The A-Team
Friday, July 30, 2010 at 12:47PM ;)
We all look back at things in our past with those rose tinted glasses of nostalgia and as this is film site i'm obviously referring to those things we see on screen. I have many a friend who fondly remembers the A-Team and their little faces light up when they recall sitting on the sofa in the 80's to watch the adventures of Hannibal and his crew of ex soldiers. The reality? We had four fucking channels to choose from and this was the only fucking thing on at around teatime on a saturday. I thought it was pretty shite so maybe I'm not ideal for a review of this modern update of an 80's favourite.
In the original series our four were a group of special ops soldiers who served in Nam before being fucked royally up the arse by their own government. Framed for a crime they didn't commit they become soldiers of fortune helping those in trouble but never actually killed anyone despite using an array of weaponary. Fast forward 20 odd years and they're now ex Rangers who all meet during a mission to rid Mexico of a corrupt Army general. They then form the A-Team who become the US governments best black ops crew and carry out mission after mission before being set up whilst claiming back some money plates at the end of the Iraq war. Dishonourably discharged and sent to prison it goes without saying they escape with the intention of clearing their names.
I have to say that the first hour or so of the A-Team is rather fuckin cool as we're introduced to Smith (Liam Neeson), Face (Bradley Cooper), BA (Quintin Jackson) and Murdock (Sharlto Copely) and Smokin Aces director Joe Carnahan cranks the action up including a fucking silly but bizzarely entertaining parachuting tank sequence. We're also introduced to bad guys Lynch and Pike who are intent on destroying our band of four. Chasing the good guys is Soso (Jessica Biel) who is an old fuck buddy of Faces. The main characters play their parts pretty well but to fans I'm sure there will only ever be one BA and thats our Snicker throwing friend Mr T altough Jackson does play it pretty well. District 9's Copely steals the show with his Murdock though and each scene he is in is amusing.
Sadly the last 40 minutes or so are a bit disappointing and whoever was in charge of the special effects should be chainsawed in half at the earliest opportunity as they're ropey at best. All in all though there is enough here to keep fans of the original series happy and just about enough to catch my interest. what pleased me most though was that people actually get fucking killed in this version of the A-Team and that finally puts to rest my gripes about the original series.
Sucking On Biels Nipples out of 5
Reader Comments (1)
I agree completely.
Murdock was quality. The film was funny, didn't take itself too seriously and the plans are all so over the top they're great.
The CGI & effects were well budget, the green screen technology looked like Superman 1. But I didn't really care, because it was a fucking good laugh.