The A-Team (2010)

I consider it a small blessing that I managed to successfully avoid ever watching a single episode of the TV series The A-Team. I can’t remember what I did watch in the mid-1980s–a testament to the dubious quality of television back then–but I’m positive it wasn’t Stephen J. Cannell’s ode to wrongfully accused servicemen. Whenever I heard that fanfare theme with its machine-gun punctuation, I’d instinctively grab the remote (or, in those days, actually get up and change the channel manually). Nevertheless, it was hard to totally avoid its permeation into pop culture, especially with Mr. T showing up everywhere, including the supermarket cereal aisle. And though I liked George Peppard from his ’70s detective series Banacek, his cigar-chomping visage as Colonel Hannibal Smith wasn’t enough to draw me into what I thought was another mindless TV action series.

So to hear that The A-Team was being released as a feature film, and then that I would be reviewing it, filled me with dread. Not only was I not a fan of the show, but I racked my brain for any instances where I’d seen a good movie adapted from an old TV series. The only one I could remember was The Fugitive, and that film is now 17 years old. It’s summertime, too, when Hollywood bombards us with flimsy sequels and remakes all drenched in visual effects. I wasn’t anticipating much enjoyment from sitting through two hours of the “new and improved” A-Team on the big screen.

Well, maybe my standards are lower three decades later or I’ve lost some brain power along the way (probably both), but I’m both surprised and pleased to say that this movie is a lot of fun. Perhaps my relative ignorance of the original series saved me from some of the finer points of comparison that die-hard fans will nitpick over, but, for a new generation and the unaware older folks like me, it manages to balance a confusing collection of double-dealing government agents and over-the-top action sequences with some uproariously funny moments and unexpected chemistry from the main cast.

Rather than the post-Vietnam setting of the series, the movie begins in contemporary Mexico as we see how these four wild and crazy former Army rangers–Colonel Hannibal Smith (Liam Neeson), woman-charmer Lt. “Faceman” Peck (Bradley Cooper), mohawked Corporal “B.A.” Baracus (Quinton “Rampage” Jackson), and lunatic pilot Captain “Howling Mad” Murdock (Sharlto Copley)–first came together. Fast-forwarding eight years, they’re in Iraq and tasked by Colonel Morrison (Gerald McRaney, promoted from Major Dad) and a CIA operative (Patrick Wilson) to retreive a set of counterfeit engraving plates from the Baghdad mint before they can flood the world with bogus U.S. currency. When the mission goes awry, the four men are framed for a crime they didn’t commit and sentenced to four separate prisons. Of course, they don’t spend much time behind bars, and soon they’re fugitives from justice out to clear their names, find the plates, and expose the truth, all while a former lover of Face’s (Jessica Biel) is hot on their trail (along with every gun-toting operative in the U.S. government).

The action is so frenetically paced, with so much fast editing, that it’s often difficult to discern exactly what is going on, and the explosion-heavy sound effects drown out the occassional bit of dialogue. These sequences range from a shadowy truck chase through the streets of Baghdad to a hilarious breakout from a German mental hospital. A ridiculous scene with the four heroes trapped in a tank plummeting from a plane is so impossible that you just have to laugh, and that seems to be the point. Everything is so removed from reality that you just accept it as part of the thrill ride. And the movie does build to a crescendo with a thrilling sequence down the sides of a glass office tower in Germany and a spectacular climax involving a container ship.

What really holds this movie together and keeps it from being just another collection of stunt crashes and fireball footage is the camaraderie and performances of the four lead actors. My fears for Liam Neeson’s career after taking this role are gone, as he clearly has a whale of a time chomping his cigar and making plans that always seem to come together. Bradley Cooper redeems himself from the dregs of All About Steve with a charming performance that should leave female viewers with elevated blood pressure. Mixed martial artist Quentin “Rampage” Jackson has the disadvantage of trying to play such an iconic role without being too much like a guy wearing a Mr. T costume. While there are some obvious references to the previous portrayer of “B.A.” Baracus (including some clever tattoos across Jackson’s knuckles), Jackson does a credible job, enough to make me buy into him as a member of the team. The most amusing to watch, however, is Sharlto Copley as Murdock. This South African actor’s performance was the best element of District 9, and though his accent strays from the twang of Murdock’s character (he does get to break out his Afrikaans accent in one funny scene), Copley goes full-throttle into the character and obviously has a blast doing so. Some of the best lines and moments in the film belong to him, and this performance should boost his blossoming career even further.

I’m rather stunned that I enjoyed The A-Team as much as I did. It’s typical escapist summer fare–not taxing on the brain, just loads of fun and action. It almost makes me hope for big-screen adaptations of Silver Spoons or Supertrain. Almost.

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