Movie Review - 'The A-Team'

The A-Team Starring Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, and Jessica Biel Directed by Joe Carnahan Rated PG-13

It's fascinating to watch professional pool players work around a table. Usually, it's not the shot they make that's impressive but the one they set up next, the cue ball rolling to a stop exactly where it needs to be. Just like it was planned. In The A-Team, the cue ball is always perfectly placed, setting up the next move in an intricate strategy devised by Col. Hannibal Smith (Liam Neeson). That any of these occurrences happens as it's designed is absurd. That all of them do could only happen in the movies. And that's really the crux of The A-Team. If you dig spending $20 for a couple movie tickets for sheer escapism that you don't want to think about (and knowing that if you do, the illusion is ruined), this film could be pretty fun. If you like a little more substance - unless, to you, substance is weighed in explosions - then this could be a disappointment. But no matter which side of that fence you're on, it's unlikely that you'll consider this a great action movie or an awful waste of time. For starters, director Joe Carnahan moves the film along pretty quickly; a lot is packed into the film's two hours. Within that structure, there are almost a half-dozen nifty action scenes, which curiously, does not include the film's expensive looking climax. The movie makes general sense, but very few of the specifics ever do. Sure, it's easy to follow that a group of ex-Rangers who are now on the run from the feds might work to secure their own freedom by helping another branch of the government. But extend that out a little bit and include stolen plates to print US currency, an anonymous and halfway incompetent CIA operative (Patrick Wilson), and a female marshal (Jessica Biel) whose actual authority is never really established and primarily exists as an escape valve in the story, since she used to carry on with one of the ex- Rangers. There are other factors, too, but it's hard to keep track of how they all fit together. Hannibal Smith must have a cheat sheet, though, because he sidesteps certain death twice in a week (including being locked in a crematorium), and there's still three other guys to consider. Smith has to concoct a scheme to break Templeton "Faceman" Peck (Bradley Cooper), B.A. Baracus (Quinton Jackson), and "Howling Mad" Murdock (Sharlto Copley) out of their own penal predicaments from a remote location with next to no resources. And, of course, it comes off with out a hitch. "I love it when a plan comes together" is Smith's constant refrain, a ritual that also includes lighting a cigar. Red Auerbach would be proud. Carnahan takes his story to Mexico, Florida, Germany, Iraq, and the docks in Los Angeles, where the very messy conclusion of the film takes place. To the director's credit, there's different kinds of action in each of these locations. And as long as you just watch it happen, you're fine. It's a funnier movie than you might think, and despite having very little development other than breaking out of prison a couple times, the four members of the A-Team are surprisingly well-drawn. It could be because when they were first created for TV, these characters were so completely different that it didn't take much to build on those differences. Bradley Cooper probably fares the best. He has more energy and personality than the others, but that character is supposed to. You have to look pretty far to find another standout in the cast, though, to the supporting villain Pike (Brian Bloom), a traitor who at one point has his hands on those coveted printing plates. This movie is totally disposable, muddled, loud, and not the sort of thing you have to make yourself see. But there are certainly worse things you can say about a movie than that.

Comments

[quin browne]

My choice today was 'Killers' (I understand RottenTomatoes has set up a new category for this film and 'SATC'--the moldy tomato award) or this. With the aforementioned rating, and your approval of this film... I'm off to sit and consume butter and salt saturated popcorn (sprinkled with M&M's--the best movie snack ever) and find my afternoon full of Liam and explosions.

[LOSTY]

this movie was pretty entertaining. i thought murdock was great

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