Country:
USA
Recognizable Faces:
Liam Neeson
Bradley Cooper
Jessica Biel
Quinton Jackson
Sharlto Copley
Patrick Wilson
Directed By:
Joe Carnahan
I knew I would like The A-Team before even watching it, for a very simple (and very good) reason. It wears the Stephen J. Cannell seal of quality. Cannell is Hollywood's godfather of action movies and badass one liners (he also happens to look like a fit Kenny Rogers). The A-Team, is one of the first successful babies of his brilliant career who also count Hawaii 5-0, Renegade and the Shane Scully novels. What I didn't expect was to LOVE The A-Team the way I did. It's a movie with strong characters, a scorching pace and a surprising courage. As the credits rolled, I asked myself why this movie wasn't as big as Star Wars yet. I'm exaggerating a little bit here, but the potential and the good intentions are there.
For those unfamiliar with the concept, the A-Team is a U.S Army elite squad formed by Colonel Hannibal Smith (Neeson), Lieutenant Faceman Peck (Cooper), Captain H.M Murdock (Copley) and B.A Baracus (Rampage Jackson). They are a tight-knit group and their stunning success resides in the fact they are ultra-specialized and they watch each other's back with brotherly love. When deployed in Iraq, a problematic situation happens as a legit money printing press (allegedly stolen by Saddam) disappears. Legit American money is pretty much a passport to power, so it's pretty fucking urgent the plates are found. Private contractors Black Forest are up for the job, but Hannibal steps in and asks for a favor from his old friend General Morrison (Gerald McRaney), because he's scared that the contractors botch the job. The A-Team successfully retrieves the plate from faceless terrorists (I know, but that's beside the point), only to get set-up by Black Forest and convicted of the theft and the death of General Morrison. Men of honor can't let that kind of insult slide, so Col. Smith takes on himself to put the team back together to clear their names.
So where should I start? Well, first of all, it's a movie so well shot, so full of explosions and crazy actions scenes that it probably made Michael Bay cry from jealousy in theater. Hell, it probably made Sylvester Stallone cry, because it was a lot better than The Expendables. The fleshed out characters, their personality and their friendship is carrying them throughout the action with a balletic grace. The A-Team proves a point, strong characters will carry on their back any sort of plot, whether it's boring, cliché, mindless, or even very good. Yeah, it's over-the-top, but the cast does such a great job at seamlessly blending with the action that as long as you suspend your disbelief very high (we're talking James-Bond-level-of-disbelief-suspension), you will have a blast watching it. The writing is amazingly good, the directing doesn't show any flare, but is kept in check, the acting is appropriate (even Bradley Cooper is good), it might be not the smartest movie or the most art-house, but it gets its point across like a punch in the mouth.
Talking about the point to The A-Team, that's the beautiful part of it. It's not a meaningless series of action sequences sewn in together. It's an over-the-top, crass, humorous action movie that has something to say. How amazing is that? It's trying to rehabilitate the nobility of the U.S Army to a worldwide audience. And The A-Team doesn't use any insidious ways to get to the point, they rather point the finger to the real culprit, private military contractors. In this case, not very subtly at Blackwater (which changed name since). Joe Carnahan , Stephen J. Cannell and the writers of The A-Team promote values of integrity, loyalty and friendship in the ranks of the U.S Army and suggest that the biggest culprits in the Iraq war wear suits rather than uniforms. I know it's a heavy load to carry for an action movie, but it's inserted in a basic good guys vs bad guys scenario that it actually works very well. At no point you have the feeling you're being mindfucked by a director.
Will The A-Team prove to be a Hollywood oddity or will it be remembered for the kick-ass movies with courageous political undertones it is? Even if it failed to cash-in in the theaters (came 30 millions up short), it might get the cult love it deserves on DVD. I'm sure buying a copy whenever it's coming down to a decent price. Maybe I will even make it my first Blu-Ray purchase (it's that kind of movie too). Are there some bad points? The character of Charissa Sosa (Biel)'s involvement in the story is kept a little unclear (and sometimes unnecessary). She plays the token love interest and she's somewhat their way out of trouble. I don't know, I didn't get it. Otherwise, it's a spotless movie. It's not pretentious and it's not pretending to be more than it is, yet it's rocking out for almost two and a half hours, without ever slowing down. Stephen J. Cannell proved he's still got it.
SCORE: 97%
