Movie Reviews  |  PG-13  |  View Trailer  |  Jun 11, 2010

It wouldn’t be summer if we weren’t getting sequels, remakes, and TV shows in movie form. As you already know the new “A-Team” film is based on the 80s TV show of the same name. This time the production values are through the roof and the violence has been amped up from the family friendly show that we all remember.

Here the A-Team comprised of Hannibal (Liam Neeson), Face (Bradley Cooper), Murdock (Sharlto Copley), and B.A. Baracus (UFC fighter Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson), hasn’t become “Soldiers of Fortune” yet. They’re running covert missions for the US government.

Hannibal Smith is the brains of the organization. Always planning, Hannibal’s strategies – no matter how crazy – end up successful. When Hannibal and his team are called on to procure stolen US mint plates, which are being used illegally to print US money, he comes up with a plan involving everything from airbags, to super strong magnets. That’s the A-Team for you. Like MacGyver, but on a more global level. Planning is everything.

The “A-Team” plays out like a typical action movie, but has a few throwbacks to the old TV show that might excite fans. Mr. T, who famously played B.A. Baracus in the 80s, has spoken out against the film saying it’s become way too filled with hard violence. Even though it’s rated PG-13, adults who remember the show fondly and have kids now probably want to steer away from taking your younger children. This isn’t the family friendly show anymore.

Speaking of action, the “A-Team” has plenty of it. When it comes to gigantic action set pieces, it excels. Sure a lot of it is CGI, but the camera moves so quick and the CGI is so good, it’s hard to tell. The movie does suffer from the modern action cliché of shaky-cam hand-to-hand combat scenes where you never know who is punching who. The camera cuts so fast that it’s hard to tell what is going on at all. When the camera pans back to take in the scope of the elaborate set pieces, the movie takes on an awe-inspiring feel, but close up it could be any modern action film. Like so many modern action films, the villains here are pretty bland. Their machine guns never hit anyone, and they monologue endlessly before they’re about to kill someone, which ultimately proves to be their downfall.

Hannibal and his team have been setup. After completing over 80 successful missions for the US government, they’re now being held in maximum security prisons around the world because layers of double-crossing government lackeys have descended upon them. The movie plays out with Hannibal and his team never knowing exactly who is behind the entire plot until the very end. I got to hand it to the movie, I really didn’t see it coming. Kudos for keeping the audience in suspense, when so many other films like this telegraph exactly what’s coming.

When I said that the “A-Team” follows along the typical action film storylines, it’s because it does. That doesn’t make it a bad movie, as a lot of the scenes and dialogue are quite inventive, but it doesn’t make it a revolutionary one either. Having said that, we’re not looking for a revolutionary film here, but one that will keep our attention and help us reminisce about our childhoods when we watched the “A-Team.”