The A-Team (***½)
Directed by: Joe Carnahan
Starring: Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Sharlto Copley, Quinton
Jackson, Jessica Biel, Patrick Wilson, Brian Bloom, Gerald McRaney, John Hamm
Seen: August 20th and 23rd, September 10th 2010
***½ Out of ****
As The A-Team started, I was overflowing with excitement as the camera
panned across the desert “Somewhere in Mexico”, taking the viewer to a few
places, but starting in a warehouse where two Mexican Officers are beating up a
seemingly unconscious cuffed man. They leave, setting the dogs on him, and he
deals with the situation. Stepping into the light he calmly lights a cigar as
the camera moves towards his face – he smiles and the screen freezes as he is
introduced – this is Hannibal (Neeson). He has a chance meet with B.A. (Jackson)
and convinces him to assist in saving Face (Cooper), who is on the verge of
being burned alive by the Mexicans. To complete their escape/assembling of the
team they pick up one final passenger – their pilot, H.M. Murdock (Copley), from
a psych ward before a wild helicopter chase through Mexico’s valleys and
canyons sure to leave you breathless with joy in over-the-top ridiculousness
and pulse pounding adrenaline.
This all acts as an intro for The A-Team, about 20 minutes of
introduction before the opening credits roll in looking much like it could have
been the titles for the original A-Team TV series. Jump 8 years and 80
successful missions ahead and we arrive at the start of the main storyline.
Hannibal is urged by General Morrison (McRaney) to leave a mission alone which CIA
Agent Lynch (Wilson) urges them to take on, while Face is aggressively warned to
not touch the mission by Captain Charissa Sosa (Biel), a previous romantic
interest turned woman scorned. Of course the team takes the mission, which
turns ugly as they are double-crossed by a mercenary, Pike (Bloom), and the
team are sentenced to hard prison time. And of course the team has to escape to
clear their names in some of the most hilariously insane action scenes you will
see – the odds of any one of these things happening is staggering, all of them
together? Astronomical, but that’s why it really works, it is so far fetched
that you simply immerse yourself into the fun of the world created by director
Carnahan.
With great action and fantastic humour to match The A-team is
immensely entertaining. From Hannibal’s confidence in his plans to Face’s
charming and quasi-planning player to Baracus’ search for peace in violence to
Murdock’s side-splitting antics there is not a dull scene in this movie. Never before
have you seen a tank actually being flown, a kidnapping involving throwing someone
out of a building and catching him with a helicopter, a (classically old) helicopter
and a C130 being used in barrel-rolls and many more, and to such great effect. The
A-Team is just under two hours of great action visuals and truly funny comedy,
and everything in the movie happens at such a pace that you as viewer rarely
realise how the time flies by – when you’re having fun…
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