In 1972 a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-Team.So lets break down the characters(because this one is going to be hard as hell not to give out the plot points if I actually talk too much about the movie):
Col Hannibal Smith- originally played by George Peppard. Hannibal is a white hard, strategic genius his plans are always so intricate and detailed that even when you THINK you have his A-team surrounded and defeated this cigar chomping old man is smiling and waiting for you to turn your back which is right where out come their impromptu weapons and you left wondering exactly how you just lost. Liam Neeson, as this is the "intro movie" this shows you exactly why they become soldiers of fortune(and I liked the update it went from the Bank of Hanoi mission in vietnam which would have worked for the 80's to stealing back the printing plates from Bahgdad in the current gulf war). Hannibal can somehow get this ragtag band of soldiers who except for BA you would think wouldn't be worth a damn in a fight to be the most successful unit in the Army Rangers(they were green berets in the show). 80 successful mission over 8 years, so good that the body count on the american side on their mission is always negligible(actually since it's usually just his 4 man team it's non existant, they may get a few bullet wounds but they are all walking talking and laughing). He had his cigar, he was hard nosed, he was jovial and he lulled you into a false sense of security right before he snapped the trap shut. But hey it's Liam Neeson, he was the safest pick for this movie there was no way Qui-Gon Jin was gonna mess this up. And yes big cigar in his mouth lit, with a pearly white smile "I love it when a plan comes together"
Lt. Templeton "face man" Peck-Dirk benedict played the always charismatic, slick, smooth, could sell an eskimo a fan, refrigerator, and bikini/speedo while getting the prettiest woman in the village into his bed. I don't care what attitude you came into the show with about the a-team by the time you met Face you loved the team. Now the original face REAAAAALLY tried to stay out of the fisticuffs yes he would pick a gun up but when it came to a fist fight, hey he had his pretty face to protect. Great conman you kinda didn't want him in a fist fight though. Bradley Cooper did he have the constant tropical tan: check, was he cool as the other side of the pillow: check, did panties drop around him like snow, in green bay, in the winter:check, was he pretty much useless in a fistfight:crickets. This army ranger isn't afraid to take a punch, and in this movie they seem to have a new catch phrase (they still have the original) Alpha, Mike Foxtrot. Just watch the movie the translation breaks the rules of this blog. The fact that face has turned his prison stay into basically a resort in the movie is comical.
Hector M(Howling Mad) Murdock-Dwight Schultz played the insane genius pilot if it went in the air Murdock could fly it.I mean it's murdock he was completely insane from the puppets, to his improv moments where he would be standing there acting like some historic figure and trying to find new ways to get BA to kill him. He's kinda what made this show so different from the others, every mission you had to go get him from the psych ward of the VA hospital. And the way he would go from straight looney tunes to saying something serious and actually on point, HILARIOUS. Sharlto Copley I mean yes this role could have made or broke this movie only because you really had to enjoy being insane. Murdock used to take a lot of damage in the show because he was crazy so the crazier it was the more likely Murdock was completely down to do it. In the original Vietnam drove Murdock crazy he was shell shocked thus always in the VA hospital, they really don't go into why murdock is crazy in this movie he starts that way and stays that way. But he is a great pilot the stuff he does in the air, and just like in the show the way he talks to BA, it's like dude you're a little wispy looking talking to these being mean pitbull looking guy. It looks like he's gonna rip your head off, and yet there murdock is every time messing with BA.
Bosco Allen (B.A./Bad attitude/Bad Ass) Baracus- though the TV show said bad attitude, it was TV at the time you couldn't call him what we all called him in our living rooms. Mr. T was larger then life, the roles you saw him play he was what everybody thought of when they said Big tough black man. He was the reason you hid your daughters and said "baby don't go to the black neighborhoods". While a really likeable guy, that voice, that demeanor, just that character that was MR. T was wow. I mean I don't know if you could really call it acting because BA seemed to just be Mr. T being himself on screen, he wore tons of gold chains, had that trade mark snarl(except for around kids BA's heart always seemed to melt around kids), and the amount of fools he pitied "I pity the fool" I swear you couldn't get past pity before you had a crowd of folks joining you to finish it out. Didn't matter what you were pitied for, we just pitied the fool. Okay the character BA was a master mechanic and machinist. If you gave BA a plan and some parts he could build you a howitzer out of some old pipes and a leaf blower. I won't lie this was the character I worried about. There was just something about MR. T that we all fell in love with. I mean even in his word of warcraft commercials it's that scowl, the mohawk, the big arms, that I pity the fool attitude like he's still about to throw you out of the door. Quinton "rampage" Jackson had the unenviable task of trying to be the on screen version of a real life larger then life entity. Now I applaud them for getting somebody who was actually a fighter, not an actor who was built but a guy who spends the majority of his time training to kick someone else's behind. You can't fake the attitude it takes to really want to physically dismantle someone, you can tell when somebody is trying to look like they know exactly how to take you apart and when they know and are about to take you apart. I like how they explained away an airborne rangers fear of flying, It's all Murdock's fault, now he may not say "I pity the fool" as often as the original character did but with the "pity" and "fool" tattoos on his knuckles many fools got pitied.
This movie was a wild ride, from beginning to end yes as you see in the trailer they do pancake the trade mark van but they also do everything else you expect from the A-team. Big explosions, bullets flying, over the top antics. The director has earned his cigar and his "I love it when a plan comes together" I don't know how they will top it in a sequel (and I hope they will try) but "I pity the fool, who don't go see the A-team movie and you better stay after the credits fool". This may not be my childhood A-team but these soldiers of fortune, if you can find, are definitely gonna take you on a fun filled 2 hour ride
