switching back and forth between a stone-faced film and the much sillier “falling from the sky in a tank” version. Believe it or not, I found the more serious side more effective, which is strange for me.

Liam Neeson plays it relatively straight as Hannibal Smith, the leader of The A-Team. He works well opposite the other players. Bradley Cooper is perfectly fine as Face; he has yet to turn in a performance that blows me away. Quiton “Rampage” Jackson is surprisingly good as Baracus, delivering his lines with all the expected Mr. T-ness. The best performance of the main characters comes from Sharlto Copley of District 9 semi-fame, who provides all the comic relief with such expertise you’d have thought he’s been doing these comic roles for years. This guy has got a career ahead of him, and even though he’s only acted in two major films, he’s turned a couple of beauties.

The best performance of the entire film, however, is Patrick Wilson as a CIA agent by the name of Lynch. He is not a stone-faced character, but a believably kooky man who casually cracks jokes at his inferiors. We never know Lynch’s true intentions, but Stewart steals every scene he’s in. The same cannot be said of Jessica Biel as Captain Sosa, who spends the movie trying to recapture the A-Team. She falls under the Denise Richards out of The World is not Enough category of a woman being cast because she is beautiful, but at no point do you buy her as a character in this high position.

It’s always easier to focus on a film’s negatives, which I have done, but the truth is I had a smile on my face for pretty much the entire film. Some of the action sequences are a little too cartoonish, but whenever the film leaves the excessive CGI on the shelf, the film can even be a blast. I have many reservations about this film, and I wouldn’t pay for a 10.00 for a ticket, necessarily. It’s worth a rental, to be sure. I kind of hope to see a sequel, because I really found myself caring about these characters, not to mention it could be done a lot better.

Rating: (out of 4)

P.S.- This will be my last post for the next week or so, as I will be in Maryland. I will return with reviews of the rest of the summer's movies, along with all my other columns. See you then.