The A-Team

The A-Team
Starring: Liam Neeson
Bradley Cooper
Sharlto Copley
Quintin “Rampage” Jackson

General Overview
Many films that are remakes of earlier TV shows or movies generally fail outright as they try to either change too much or not enough and forget to focus on the characters and story. The A-Team however, managed to pull of a fairly amped up action film, a remake and a generally good movie overall. The key to this movie is the characters and that’s what the producers did right for a change. This movie focused on how these characters interact and develop and was very true to the original gang.

Acting
For the most part, the acting is well done. Liam Neeson still proves that he is an A actor for a reason, pulling off the intelligent, caring and moral character of Hannibal, the team leader. Sometimes though it feels a bit like he’s trying to mimic the original actor, but it’s early on in the film and Neeson paves the way for a new version of the character.

The favourite pick of mine for this film would be Sharlto Copley who plays Howling Mad Murdoch. Copley starred in 2009’s District 9. Being a fairly new actor to the game, Copley shows very definite skills in pulling off a character that you’re not quite sure if he is completely insane, or simply pretends to be insane. There are a few homages to District 9 and his own heritage in a scene where to get past security, he is impersonating someone else and has to speak in an African tongue. Copley manages to pull off the comedic relief, while also being a serious and deep character. His character is the one that feels the least superficial in the whole movie.

Bradley Cooper as well is paving a way in the industry, starring in Alias and The Hangover. Cooper plays Face, the suave yet tough member of the team. Cooper does an interesting job on swinging a character that has relatively little depth. He’s the guy that gets along with the ladies and blows things up in the movie. To help balance this out, the movie turns around such that Face comes up with the final plan on how to clear their names and make things right. Unfortunately, that feels a bit like a last minute attempt to add more depth to the character, having him share a brief yet meaningful scene in which he tells Murdoch: “I’m not Hannibal” and goes on about everything is riding now on his plan. Murdoch actually makes the scene by replying “I’m the one with most to lose and I trust you” so in the end, a scene intended for Face, becomes more of a scene for Murdoch.

And of course, the one most people are waiting for is Rampage’s acting. Still very early in his acting career, he plays the tough as nails, yet scared to death of flying, B.A. Barracus. In some ways, Rampage would have had the toughest job of the four as Mr. T’s portrayal of the original Barracus is classic and everyone knows exactly how Barracus is supposed to be. Again trying something similar to what they did with Face, they attempt to add more depth to B.A. by making him become morally good, in which he won’t hurt people but ultimately making him have to chose between morals and fighting for what’s right. Unfortunately this makes the character shallow and very much cookie cut in the sense that it’s predictable. Rampage does an all right job considering he’s not an experienced actor, but a lot of the fighter comes out in his acting and you can’t help but chuckle at him.

Cinematography
Definitely a well made movie on this front. There aren’t any real glaring visual continuity errors and the film is well edited. The movie isn’t overblown with special effects which is nice and some very cool things happen in this film shot wise and visually. It doesn’t look fake and completely unbelievable like most action films are. The end scene is very cool due to all the chaos occurring and watching how everything unfolds.

Story
Being an action film, I would say the story is half decent. Naturally, if you were to compare the story to a film such as District 9, it obviously won’t hold up well on that front. The story depicts how the A-Team goes from being a top team to being incarcerated for a crime they didn’t commit and then goes on to them trying to bring to justice those who did. The story does have some plot holes and places where things felt convenient to keep things moving. For instance, Face’s plan at the end appears to go wrong and Face even admits that he didn’t plan for this, however, by the time everything is said and done, it looks like it was supposed to happen that way. This leaves the viewer confused as to what was really supposed to happen as opposed to what actually happened. Other elements felt a little convienient, especially with Jessica Biel’s character. She approaches Face early on in the film, inquiring about the missing money plates (which at this point Face hasn’t even heard of) meanwhile, coincidentally, a CIA agent comes asking Hannibal to retrieve the plates. This then points out that there was no real reason for Biel’s character to confront Face as she is acting independently of Lynch (the CIA guy) and that this sequence of events is to just introduce Biel’s character and her relationship with Face and to give her a reason not to trust Face later in the movie. There are a few other similar scenes like this where things feel like they’re just there to make sure we get to the next point in the film, or to set up some minor conflict later in the movie.

Conclusion
Despite all the bashing on the film that I’ve just done, it is a very enjoyable film that holds true to the spirit of the original TV series. This is definitely one of the better action movies out there and is a must-see for any action fan or any fan of the A-Team who may be worried to see this movie. I feel that the characters hold true to the originals and that the story does as well.

7.5/10