Film Review: The A-Team

I grew up watching The A-Team, that's something I should get out of the way first. Every Saturday afternoon (or early evening, it's been a while) we'd sit and watch the crazy adventures of Hannibal, Faceman, Murdoch and B.A. It had the same tried and tested formula. Someone was in trouble, so they called the A-Team. Hannibal came up with the plan, Face tried to get out of any fights, whilst trying to get in the pants of whatever female character was in the show that week, B.A. beat people up and welded, whilst Murdoch acted a prat all episode. This happened every week and the show was brilliant for it.

It seems like from when the show ended there was talk of a movie. In the mid-nineties producer Stephen J. Cannell wanted to use the Gulf War as a backdrop for the film, but it bounced around in development hell for years. At one point John Singleton (Boyz N The Hood) was attached to direct, but he dropped out in 2008 and in the end it ended up on the lap of Joe Carnahan, who had recently proved himself in the field of madcap action with Smokin' Aces.

But all this trouble the film had getting off the ground proves one thing. It should have been left alone. Without a doubt The A-Team is a product of its time. It was truly an 80s show and any attempt to put it in a contemporary setting would surely be pointless. Correct there.

In the movie version of The A-Team we still have the main team of Hannibal (Liam Neeson), Face (Bradley Cooper), Murdoch (Sharlto Copley) and B.A. (former UFC champion Quinton Jackson) and we get to see the crime they did not commit, and how they bust out of military prisons to get payback. The A-Team: Origins if you will.

Only this resembles the A-Team in name only. Copley is probably the most accurate as Murdoch, whilst not touching how nuts the original was. Liam Neeson is OK as Murdoch, Face is portrayed as some sort of huge action hero, when the original is a bit gutless to boot, and B.A.? Couldn't be further removed. This is not The A-Team. There's too much swearing, it takes itself way too seriously at times, and most importantly - people die!

The only thing that is reminiscent of the show is that the action scenes are incredibly stupid, albeit on a bigger scale than turning a car into a tank (try a tank on a parachute). And there is a nice set up for a sequel at the end, with a special guest cameo.

Even without comparing the film to the show, it's still a below average action film, and is left standing by stuff like The Losers (another ensemble action movie that came out in 2010 as well). Apart from the A-Team themselves, the supporting cast are pretty dreadful. A cardboard cut-out would have done a better job than Patrick Wilson as Lynch, and the less said about Jessica Biel the better. The only decent appearances were cameos from Dirk Benedict and Dwight Schultz. Mr. T must have read the script, I'm assuming.

It just goes to prove it. It happened with the Knight Rider reboot show, and it's happened here. These shows were special. They had a charm and quality that can never be duplicated, but I'm sure we will have not heard the last of idea-deprived film and TV studios trying.

*1/2
A bit of madcap action aside, this is both a pretty dull action film, and a worthless attempt to try and reboot something that should be well alone. Pity the fools.