The A-Team Movie Review
The A-Team Movie Review
By: John Lee
After years of rumors and false starts, the 1980s classic The A-Team is finally coming to the movie theaters. Fans of the old TV series need not be worried, this new film is everything you could have hoped for.
The back story of the movie remains pretty true to the TV series. The A-team is a group of United States special forces members who were framed for war crimes that they did not commit. Constantly on the run from the U.S. Government who is trying to hunt them down as war criminals, these 4 guys end up doing good deeds by helping innocent people who are in trouble.
In the TV series these guys were former Vietnam veterans. Since the last episode was over 20 years ago, the producers have updated the story slightly and made them Iraqi war veterans.
When I saw the advance screening I damn near did a double-take as each of the 4 principle characters look almost identical to their 1980s counterparts.
Firstly, multiple Oscar nominee Liam Neeson plays the leader of the A-Team Colonel John “Hannibal” Smith. Hannibal was played originally by George Peppard, and I dont know what they did to Neeson to make him look so much like Peppard. Its astonishing. Liam spends much of the movie chomping on that old familiar cigar and coming up with some very unorthodox schemes, which always get the other guys eyes rolling.
Lieutenant Templeton “Faceman” Peck is played by Bradley Cooper (Dirk Benedict played Peck in the TV show). Always referred to as just Face, he is the good looking, smooth-talking one of the bunch who uses his charm and charisma to talk people out of items that the A-Team is in immediate need of. Need a fighter plane? . let Face get it.
Sharlto Copley plays the team’s pilot, Captain H.M. “Howling Mad” Murdock. Not many pilots can claim they have been declared insane, but Murdock can. He is such a good flyer that the rest of the team can overlook his special circumstances. Murdock was played by Dwight Schultz originally.
Finally there is Sergeant Bosco Albert B.A. “Bad Attitude” Baracus. He is the muscle of the quartet and has all the best quotes. This is the role that made Mr. T famous worldwide back in the 1980s. The producers knew they could not screw up the casting of this character, so they put Ultimate Fighting champion Quinton Rampage Jackson in the part. This was probably the best choice they made as Jackson looks and sounds just like Mr T. Each time he grunts fool! the memories come flooding back.
Critics of the TV series always lamented how violent the show was. While it was true there were always gunfire, explosions and buildings being destroyed, no one ever got seriously hurt. Heck, almost no one got even as much as a bruise!.
This time it is much different. You cant have a high-voltage action-adventure movie without people getting hurt. The body count is high in The A-Team 2010. The bad guys (and some good ones) get what is coming to them.
The special effects are unbelievable. The explosions rock the room youre in and are almost non-stop. Apparently being ex-special forces means you can still get your hands on the biggest explosives made.
If this movie does well you can expect sequels. The ending is set up that way, though I wont divulge any secrets. Safe to say that the final firefight is among the most complex and riveting battle scenes ever filmed.
Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/music_and_movies/article_1330.shtml
