Wednesday, June 16, 2010
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Wednesday, June 16, 2010
MOVIE REVIEW
The A-Team
Plans, Fools And Teamwork,
But Not In That Order
Gang of Four: The Alpha Team (left to right): Bradley Cooper, Sharlto Copley,
Liam Neeson, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.
Fox
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
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Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Joe Carnahan ("Narc", "Smokin' Aces") assembles an alpha team with mixed results
in "The A-Team", a feature-length big-screen edition of the popular 1980s
television series created by Frank Lupo and Stephen J. Cannell. In this
comedy-action-adventure film, a wayward CIA agent (Patrick Wilson,
"Little
Children") corrals this foolish foursome of U.S. Army Rangers to prevent Blackmarsh operatives from stealing billions of dollars with the help of the
Iraqi government.
The plot is not interesting. The action, which often obscures the
characters, is bigger and louder but not necessarily better than the brightness
and vigor of its distant small-screen cousin. That said, "The A-Team"
isn't so much about its action or plot, but how the hi-jinking,
tight-rope walking quartet survive by barely staying out of each other's way
long enough to complete their assignment.
The camaraderie however, between Quinton "Rampage" Jackson as B.A. Baracus and
Sharlto Copley as Murdock is the best thing about this otherwise ho-hum action
film. Mr. Jackson doesn't play B.A. by imitating Mr. T., for that would be
too easy. Rather, he adds his own signature to the character, and doesn't
do badly. Mr. Copley ("District 9") is especially good, throwing nothing
but zaniness at us as the clowning Murdock. The duo have the rapport
reminiscent of Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in the "Lethal Weapon" series.
As Hannibal Smith, Liam Neeson sometimes looks like James Cameron, providing a
balance of humor and drollness. Hannibal is not a taskmaster but does what
needs to get done. Bradley Cooper hams it up
as Face, never missing a moment to show off the physique he sports.
(A "best bod" face-off is probably in the cards between he and Matthew
McConaughey.)
Mr. Carnahan updates the successful television series with topical references to
the Iraq war and Blackwater contractors (viewed as "devils" with dirtier faces
here) but what lacks in this incarnation is a consistency in the film's tone.
"The A-Team" begins with exposition in Mexico (or is it New Mexico?), employing
Tony Scott-like subtitles (the Brothers Scott are two of the film's producers.)
Then it becomes a slower, more absorbing film. Then "The A-Team" throws in
a reunion at least twice involving the same two characters, the second reunion
more awkward than the first, and which is replayed later. There's a
flashback scene which also gets repeated, and needlessly. You feel that
you are being hit over the head, and for no good reason.
By this time I was near comatose, so unfortunately I was unsure of what Mr. Carnahan, a
director with a penchant for grit, comedy and visceral power, wanted to achieve.
With "The A-Team", written by Mr. Carnahan, Brian Bloom (who plays Pike in the
film) and Skip Woods, the director appears to get about half or two-thirds of what he wanted
to accomplish onto the screen. There's color and a little comedy, but despite
salutes to the vaunted original, grit and fluidity are left wanting.
With: Jessica Biel, Gerald McRaney, Henry Czerny, Brian Bloom, Yul Vazquez,
Omari Hardwick, Maury Sterling.
"The A-Team" is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture
Association Of America for intense sequences of action and violence throughout,
language and smoking. The film's duration is one hour and 54 minutes.
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