Adding to the excitement is the fact that the characters in the movie seem just as thrilled to be taking part in the escapades as I was to watch them. Whenever something amazing happens, such as the aforementioned helicopter barrel roll or attempting to steer a tank as it plummets from the wreckage of an airplane blown up mid-flight by repeatedly firing the cannon, someone onscreen will actually take time to howl and make reference to how incredibly ridiculous and utterly, unbelievably amazing the situation is. It exists in a very comic book reality where the laws of physics and logic are thrown out the window and everyone speaks with witty banter and continually spout hackneyed (though often inspiring) adages. In short, if you take yourself too seriously, don’t bother. If you like having fun and you enjoyed the old A-Team, why not give the new one a try? I had a smile on my face from the first frame to the last.
The downfalls? Well, Liam Neeson doesn’t seem quite capable of mastering an American accent and the love story between Face and former flame DCIS Captain Charissa Sosa (Jessica Biel) is a bit stale. There are a few lousy jokes that’ll make you cringe. But what can you do? It’s a Hollywood flick and it’s gonna have it’s Hollywood moments. The good news is that they’re few and far between and the good more than outweighs the bad in this one. And overall, who really cares? It’s the A-Team. Did you watch the TV series? It ain’t Shakespeare, folks. But it "is" fun. What’s one really bad joke in a sea of mostly bad jokes?
Oddly enough, the film it reminded me of the most was 1995’s The Brady Bunch Movie. Like that film, The A-Team found a way to pay loving homage to the series, which inspired it while gently poking fun at it at the same time. This movie acknowledges its roots and knows exactly what it is and exactly whom it’s aiming at. As the Harley Davidson t-shirt says, “If I have to explain, you wouldn’t understand.”
The Blu-Ray features a healthy dose of extras including an extended cut, which I didn’t bother watching. Sorry, I was so excited that I felt the need to sit down and write this review as quickly as possible as a way to relive the glory of the film. Anyway, the extended cut has about 30 minutes of extra footage that I assume isn’t necessarily any more violent or risque, but was simply cut for time constraints. It’s a two-hour movie – it really didn’t need to be any longer. I promise I’ll watch it tomorrow and besides, if you’ve read this far, you’re probably going to buy it anyway.
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