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The A-Team (2010)

Time Out rating

Average user rating

9 reviews

Synopsis

Liam Neeson and Bradley Cooper head up this all-action reinvention of the classic ’80s teatime TV show. Expect explosions a-plenty and arguments about air travel.

Movie review

From Time Out London

American critics have taken this new big-screen version of the iconic ’80s TV series to task, claiming it’s dumb, loud and painfully superficial.

All three criticisms are wholly appropriate. But what in hell were they expecting? For audiences willing to switch their brain into disbelief-suspension mode, ‘The A-Team’ is just as dumb, loud and superficial as it needs to be.

It’s basically an origin story, as our four outlaw heroes meet in a hail of bullets on an undercover mission in the Mexican desert before being posted to Iraq and framed for treason. Eyebrows were raised when Liam Neeson agreed to pick up George Peppard’s stogie-chewing mantle as Captain Hannibal Smith, but he just about maintains his dignity, forming a solid core of thespian gravitas for his wisecracking sidemen Face (Bradley Cooper) and Murdock (Sharlto Copley) to run circles around.

Director Joe Carnahan (‘Narc’, ‘Smokin’ Aces’) marshals proceedings with a thunderous and gleeful absence of subtlety: zip-pans, smash edits and MTV-style freeze-frames abound, and many of the action scenes are so jerky and cluttered that it’s hard to know what’s going on. But when those same sequences involve looping-the-loop helicopters, avalanches of shipping crates and tanks plummeting from burning aeroplanes, perhaps it’s for the best.

So, of course, the plot could be tighter, the script less cliché ridden, the action clearer and the performances not so broad. But as an unfussy, streamlined example of old-school Hollywood summer cinema at its purest and most unpretentious, ‘The A-Team’ scores at least a B.

Author: Tom Huddleston

Time Out London Issue 2084: July 29 – Aug 4, 2010

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User reviews of this film

Thomas Noctor said...

Posted on Oct 06 2010 19:33 Dirt

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tim said...

Posted on Aug 20 2010 02:51 i meant to give the a-team 5 stars not 1

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tim said...

Posted on Aug 20 2010 02:49 good review. I loved this movie

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Jervie said...

Posted on Aug 05 2010 23:38 Funny, witty, tongue in cheek, action packed, humble, excellent script and good acting. Of course it is nonsense and quite a few non sequiturs but really imaginative and .... what a fab evening

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Swellsie said...

Posted on Aug 02 2010 00:23 Was looking forward to seeing this,have always loved the A-Team.Just seen it tonight and am not impressed about it. Firstly and most importantly we didn't get the full A-Team anthem anywhere in the whole 118minutes.....very disappointed about that. The real action scenes are somewhat jerky and as for the crates scenes on the dock.......i have seen better special effects at a fireworks display. Best thing was re-living the "cant fly,wont fly" B.A,sedating the poor chap and he wonders why his face hurts when he's left to fall by the poorly acted Murdoch. I wish I had waited just to rent it. Def not worth the £8.70 its just cost to watch it!!

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mary said...

Posted on Jul 31 2010 08:26 Quite an experience. You feel you are right in the action...Great fun- even for an oldie!!

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ScrumpyJack said...

Posted on Jul 28 2010 21:39 Like "The Losers" Simply Action, Action, ACTION. fun & no more. and whats wrong with fun? .....Nout! 6/10

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to Jackie M said...

Posted on Jul 27 2010 15:07 It's not out in the UK yet duffer.

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Jackie M said...

Posted on Jul 20 2010 12:53 How come there are no reviews for this film? I saw the trailer. Just wanted to read a few reviews before wasting my money. Is it that bad ??!!!

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