The A-Team (2010)

Director: Joe Carnaghan
Starring: Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Biel, Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson, Sharlto Copley, Patrick Wilson, Gerald McRaney

SYNOPSIS

A special army unit is sent on a secret mission to recover counterfeiting equipment that was to be used by an enemy force. They are tricked, set up and sent to jail after the mission goes wrong. Months later, the team escape from prison and set about clearing their names.

REVIEW

When this movie was announced I, like many, just rolled my eyes and though “yeah, another rape of my childhood”. The bloated, stupid reboots of franchises like Transformers and G.I. Joe didn't give me too much hope, either. Luckily, director Carnaghan (best known for directing NARC and Smokin' Aces - which I really didn't like) isn't a hack like either Bay or Sommers and so he's managed to create a highly enjoyable and faithful adaptation, although flawed.

I must admit I was worried about the opening, though. We're introduced to the characters as B.A. and Murdoch meet Face and Hannibal for the first time (the latter two already firm friends), by literally having Hannibal almost run into B.A. and Murdoch hired to fly them out. It makes no sense either narratively (it's completely superfluous) and raises a lot of questions (since Murdoch is clearly insane, why pick him?). It only seems to exist to open the movie with an action sequence and extend the running time beyond 100 minutes, though we can be thankful that it's not extended to the 2 – 2 ½ hours that some directors seem to need to pad their movies out to.

Luckily, this is just a blip. We're soon taken into reasonably good storytelling and action-packed territory and the movie redeems itself quickly. The rest of the movie is fairly well written and nicely directed, though it inevitably gets silly and won't do much to please hardcore fans of the original.

One of the things I was concerned about going in was the way that the characters were treated. Neeson didn't strike me as being a particularly great choice to play Hannibal, and while the rest were reasonable character actors, I wasn't sure of the match. All is good – Neeson does a great job, while all the other actors manage to riff on previous incarnations while adding something to make their work more than simple impressions of the originals.

Overall, while the script shows the problems with studio interference in summer blockbusters, it's an entertaining ride.

7 / 10