Was kinda sketch when I heard this was being released, had my doubts as I do with most remakes. The cast especially... Liam Neeson playing a white haired extremely American Hannibal? Plus, how do you find a suitable replacement for Mr. T? Hmm. The silver lining being Michael Bay wasn't involved in this, but rather Ridley and Tony Scott, which in my opinion makes the world of difference. Remake or not, a movie based on what I remember to be the first TV series I truly followed besides M*A*S*H, this definitely needed to be watched.
A-Team (2010) is a popcorn flick based around a fairly camp 80s TV show, so one can't really complain about a weak script (as I usually do) or talk about symbolic editing and cinematography. You can't go into this expecting a deep plot and Oscar worthy acting, which is basically why I thoroughly enjoyed it. You watch this kind of movie with a bunch of rowdy friends on a big screen and reminisce about your childhood when your parents still had a say about how much TV you watched. The kind of movie, where you see multiple people being blown to bits and cheer, rather than grimace with horror. Where you see your heroes being put in positions where death is nothing but inevitable, but they still come out of it with a mere scratch, a bloody nose and a bit of grime. You got it, think
Die Hard with four dudes instead of just Bruce Willis.
Funnily enough, the casting did work in a somewhat surreal way. Bradley Cooper played the role of Face well. I'm hetero, but I can see why he's being branded as the new 'pretty boy' in the industry. When you have your girlfriend squeezing your hand tightly during his swimsuit scene and then going on to tweet about how there weren't enough topless scenes, you begin to think maybe he was under utilized.
District 9's Sharlto Copley (his resemblance with Luke Wilson in this is uncanny) was wacky enough to play the mad genius pilot Murdock. Copley is going places, no doubt. It would be wrong and disrespectful if I was to compare anyone with Mr. T, so that should tell you what I thought about the UFC fighter playing the role of BA Baracus. Liam Neeson was cool, but a wrong casting choice... he's a great actor; you just don't pick
Rob Roy to play the role of
GI Joe, if you get my drift. What did work, the team had chemistry and more often than not, it resulted in some laugh out loud moments.
The plot structure of the movie follows the format of the classic TV show. Hannibal devises what seems to be a near impossible suicide mission, which is followed by 30-minute bursts of ludicrous action, where against all instances of reality, the plan is successful. You are peppered with funny one-liners through it all, while you feast on epic albeit bizarre violence that Tamil superstar Rajnikanth would approve of. The format did have its shortcomings though, with such a choppy structure, the overall story is lost. The plot is far too loose and isn't tied up as well as it could have been. Which is why as a viewer, you're not really taken aback by any of the twists and turns.
I'm not saying this movie will tap into your intellect or even get you talking. It is however, a whole lot of fun and will take you back to your childhood. Watch it with a bunch of friends and have a laugh, that's exactly what it's worth. A good laugh. Just be sure to keep reminding yourself, this is a remake of an 80s TV show, you get what you ask for.
This got panned by critics and didn't do very well in the box office considering its budget, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have fun. If you're not familiar with the show, maybe its aloofness will go over your head. If you've been a fan back in the day, then it's definitely worth a watch. As a remake, it did the original justice. 7/10
