Plot
A group of Iraq War veterans looks to clear their name with the U.S. military, who suspect the four men of committing a crime for which they were framed.
Storyline Four American soldiers who are in Iraq are sent on a mission to recover plates for printing 100 dollar bills that were used to print a billion dollars. After doing the job and returning to the base their commanding officer is killed in an explosion and the plates are stolen by another operative. They would be court martialed and sent to different prisons. 6 months later, the leader, Hannibal Smith is visited by a CIA spook who tells him he knows where the man who took the plates is and wants him and his men to recover it. So he helps him escape and he breaks out the others and they go after the plates. But after doing it, they discover that the spook might not be ok. And a military intelligence officer who was involved with one of them is pursuing them.
Writers: Joe Carnahan, Brian Bloom
Cast: Liam Neeson
-
Hannibal
Bradley Cooper
-
Face
Jessica Biel
-
Charissa Sosa
Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson
-
B.A. Baracus
Sharlto Copley
-
Murdock
Patrick Wilson
-
Lynch
Gerald McRaney
-
General Morrison
Henry Czerny
-
Director McCready
Yul Vazquez
-
General Javier Tuco
(as Yul Vázquez)
Brian Bloom
-
Pike
Maury Sterling
-
Gammons
Terry Chen
-
Ravech
Omari Hardwick
-
Chopshop Jay
David Hugghins
-
Oskar Shunt
Jacob Blair
-
Agent Blair
Filming Locations: 192 St & 32 Ave, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
Box Office Details
Budget: $110,000,000
(estimated)
Opening Weekend: $25,669,455
(USA)
(13 June 2010)
(3535 Screens)
Gross: $177,238,796
(Worldwide)
(16 September 2010)
Technical Specs
Runtime:|
(extended cut)
Did You Know?
Trivia:
Cameo:
[Two of the original
The A-Team members make appearances in the movie: at Penascola]
Face gets tips from fellow inmate Milt (played by Dirk Benedict, the original Face; and at Frankfurt, Murdock is analyzed by a German doctor (played by Dwight Schultz, the original Murdock). Mr. T was approached to make his own cameo but declined, saying that he was so devoted to B.A. that if he did not play him again, there was no point in making the cameo. George Peppard, who played the original Hannibal, could not make a cameo as he had died in 1994.
Goofs:
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers):
Jessica Biel's Captain Sosa, is standing at Parade Rest with her hand behind her back as she is being reprimanded by a Brigadier General. At the end of the reprimand when she is demoted in rank she salutes the General (while still at Parade Rest) with one hand behind her back. Proper military standards require her to snap to attention (with her hand at her side and her feet together) before she can salute (aka Present Arms.)
Quotes:
[first lines]
Mexican Captor #1:
Only a hardheaded gringo would come down here on a rescue mission... all alone!
User Review
The best film you could ask for from an "A-Team" adaptation
Rating: 7/10
If any film demands to be graded on a curve, it's The A-Team.
Simply consider the notion of making a big-budget summer movie from of
one of the cheesiest television shows of a cheesy TV era.
It's a crafty plan to lower your expectations. As long the movie isn't
two hours of punching grandmothers and kicking puppies, you're likely
to leave the theater saying, "That was better than I expected."
Guess what? It works like a charm.
The A-Team, against all odds, is one extremely entertaining film. It
puts pedal to metal about 90 seconds in and never lets up. That's also
savvy because it's also kind of a mess that would collapse under its
own weight if it slowed down for more than two minutes.
Director Joe Carnahan (Smokin' Aces, Narc) isn't taking that chance.
Action scenes come flying at you hard and heavy from start to finish.
The results are mixed: Some sequences are choppy and confusing, others
thrilling. But like a comedy that never stops pitching jokes, content
if only half of them stick, The A-Team pitches action, action, action,
with a side of action and a little action to wash it down.
The plot follows the general concept of the TV series with a few
tweaks. A (very) lengthy credits sequence set in Mexico shows us how
the team of former Army Rangers comes together: Leader John "Hannibal"
Smith (Liam Neeson), his right-hand man Templeton "Face" Peck (Bradley
Cooper), powerful Bosco "B.A." Baracus (Quinton "Rampage" Jackson) and
loony pilot James "Howling Mad" Murdock (Sharlto Copley).
We jump ahead several years, where the A-Team is now an Army covert
operations crew with dozens of successful missions under their belts.
But when they're set up for a fall by a variety of villainous forces,
the boys have to break out of jail and fight to clear their names.
That's pretty much all you wanted to know about the plot, right?
Because it gets pretty confusing from there and doesn't matter in the
slightest anyway. It's only there to support – that's right – action.
Before I tell you why A-Team is worth your hard-earned cash, I should
lay out its many faults.
Though Carnahan directed, it's not surprising to see director Tony
Scott was one of the producers. Too many scenes evince Scott's "look" –
the camera shoved in way too tight on the actors, so you can't tell
what the hell's going on in fight scenes or big gun battles.
The special effects are wildly uneven too, especially in the climax. It
looks like the usual Hollywood problem of the CGI being "just good
enough" to make a locked-in release date. This time, it's nowhere near
good enough.
But then, The A-Team is a nitpicker's dream, if you really want to go
there. Jessica Biel's casting seems like an inside joke – "we're not
taking this seriously, and neither should you, so let's cast a gorgeous
but astonishingly wooden actor in this role."
Maybe you're wondering whether she's really that bad. Look at it this
way: This is the first major film role for "Rampage" Jackson, an MMA
fighter. He's not great, but he's not too bad – and that's high praise
for a non-actor stepping into the iconic role. Yet he's a good bit more
believable than Biel.
So with those issues, what makes The A-Team so entertaining? The rest
of the cast, actually. If you can look past Biel (actually, look right
at her, that's what she's there for), the film is jam-packed with
colorful, charismatic performances.
Neeson seems a bit odd at first stepping into George Peppard's shoes as
Hannibal, being considerably taller, leaner and tougher. But that's
appropriate for the movie, which is basically the TV show on (lots and
lots of) steroids. No attempt is made to explain his Irish accent, nor
that of Copley, who is South African. It doesn't matter: Somehow in
this film, it works.
But the film decides early on to focus on Cooper, hot off his success
in The Hangover, and it's the right choice. You'd never have guessed
the guy who played eighth fiddle on Alias would be front-and-center for
a star-making performance, but it's true.
The A-Team shows off Cooper's buffed-up physique almost to the point of
absurdity – he's shirtless on screen more than Mark Wahlberg in Date
Night – but Cooper's charisma carries the day throughout.
A well-rounded supporting cast also delivers. Patrick Wilson and Brian
Bloom, as potentially shady characters related to the A-Team's
troubles, steal every scene they're in. (It probably doesn't hurt that
Bloom, a veteran actor mostly relegated to TV work, gets co-writing
credit.) Their wonderfully brash characters bring welcome levity to the
pounding machine of gunfights and explosions that propels The A-Team.
Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't note the drinking game that by
all rights should be born from this film: Drink whenever a guy with icy
blue eyes is on screen. You'd pass out halfway through the film.
There's Cooper and Neeson alone, plus Bloom and Wilson, with a little
Gerald McRaney – yes, Major Dad himself – thrown in for good measure.
If you're really into dudes with bright blue eyes, The A-Team is like
porn. If you're into nonstop action and lots of male bonding, The
A-Team is like porn. If you're into deep, fully-realized female
characters – well, look elsewhere.
But if you had to ask me what I would want a big-screen take on a
really silly TV show to be, The A-Team more than fits the bill. It's
ridiculous, sure. But it's also a ridiculous amount of fun.
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