REVIEW: The A-Team

A remake of The Warriors can not be far behind.

Continuing the recent run of 'Hey its that thing' movies revolved around kitsch properties from the 80's. We've had Transformers, we've had Miami Vice, we're soon to get Tron Legacy and 21 Jump Street and in-between we have this, a big budget remake of an ironically popular TV show. I was sure that the appeal of that particular show was that it was kind of balls, yet here we are with a polished up, super slick movie where everything is taken predominantly seriously and characters have arcs and stuff.

Which I guess would be OK if all that stuff was done well, but everything seems a little uneven. Stuck between ridiculous, yet somehow uninvolving action sequences and its desire to be a real movie. The stronger aspects certainly feature the more far out stuff, and the film contains at least two performances that understand what film their in. Sharlto Copley provides some laughs as Murdock, and its a shame for the movie that he's not in it more then he is, because he's a lot of fun to be around, and does a surprisingly spot-on impression of Mel Gibson in Braveheart. Ditto Patrick Wilson, who takes a somewhat flat fairly generic yuppie villain and gets to be kind of hilarious with him. He seemed to get into things more as the film progressed too so that was good. But Rampage Jackson is a depressingly flat BA, with not much acting talent or opportunity to kick much ass either. Bit of a letdown really. Liam Neeson doesn't give a shit and why should he. He's Liam Neeson and this is The A Team. Jessica Biel is handed a real sourpuss of a character who not only gets to do very little but what she does get is pretty insipid. It looks good I guess, but its a very synthetic movie that has lost any kind of charm the DIY quality of the show possessed. Lost in paychecks and apathetic film-makers I would imagine.

Its not a terrible movie, but its the kind movie that washes straight over you, leaving little impact or memory of enjoyment. I saw it a mere 5 hours ago and I'm having trouble remembering it. A big empty spectacle with nowhere to go, that somehow sucks the fun out of a big, brainless action movie. It doesn't help that Bradley Cooper is douchier then even he usually is, too. If it wasn't for Copley and Wilson I'd probably give it less of a break, but they made it less of a joyless experience then it would otherwise have been. There, and not one pity the fool joke either. Maturity guys. Grows like a parasite.

Rating: 5/10