The A-Team

I wish there was some way to play the old A-Team theme song throughout this entire post. Alas, we're not there yet. Just hum along with me as you read (bum bam bum baaam, bum bum buuuuuumm . . . .)

Unless you're really young, oblivious, or smoked a whole lot of weed (or maybe some combo of the three), you already know that this movie (AT) is based on the 80s tv show of the same name. Hannibal, Face, Murdock, and BA Baracus have finally made their way from the small screen to the big screen.

Random aside: I know others have pointed this out, but the release of The A-Team and The Karate Kid coupled with the Lakers vs Celtics in the NBA, anybody else having an 80s flashback? Maybe I should start riding my bike around the block again.

AT is about a group of four elite Army Rangers: Hannibal, the group's leader and mastermind; "Face" Peck, the master of disguise and ladies man; Murdock, the insane (literally) pilot, and BA (stands for Bad Attitude) Baracus, the guns specialist and all around pimp. Individually they are all the best; as a collective group, there's nobody better in the world. Kind of like the ideal NBA team.

The movie starts introduces us to the characters and shows us how they come together with a little adventure in Mexico killing an evil Mexican General. We then flash 8 years into the future as they go on a tough mission in Baghdad at the tail end of the war: the team must covertly recover US money plates before Iraqis use them to print billions in illegal and unbackable US funds. The operation goes off without a hitch - until the vehicle carrying the General who "orders" the mission explodes and the plates are stolen by a private military group led by the evil Pike.

Our heroes are wrongly blamed for mission going south. They are court martialed and sent to separate military prisons. Of course they escape, assisted somewhat by the shady Lynch, to recover the stolen plates and bring Pike to justice.

Now the film does not worry too much about its plot, and it doesn't have to: you don't come to AT to be intellectually stimulated. Yeah, you'll see all the "plot twists" coming from a mile away, but you won't care cause you didn't come for that. You came to see guns, explosions, good action, and the occasional laugh. And the movie delivers all of that. AT moves along at a really good pace; the two hours fly by. It doesn't try to be serious and tries to capture some of the spirit of the original tv show, which it does to a certain degree.

I especially enjoyed the acting efforts of all four of the principles. Liam Neeson is reliably good as Hannibal and is believable as the team's leader. Bradley Cooper's star continues to rise with a great summer follow-up to last year's The Hangover. Sharlto Copley, who was genius as the man-turning-into-an-alien in last year's surprise District 9. But the biggest, most pleasant surprise is Rampage Jackson. I was concerned about his acting ability when I heard about his casting in this iconic role. But he does a really good job of coupling his natural aggression with well-timed subtlety to give Baracus way more depth than I expected.

I imagine if AT makes enough $$ that there will be a sequel; they definitely left it open for one. If they do, that is one mission I'll happily join.