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Face (Bradley Cooper), left, joins Hannibal (Liam Neeson) as members of “The A-Team,” an update of the 1980s TV series. |
“The A-Team” doesn’t just kill.
It overkills.
In a good way.
Sometimes.
As directed and cowritten by Joe Carnahan, maker of the unlikeably nasty and stylistically choked “Smokin’ Aces,” the silver-screen incarnation of the 1980s TV series has the courage of its convictions to go all-out as a giant, dopey cartoon of an action film, riddled with brain-dead action movie dialogue, increasingly preposterous action movie clichés and an amazing, standout performance by “District 9” star Sharlto Copley as the comically unhinged pilot “Howling Mad” Murdock.
“The A-Team” shows us the formation of the squad of framed soldiers originally commanded by George Peppard as Hannibal Smith, with Mr. T as B.A. Baracus, Dirk Benedict as Faceman Peck and Dwight Schultz as Murdock.
Now, the A-Team has evolved from Vietnam War vets into Iraq war vets who meet in Mexico, depicted as anything but a vacation destination.
Hannibal (an unexpectedly thoughtful Liam Neeson) is about to be ripped to pieces by dogs unleashed on him by corrupt Mexican cops.
Somewhere else, Face (Bradley Cooper, radiating rakish cool) is about to be burned alive by more corrupt Mexican cops.
B.A. (Quinton “Rampage” Jackson) escapes from his forced labor at a dead-end job in a Mexican chop-shop.
The trio gets together (a see-it-to-believe-it scenario), then makes a getaway in a chopper piloted by Copley’s Murdock, sprung from a local mental ward by Hannibal.
The A-Team quickly (and without the necessity of common sense or internal story logic) takes on a mission to intercept $1 million in counterfeit U.S. bills, plus the U.S. mint plates that created them.
Hannibal loves it when a plan comes together, but then, oh no! They’ve been double-crossed by a Black Forest special ops guy named Pike (Brian Bloom), who sends them to prison for stealing the plates and assassinating General Morrison (1980s TV star Gerald McRaney), the only person who knew of the A-Team’s secret mission. (Read more…)