SYNOPSIS:
Buckle
up for an adrenaline-fueled thrill ride starring Liam Neeson,
Bradley Cooper, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and
Sharlto Copley. Convicted by a military court for a crime
they didn’t commit, a daring team of former Special
Forces soldiers must utilize their unique talents to break
out of prison and tackle their toughest mission yet. It’s
going to take guts, split-second timing and an arsenal of
explosive weapons...this is a job for The A-Team.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Before "JAG", "CSI" and "24", there were "Airwolf", "Remington Steel", "Knight Rider" and of course the "A-Team". These were among the many television shows in the eighties that were guarantee to satisfy the action junkies. Ideas never die in Hollywood it seems and here it is after the original series ended its run in 1987 and the passing of one of the original leads, George Peppard, the movie version is finally born.
For the uninitiated who hated the movie, director Joe Carnahan and his credited team of writers, Brian Bloom (who also snagged a leading villainous role) and Skip Woods indeed based their story and style closely to the original television series. The latter was a mixture of high octane action sequences and absurd humour compressed to an hour long television show, never really to be taken seriously for that matter. Thus to be fair, the late Stephen J Cannell, the prominent writer and producer of the series should bear some of the faults.
This movie is filled to the brim with crazy over-the-top action, testosterone-fueled mayhem and plenty of fun gags courtesy of the tippy Murdock (played by Sharlto Copley of District 9). I guessed given the advancement of today’s CG technology, you can convincingly let a helicopter do a barrel turn and even navigate a tank in mid-air. It’s completely insane for most of the time that you couldn’t care less about the plotting which involves the foursome trying to clear their names for a crime in which they didn’t commit.
The casting is almost pitch-perfect. Liam Neeson who is leader of the pack, cigar-chomping Hannibal Smith, is standing firm as the new go-to action man in the industry after his successful turn as a vengeful father in "Taken". Bradley Cooper emerging as a strong competitor to Matthew McConaughey is perfect as Face, the smooth-talking, ladiesman who only has eyes for his old flame, Sosa (Jessica Biel). As mentioned earlier, Copley steals the show with his catchy and healthy dose of clowning. Replacing the iconic Mr T as Baracus, ex-UFC fighter Quinton Jackson is serviceable as the tough ranger who has a fear for flying.
Carnahan knows how to handle a boys' movie and for the record, he has tone down his trademark frenetic editing styles a little as compared to his "Smokin’ Aces". If beefing up the role of Patrick Wilson as the dubious CIA agent and reducing the excess amount of CG enhanced battle sequences, "The A-Team" would have packed in more thrills and character development.
If enjoying a mindless, bombastic flick is not your cup of tea. May I suggest picking up a Jane Austen book instead of "The A-Team", this is purely 'leave-your-brains-under-your-seat' stuff and surprisingly one of the best escapist titles of the year.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
This Code 3 DVD contains the Extended cut and the original Theatrical version. There isn’t any significant character development or plotting, just the additional inclusion of extended dialogue scenes and prolonged action sequences for the Extended cut.
Feature Audio Commentary with Joe Carnahan – Carnahan offers plenty of behind-the-scene anecdotes; one particularly interesting trivia is the movie is filled with cameos from his own immediate family members.
A-Team Theme Mash-Up Montage – An utterly useless featurette that runs more like an alternative trailer with a fancy name.
Theatrical Trailer – And here is the original theatrical trailer!
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The video presentation is brimming with dark, brownish colours with some of the shots suffering from too many CG enhanced stylized images. While not exactly a bad transfer, it did brought down the overall rating a little. This is definitely a loud Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack presented. Bass is heavy and dialogue reproduction is clear. The music composed by Alan Silverstri is unfortunately overwhelmed by the sound effects at times. However, this is one title that will boast your audiophile credentials.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Linus Tee
Posted
on 29 November 2010
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