The A-Team

Hollywood does love its remakes, doesn't it? Old movies, new movies, books, and TV shows are all fodder. And remakes often suck. BUT NOT THIS ONE! Heck yeah! This was a completely awesome movie. If you haven't seen it, go. Grab a bunch of friends and have a great time.

Oh fine, if you want to know why it's so awesome, read on.
I admit it, I never got to watch the original A-Team on television. I was just barely too young. But I'm sure just about everyone knows Mr. T, who played B.A. Baracus. Taking his place in this movie is "Rampage" Jackson, who I think fills the role of "tough guy" quite well, due to his MMA (mixed martial arts) background, probably. He's not an exact clone of Mr. T, but I think that's probably a good thing. We also have Liam Neeson playing "Hannibal" Smith, the brains of the group, Bradley Cooper (Wil Tippen from Alias) playing "Faceman" Peck, the infiltrator/smooth operator for the group, and Sharlto Copley (star of District 9) playing Murdock, the insane pilot for the group.

I'd say that the largest problem with this movie is it just tries to do too much. It covers the initial formation of the A-Team, the mission that gets them in trouble, and them trying to clear their name. It also needs to fit character development in there, and that's where it falls down, if it can really be said to fall down at any part. Baracus and Murdock don't get as much backstory, and Baracus really needed one more scene for his arc. At 117 minutes, I can understand the way they did it. Kinda makes me wish for an extended edition, though.

So if that's what's wrong, what's right? The action. Hooooooolllllllllllllly crap. The action starts pretty hard, and just keeps getting awesome. A scene from the trailer, where they're parachuting in a tank? That's only half the scene, and the whole is just as awesome as the part. This is an action movie, and you almost think the A-Team knows they're in a movie. They're doing insane things like the aforementioned parachuting tank, and they're loving every minute of it. There's no mopy heroes here. Heck, even the villains are having a fun time for the most part. After a particularly large explosion, one comments "Hey, that looks just like Call of Duty!"

What else works in this movie? The comedy. Nothing really slapstick, but pretty much every character has fun with more than just blowing up and shooting things. It's never overpowering the action, and no character really comes off as a joke (okay, there's one character, but he's just a putz henchman, so really, no big deal). The humour, combined with the likeable characters and the joy they take in the crazy shenanigans they pull make this nearly light-hearted.

I recommend this movie wholeheartedly, and if they can manage to come up with more wacky, insane action for the team, and get all the actors back, I'd love to see a sequel. Actually, I think I'll go see this a second time.