This week’s FBF movie belongs to the film adaptation of The A-Team. If you grew up in the 80’s, you knew about The A-Team tv show. It was kinda cheesy and was weekly entertaining fun. Nothing more nothing less. The film adaptation however has the same feel but it’s slickly made and has that playful tone that you would want from a movie like this.
Synopsis: A group of Iraq War veterans looks to clear their name with the US military, who suspect the four men of committing a crime for which they were framed.
The story has been done before, good guys get framed, go to prison, escape, then break out and fight to clear their names. What sets this movie apart though has to be that the movie is self-aware and just runs with it. And God bless director Joe Carnahan for that. Carnahan has Bradley Cooper shooting and flying a fucking tank!
This is exactly how a movie like this should be.
The team led by Liam Neeson as Hannibal is superb. Rounding out the cast is Bradley Cooper as Face, Rampage Jackson as Baracus, and Sharlto Copley (a gift from the movie gods) as Murdock. They came to play and it shows. They all have good chemistry with each other and nail down their interpretations of the characters.
The other gems that could’ve just been regular roles for any actors has got to go to Patrick Wilson and Brian Bloom as Lynch (“Lynch. Lynch! LYNCH!!”) and Pike, the villains of the movie. They come off menacing, but have that smartass dialogue that makes them more than just bad guys. They’re bad guys you want to keep watching just to hear what else they have to say and they react to situations like a regular person would. Case in point, when Pike (a merc) is taken into custody by Lynch (CIA), Pike is about to be offed by Lynch’s agent, the agent just can’t seem to handle the gun right, dropping the silencer and handling the gun incorrectly, Pike watches and reacts with quips like “Brother, you are far from ok, what are you doing? Final request-don’t let this guy shoot me, please.”
Now with all these dudes in this movie, we gotta have a lady in the movie and that lady is (former) Captain Clarissa Sosa who is chasing Hannibal’s team. She also has a history with Face and a Steely Dan CD. Jessica Biel also seems like she’s having a blast with the role and that’s really all you need. She knows this is an ACTION movie and really plays that up.
The action in the movie comes at you right from the beginning with an over the top helicopter chase and it doesn’t let up. You gotta give all the credit to director Joe Carnahan who coming off Smokin’ Aces just went all out with this and used his budget wisely. Carnahan has the perfect balance for a summer popcorn movie and please, Hollywood, let this man make the 4th Expendables movie!
So, kids, if you haven’t seen The A-Team, get your plans together and watch it.
Otherwise, Alpha Mike Foxtrot. Think about it.
Catch Mando on Twitter at @manbat33 when he’s not co-hosting the @TalentedSlacker podcast!