The A-Team (2010)

In the 1980s a group of renegade soldiers teamed up together to complete impossible missions in ridiculous ways. That’s exactly what the movie adaptation to the popular T.V. show is about. After 8 years of working with the United States Military on black ops missions, the four heroes of our film are set up and sent to prison. However, after 6 months behind bars the team breaks out and goes after the people who set them up in an attempt to gain back their freedom and clear their names.

This movie is ideal for summer. It’s hilarious and awesome. Is there really anything else to expect from a movie machine aimed at summer movie-goers? I had a great time watching this movie. The script was so ridiculous that it crossed the line from “this is super unbelievable and corny” to “wow that was awesome how they just flew that army tank using the blasts from that huge cannonball launcher on the front of it while fighting off bad guys with a machine gun being shot by Bradley Cooper out of the top hatch, all while falling from a stolen C-130”, and they actually sell that. Quinton Jackson, a UFC fighter turned actor, was a joy to watch act like Mr. T. He was hilarious and badass. Liam Neeson took on the role of Hannibal, the teams fearless leader, and was good but his performance certainly didn’t stick out to me. I honestly don’t remember anything he said during the movie. Bradley Cooper plays the stud Face, and delivers an excellent performance taking over the picture and becoming the leading man. Patrick Wilson and Jessica Biel come in on supporting assignments and both are very entertaining and do about all you can on 8 minutes of camera time. The best performance in this film however goes to the funny Murdock played by District 9 star Sharlto Copely. He couldn’t be more different than his African, Sci-Fi character (in District 9) in this film but delivers a solid performance all the way as he did before. The directing was well done. There were plenty of shots and the timing of the lines worked out well to help distract from the outrageous action.

I certainly recommend going and seeing this movie on the big screen. As much as I like realism and truth to film it’s sometimes nice to see something that is well performed and over the top for that entertaining action-comedy blend that we all enjoy so much in these summer months.