The A-Team (fun with explosions)

The A-Team: A movie review

Yesterday at 11:20pm | Edit Note | Delete

Lately there has been a trend of re-packaging nostalgia using contemporary wrapping paper. Now usually I'm quick to call foul when I sense a lack of creativity, but recently, it seems like the re-packaging has gone over pretty well in several cases.

Alright so lets dive right in: this movie is an origin story about the A-Team and all the crazy hi jinx they get up to along the way. How closely is it tied to the 80's TV show that it's based on? I don't really know, never watched the show. But, I do feel that it stands pretty strong on its own merits all the same.

The casting was the first right choice the films creators made. Everyone is great for the role they play, especially Murdock. Sharlto Copley is someone I had never heard of before his debut in District 9, so I had no real feel for his style or personality going into district 9 or the a team. I must say though that I like what I've seen so far.

Now I'm not sure where he's supposed to be from in the A-Team, but his accent seems to switch around a lot and what I can only assume is his natural South African accent tends to bleed through a lot. For a lot of roles I think that this would constitute a real impediment, but when you're playing a crazy man, I think it only helps to convey a very believable sense of "wow, this guy is nuts."

This is a pretty good lead- in to what I think makes the A-Team a good movie: it knows what it is and it runs with it. You look at the trailer and say to yourself "wow, this movie looks like a lot of crazy stuff happening and stuff blowing up all the time."

And it's just that. For some time now I've been frustrated with movies trying to be something they are not; junior trying to be a comedy, any saw movie after the first one trying to be scary or surprising, The Matador (a movie I hate beyond words) trying to be a buddy comedy (when really it's just a steaming pile of excrement discharged from the pustules of a syphilitic leper......hmmm....guess I did have the words after all).

Anyhow, this "movie being what it is" is best demonstrated in another movie I'm rather fond of: Shoot 'em Up, which is totally ridiculous, over the top, and it KNOWS IT. So it milks the testosterone soaked bullet train for all its worth and it's great!

Ok, so down to business: go see this movie, it's a lot of fun and it delivers the goods.

Peace out.

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