The A-Team quick review

So...

Here's another movie I saw recently, one I actually was hoping would turn out better than it looked... a sort of Charlie's Angels with dudes. Well, I can say that The A-Team definitely has it's moments, both good and bad. On the good side we have Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, "Rampage" Jackson and the lead dude from District 9 (you know, the guy who slowly turns into an alien) all giving it their best. There are some enjoyable scenes with them working together as a team, hamming it up and tossing off one-liners as they wrestle their way through impossible situations, such as one set piece where they escape from a crashing plane by climbing into a tank in the plane's cargo hold and then sailing the tank (thanks to some well placed parachutes) out of the airplane to avoid going down with it. Now, if that doesn't sound like your cup of tea, well then, this movie definitely isn't for you. But if you don't mind over-the-top action that defies all logic, you may find this a decent two hour excursion.

Like most of the movie, the "airtank" scene is loud and rambunctious, filled with about a million different things going on, or in some cases off, at once. At times, the soundtrack is so jumbled that you can hardly make out what anyone is saying, especially those aforementioned one-liners. That's okay, the dialogue throughout is rather weak ("They specialize in the ridiculous" is one gem I happen to remember), so the one-liners here probably weren't all that great anyway. And despite all the noise the movie makes, it doesn't really have that much to say. It's not exactly a new story and the director clearly doesn't have anything new to add to the genre the way he did with his previous work (Shootin' Aces, Narc). Instead, he tries to honor the original TV show it's based on, clumsily most of the time, and bring in a more conventional studio-friendly movie.

What does work, again, is the team interplay. It's fun to watch as our heroes navigate a twisty plot that aims to be a bit more complex than your usual summer fare. While not quite up to the clever adaptation that was Charlie's Angels, it does connect a bit more than many of it's counterparts.

Best viewed: first week rental.