Film Review: THE A-TEAM (2010)

Co-Writer/Director: Joe Carnahan
Running time: 114 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 12

Genre: Action/Adventure/Thriller
UK Release date: 30th July 2010

Watched on Sky+ Monday 4th July 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I remember the TV show for it’s humour and the clever ways Hannibal Smith put his ‘plans’ together. Oh, and the fact that they could fire 6,000 bullets in one scene without anybody getting hit. All these elements feature in the film version and yet, to be honest, I didn’t really care for it all that much. The characters were all very superficial, the bad guys were bad, the good guys were not as bad as the bad guys and I was quite glad when it was over.

For a change I won’t bother with a summary of the plot, there is one clever twist in it, but I won’t bore you with the details. Let’s instead have a look at the visuals… The CGI is all very well done, but there is an awful lot of it. There are plenty of explosions, enough to rival a Stallone action blockbuster! There was some nice stunt work though, both with vehicles and people on the ground, hats off to those guys. Although I saw it in 2D it was very obvious it was made for 3D and it didn’t look all that great (IMO).

Moving on to performances, well everyone was just about adequate; Liam Neeson was ok as Hannibal, although I thought his accent was totally wrong. Bradley Cooper did a decent job as Face, as did Jessica Biel as Charissa Sosa, the female lead. Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson (now there’s a name to conjure with) did ok (just) as B.A. Baracus and, for me, the star turn was Sharlto Copley as Murdock, despite the poor material he had to work with. Moving on to the bad guys, Patrick Wilson did a decent job as Lynch, as did Brian Bloom as Brock Pike.

Although visually exciting, I found this one a bit too tame, probably due to it’s 12 rating here in the UK. I would have loved to see a much grittier 18 Certificate version, but sadly it’s all about money these days. At the end of the day it did have a half decent plot, although I’ve not covered it here, and the visuals and the stunts were pretty good. Plot-wise I found it all a bit too tame, but worthy of a watch… Just one mind you.

My Score: 6.0/10

LINKS:
(RT = Rotten Tomatoes)
IMDb Page: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0429493/
RT Page: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_team/
Trailer: