REVIEW: The A-Team

CIGAR-CHEWING & MORE

'Are they trying to shoot down the drones?'

'No. They are trying to fly a tank.'

Now if this doesn't make you imagine laugh out loud at the impossible action unfolding on screen, then you might as well rent Bergman or something and let the adolescent males lap up the action packed popcorn flick called The A Team.

If you've watched the TV show you might compare Mr T with Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson, or if you are me, then you might love watching Liam Neesan in a totally macho, cigar chewing role that Jack Peppard made his own in the TV show. It was one of the shows you watched if you grew up reading war comics and grew up with brothers who made the Adams Family look like a video game. I remember wearing the 'I Aint Getting On No Plane' tee shirt all summer and having my knuckles rapped by the nun who taught us grammar at school for using a double negative incorrectly. So this movie was 117 minutes of grinning widely (and missing some of the trademark dialog that made the TV show so popular) at the mad mayhem.

It's an action flick that makes very little sense as far as plots go, but the constant action keeps you entertained. There are things blowing up, car chases, nick of time rescues, guns blazing, things and people falling off airplanes, fistfights, and even kisses. Please note the plural and then understand why the plot is so wafer thin. To add to the constant action is the happy sense of the ridiculous that assures you of a good time. The funny scenes are funny only of you appreciate the silliness of it all. And it cannot get more outrageous than a C130 playing chicken with a car, even if it is a Mercedes.

Four special ops guys are framed for 'a crime they did not commit' (as in the TV show) and are imprisoned. The CIA helps Col. John 'Hannibal' Smith rescue his three team members: Lt. Templeton 'Face' Peck, Sgt. B.A Barcus (the BA stands for Bad Attitude), and the crazy pilot HM Murdock (HM is Howling Mad), and together they rampage through Europe salvaging their good name in the bargain. The army chases them and the CIA plays a double game of deceit and betrayal. Jessica Beil is the eye candy but is thankfully absent from most of the action sequences which would have stretched the suspension of disbelief way too much.

The movie is not ever going to be great cinema, neither is it a decent take off on the TV show that ran for 98 episodes in three years. But it weighs as much as your popcorn tub and provides just as much nutrition. If you are taking a bunch of boys and are happy to watch a cigar chewing Liam Neesan, then this action filled flick is for you. Otherwise, watch some grim, philosophical fare on some world movies channel on TV.

Comments

[Hemant Suthar]

nice . I just loved the film for same reasons.
" They are trying to fly a tank" :)