An A-Team but not THE A-Team

I never wanted the A-Team movie to be made, you could not better the TV series cast, each and everyone one of them nailed their character to perfection.  With that said, this may suprise you, I really enjoyed the new A-Team movie.  It was a fun no-brainer popcorn film, and even with my love of the original clouding my opinion, I was still able to enjoy it and want to give some credit where it’s due.  Of course there are plenty of things I disagree with and I’ll get to those later but the film gets a fair amount of things right too and everyone should give it a watch.

The Good

As I said earlier, there is a lot to like about the new A-Team film, just courtesy of being the A-Team, it instantly has a theme tune to make most film soundtracks weep with envy.  Seeing BA’s van race around on the big screen, even if only for a few minutes was not only awesome nostalgia, but there’s something about that GMC van that still looks impressive.

I thought Liam Neeson was excellent as Hannibal Smith, he had a similar sense of authority and while no-one could possibly be as smug as George Peppard’s Hannibal, he did a fine job.  I love that you get to see the flight that makes BA forever afraid of flying with Murdock.  The two of them make a great duo throughout the film.  Murdock pretending to be a doctor was gold. Kudos to Sharlto Copley for that, he’ll never replace Dwight Schultz in my heart as Murdock but he did well enough for me to enjoy the character and not complain.  Replacing Mr. T is frankly impossible, the man was and still is charisma incarnate but I thought that Quinton “Rampage” Jackson did well and as I said earlier, I enjoyed his banter with Murdock and his development of a fear of flying.

The Bad

I rarely critise directing but this was so hit and miss it made me angry. The close ups of the words “Pity” and “Fool” on B.A.’s fists was good, and there were scenes which were VINTAGE A-Team but then you had the ridiculous. In Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, you have a legitimate tough guy, a baddass capable of beating up punks for sport.  You do not need fast edits during him beating someone up to make him look good, it actually looks crap and is hard to follow.  He was also called Bosco far more than BA which I suppose seing how the team’s history is rewritten in this kinda makes sense but it’s an unnessary change really.

There is a large emphasis on Face as the film goes on, I don’t mind that but Face is perhaps the hardest of all the roles in the A-Team.  You’ve got to be smooth talking, good looking, charming without being annoyingly arrogant.  For proof of how hard it is, watch the pilot of the A-Team, Tim Dunigan was playing the part of Face but is not Face, there’s something that Dirk Benedict has that others don’t.  Bradley Cooper is not bad, he’s a more rugged Face than Dirk and more believable in a fight but maybe that was the charm of Dirk’s Face.  The comedy of him calling out to BA in a fight, the way he didn’t look like a member of a crack team but was indespensible for his ability to get the team equipment, supplies and info, he didn’t need to be Hannibal-lite and come up with a plan.

Then there’s the things that were changed from TV show to movie.  The A-Team shoot at and actually hit people with bullets! unthinkable! The only thing The A-Team ever hit was the floor, doors or walls, there wasn’t enough bad guys getting thrown by explosions – a staple of the original.  At no time did Hannibal disguise himself and the tone of the movie was far more serious than the lighthearted TV show I love.  Fans of the the building montage will be disappointed that there is no tank built out of a bus or anything similar.  No doubt it was to keep the more serious tone but in the Orange adverts before the film, the same cast showed that they can deliver the cheesey comedy of the original.  That’s a shame and a waste to me.

To Finish

The new cast is an A-Team, they delivered an entertaining  film, packed full of gun fights, explosions and plans coming together.  They are a fine team, but not THE A-Team, that shall always be reserved for The A-Team starring George Peppard, Dirk Benedict, Dwight Schultz and of course, Mr. T which was the most entertaining show on TV when I was a kid and is STILL one of if not the most entertaining shows on TV.  Much like the first Dukes of Hazzard film, if you can seperate your feelings concerning the old team or if you haven’t seen the original, you will enjoy this film (which is incedentally MUCH better than that film for comparison).  Of course if the sight of the A-Team shooting at people and not at the ground in front of their feet appals you, best not look…  But if you want a good solid action film, look no further.  I went in with low expectations, wanting to hate it but found myself enjoying it.  As far as remakes go though, this is good.  Unnecessary yes, different yes, but not bad, not bad at all and well worth a watch.  And when you do watch, you MUST stay to the end for a slightly longer and speaking cameo from the original Face and Murdock.  In fact, I’d say it was the best bit of the film because in one line Dirk Benedict  sums up why as fun as the film was it should not have been made – you don’t mess with the Face.