Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Review: 'The A Team' is fun riff on an old TV series


The A Team   PG 13            
            Director Joe Carnahan's update of the 1980s comedy action series, 'The A Team' is actually worth a look. Considering the original with the 'Rambo meets Mission Impossible' theme of soldiers for hire and fugitives against the law, the update into modern times is bearable. Had they been the original cast, they would have been eligible for senior citizen status about 7 years earlier. Even so, the story and actors make up for campy dialog and a bizarre plot to steal money plates from an Iraqi armor convoy really superfluous. Framed like the original team, the new team gets together, busts out of prison, and goes out to try and restore their names. The obviously aged soldier characters work because they're reservists from Iraq in this one, and there is no age limit. Even so, Neeson is looking a little long in the tooth. Now if they had been in prison since the first Gulf War, this might have made sense. But really with this kind of story, who cares about sense? Is it dumb? Yes. Is it fun? Heck yeah! But the show wasn't exactly Shakespeare. This is what those awful Tom Cruise vehicles, the Mission Impossible movies should have been, a team of antiheroes with impossible missions. Like last year's GI Joe, this movie is loathed by critics but somewhat heartfelt by people that just go to movies to enjoy it. It's probably the casting. The actors really get into their roles. The only person miscast was the replacement for Mr. T. There is only one Mr. T. Sorry guy, you aren't him. Maybe you're his cousin's nephew. 'So pity the fool who don't go see this. Pity him.' Lol. And ignore the ridiculous military protocol that not only gets them framed, but also allows them to have access to air strike targeting while on the run, and to super sensitive equipment and vehicles. But the show was like that too. They (the studio) did a lot better job casting this than those Broken Lizard guys when they ruined 'Dukes of Hazzard'. 
Review by Adam Browne

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