The A-Team: (June 11, 2010): PG-13
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Opening Weekend Box-Office: $25,669,455
Domestic Box-Office Gross to-date: $76,793,401
Gross Revenue: $152,046,977
Budget: $110 million
Director: Joe Carnahan
With The Karate Kid and The A-Team being released on the same weekend, June 11 was clearly going to launch a competition for 80’s-viewer nostalgia. Whereas I was a huge fan of the original Karate Kid, I confess to not being very familiar with the original A-Team at all. Sure, I knew the premise of the show (thanks largely to a particular episode of Family Guy, “Brian Goes Back to College”), but as far as having followed past episodes or being able to compare the movie’s portrayal of these iconic characters to their original counterparts, I was at a lost. Running for five seasons, The A-Team no doubt had a loyal fan base, but in all likelihood, a large part of the highly sought-after teenage demographic would have no clue who team members Hannibal, Face, Murdock, or B.A. really were.
20th Century Fox seemed to recognize this potential problem and adequately address it with its casting and marketing choices. Choosing Liam Neeson as team leader John “Hannibal” Smith and Bradley Cooper as ladies-man Templeton “Faceman” Peck would obviously draw fans of both actors and their recent hits (2008’s Taken and 2009’s The Hangover respectively). The casting choices for the other team members were not as well known, but Sharlto Copley (who plays pilot H.M. Murdock) had his own break-out hit in 2009’s District 9, and MMA fans would be happy to see Quinton “Rampage” Jackson play the same team enforcer that Mr. T made famous in the 80’s. In terms of promotion, The A-Team was one of the featured trailers during the NBA Finals, and cast members made numerous guest appearances on everything from WWE’s Monday Night RAW to Lopez Tonight, so desired audience exposure levels prior to release were high.
Unfortunately, though my hopes for the film were high, I confess that I was really disappointed by the film’s painfully predictable characters and plot. The A-Team starts off well enough with an enjoyable introduction of the characters, who work well together on screen, but soon the plot devolves into the standard betrayed action heroes who must work to clear their name. Liam Neeson is enjoyable enough as Hannibal, but most of the time it just feels like we are watching his same character from Taken, and though Bradley Cooper brings humor to his character, it often feels like he is just trying too hard to play an action hero. Jessica Biel as the female lead could have been exciting, but her character is little more than the standard pissed-off ex-girlfriend who eventually comes to forgive and love the hero, but the transition is so quick it’s insulting. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was by far the most disappointing; he started off well-enough trying to channel Mr. T’s “I Pity the Fool” characteristics, but then the script turns him into the stereotypical tough guy who recently found religion and now forsakes violence, but must channel it again to save his friends. Seriously, most of the plot devices seen in The A-Team have been painfully overused in the past, so there is nothing really unique about this story. The one saving grace is Sharlto Copley, who plays Murdock with enough insanity that he remains faithful to the original series while bringing significant humor to the film; he was easily the best part of the entire experience.
Another factor that hurts The A-Team has to do with the ludicrous action sequences. I understand that the members of The A-Team usually “specialize in the ridiculous” and that gratuitous violence and explosions could be expected, but the boundaries of basic logic can only be toyed with for so long. For example, I can buy the opening helicopter escape, but there’s no way in hell that I’ll buy that a falling tank, supported by one parachute mind you, could be steered in mid-air to land in a lake, and then be driven out of the lake with no one injured and no damage to said tank. To paint a clearer picture, I bought the action sequences more in last summer’s G.I. Joe (which had robotic accelerator suits, a ninja named “Snake Eyes,” and nuclear missiles filled with microscopic robots) than I did in The A-Team, that’s how insane they appear.
I said before that The A-Team and The Karate Kid would be competing for box-office nostalgia, but based on the numbers, The A-Team was the clear loser. The Karate Kid made $56 million (on a budget of $40 million), and The A-Team made $26 million (on a budget of $110 million); considering that movies face significant competition this season and the weak nature of this particular film, its unlikely that The A-Team will make its money back. Again, I was no fan of the original television-series, so even before I wrote this review I went on Hulu and watched a few episodes of The A-Team to try and make as fair an assessment as possible. For the most part, my criticism stands. Sure, the character representations are just faithful enough and there are enough references to the show to keep old fans happy, but to the average viewer, your time at the theater this summer is better spent with a different film.
Overall Recommendation: Low
