Ryan McNeil
Sometimes I hate rating and ranking the films I see. Mainly because giving something score makes it an easy target for argument without reading any further. Take for instance the headline of this article that declares good and well what I thought of this adaptation of 80’s silliness. Y’all probably saw those stars and thought I’d been wearing my hat too tight, right?
Well read on dear friends, and allow me to explain.
One fateful day in the Mexican desert, circumstance brings three Army Rangers together. John “Hannibal” Smith and Templeton “Faceman” Peck (Liam Neeson and Bradley Cooper) are already working together on an operation to bring down corrupt Mexican officers. Just when it seems their mission might be lost, Hannibal happens across fellow Ranger Bosco “B.A.” Baracus (Quinton Jackson). He enlists him into the mission, somewhat to B.A.’s hesitation, just in time to save Faceman’s life.
When the three go for medical attention at a nearby military hospital, Hannibal adds a fourth member to the team – pilot H.M. “Howlin’ Mad” Murdock (Sharlto Copely). Murdock is as nutty as a fruitcake, be he comes with an inheritent courage and unpredictability that Hannibal wants. Uneasy as B.A. and Face are with Murdock’s craziness, they can’t argue with results. Thus, The A-Team is born.
Eight years later, the team is stationed in Iraq. They are approached by DCIS agent Charissa Sosa (Jessica Biel) and CIA agent Lynch (Patrick Wilson) to retrieve stolen plates that can be used to print counterfeit US money. During the mission, the team gets set-up and ultimately convicted of working off the playbook. Disgraced and disavowed, the team must try to break out of incarceration, and clear their names…all without getting caught by their own government.
To be crystal clear, THE A-TEAM is not intelligent action, nor is it trying to be anything more than silly thrills…and that is what makes it work. Many of the stunts defy logic, intelligence, and at least a few properties of physics. What makes them work is that we’re never supposed to take any of them seriously. The movie takes the cards it is dealt and lays down the “yeah, sure” hand right off the first ante. It’s not trying to excuse itself – it’s quite clearly showing us the type of game it intends to play.Once that’s established, it allows us in the audience to laugh and cheer with its absurdity. It remembers that TV show that many loved years ago, and wants to honour it on a grander scale. Between multiple jailbreaks, multiple aerial dogfights, one building-rapelling shoot-out, and one dropped tank, the movie takes every cockamamy plan that original show ever could have thought of and pumps it with enough HGH to make Mark McGwire look like a pussy. And you know what? That’s OK – it’s the summertime, and this is why we go to movies in the summertime.
Acting wise, most of the team demonstrates inspired casting. The guys have a constant-smirk chemistry, and play off each other like true cowboys. Thinking about the one who rises above, it’s difficult to believe that up until two years ago he was just a TV director and producer. Indeed, as Murdock, Copley is…well…a howl. He demonstrates the sort of lunacy and annoyance that alternately leaves the audience cringing and waiting for more.
The way Copley, Cooper, Jackson and Neeson make their plans come together is what charms and entertains. More so than the aforementioned wild stunts, and far more than a plot built around a MacGuffin. You see them soaking up the sun, enjoying beer and barbecue, and you find yourself wanting to hang out with them. That really is how I had to judge this film.
Its merit is not in its innovation, and it sure as hell isn’t in its originality. this film won’t make any top ten lists, not even mine, and it won’t even change the way old properties are adapted into feature films. However, it earns a high score from me, and works on the whole because of one simple reason…
…it’s just so. much. fun.