Director:
Writers:
Joe Carnahan (written by) & Brian Bloom (written by)
Release Date:
30 July 2010 (UK)
Cast:
Liam Neeson (Col. John “Hannibal” Smith)
Bradley Cooper (Lt. Templeton [Faceman] Peck)
Jessica Biel (Charisa Sosa)
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (Cpl. Bosco ‘B.A’ Baracus)
Sharlto Copley (Murdock)
Patrick Wilson (Lynch)
Gerald McRaney (General Morrison)
Henry Czemy (Director McCready)
Brian Bloom (Pike)
Rating: PG-13 Runtime: 117 minutes Country of Origin: USA
Official Trailer:
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3925738521/
IMDB Says: 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. Written by rcs0411@yahoo.com
IMDB Also Says: Based on the hit T.V. show in the 1980′s. During the Vietnam war a 4 man team (known as the A-Team) of Special Forces were (wrongly) convicted of the robbery of the bank of Hanoi and were sent to a prison. But, while they were being transferred to that prison, this team managed to escape and secretly went into hiding in Los Angeles. Now, the A-Team aims to find another team of U.S. soldiers that framed them for the crime back in Vietnam,while they wait however they help other people that have a problem with other underworld dwellers. Written by John Wiggins
DVD Archive Says: Based on the 1980′s hit T.V Show by the same name, The A-Team (Or Alpha Team) returns with a remake and upgrade to match its multi-million dollar facelift. It was the joint opinion of everyone on the team who saw this movie that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to update it with the contents that the viewer is sitting down to watch.
From the beginning when we are introduced to Hannibal Smith, the whole characterization of this once ‘Souless’ mercenary was missing from Liam Neeson, who takes over from George Peppard of the original. By the time we are introduced to B.A [Bosco Barracacus], we were searching slowly through the archives list for another movie title to put on and watch. It was then that we are introduced to Face, one of the main reasons women watched the show during the 1980′s. His obsessive traits that led him into so much trouble back then have not been tampered with, but there is a short fuse to his humour and continuity in the remake.
In all, if you are old enough to watch this film at the cinema, then go and see it before returning home and seeking out The A-Team 1980′s TV Show on satellite. When you have seen the TV Show episodes, then make up your own minds whether or not you feel the same way as us. It has gags, it has action, it has everything that the original show had…except the actor’s have been changed and the plot seemed rushed and cheesy throughout. If I had been offered a free cinema ticket to go see this film, then I believe I would have to turned it down. I saw this film as a complete Farce!
DVD Archive Rating: 6/10
****Warning****Warning****Warning****
This Synopsis is the full story of the film reviewed.
****Warning****Warning****Warning****
The film opens in Mexico, with Colonel John “Hannibal” Smith held captive by two corrupt Mexican officers, working for the renegade General Tuco. Hannibal escapes after being left to be fed on by two guard dogs, and sets out to rescue his comrade-in-arms Templeton “Faceman” Peck, who is himself held captive by Tuco at Tuco’s private ranch, where Face had seduced the General’s wife. Hannibal makes it to the ranch in time to save Face from a grisly demise, after enlisting disgraced Ranger Bosco B.A. Baracus, driving to the rescue in B.A.’s souped-up GMC Vandura van. With the three men now on the run from the enraged Tuco, they stop in at a nearby Army hospital, to recruit the services of insane pilot H.M. “Howling Mad” Murdock. In a medical chopper, they engage Tuco in a vicious aerial dogfight, which results in B.A.’s permanent fear of flying, and ends when they manage to lure Tuco’s chopper into American airspace, where it’s destroyed by a U.S. F-22 Raptor – the capstone to an elaborate plan put together by Hannibal.
The film then moves forward “eight years and eighty successful missions later”, where the team – now a highly-regarded, elite combat unit – is stationed in Iraq. Hannibal is contacted by CIA Agent Lynch, who reveals that Iraqi insurgents are in possession of U.S. treasury plates being used to manufacture counterfeit currency. Lynch wants Hannibal and his team to steal the plates and over 1 billion dollars in counterfeit cash that’s due to be moved out of Baghdad. At the same time, DCIS Captain Charissa Sosa arrives on the scene, warning her ex-lover Face, whom along with the rest of team she has disdain for, to stay away from the plates and out of Baghdad. Against the advice of his commanding officer, General Morrison, Hannibal agrees to steal the plates, albeit in an unofficial “Black Ops” mission. The mission is successful, but when the team returns to base to meet their commanding officer, both the shipping container carrying the money and Morrison’s Humvee are destroyed by men from the private security firm Black Forest (a fictionalized version of Blackwater), led by the ruthless Brock Pike. With Morrison the only proof that they were, in fact, acting on the U.S.’s behalf, the team is arrested, tried, dishonorably discharged and sentenced to ten years in federal prison.
Six months later, a still-incarcerated Hannibal is visited by Lynch once more, who reveals that Pike may be trying to sell the plates with the help of a mysterious Arab backer. Hannibal, who has been tracking Pike on his own, strikes up a deal with Lynch: clean records for himself and his team, in return for the plates. Lynch agrees, and Hannibal escapes prison with the help of a drug-soaked cigar that makes him appear dead. Hannibal then breaks out Face (pretending to be a removal man and stealing the tanning bed Face is in), B.A. (by ripping off the door of the prison bus transporting him) and Murdock (through distracting the German V.A. hospital in which he’s committed with a 3D movie). By now, Sosa, who holds a grudge against the team for disregarding her warnings to stay away from Baghdad and getting her demoted to Lieutenant, is hot on the team’s trail, and under the belief that the team is working with Pike, she tries to head them off before they leave Germany in a military Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft. The plane is destroyed by two remote-piloted drone fighters, but the team manages to escape inside the body of a tank on parachutes, which they “fly” by shooting rounds off and stalling their momentum.
They track Pike, in the company of the mystery Arab, and launch an offensive in which they manage to reclaim the plates and kidnap the Arab at the same time. With the exception of Hannibal, the team is shocked to learn that the “Arab” is actually General Morrison, who worked with Lynch and Pike to steal the plates, but then teamed up with Pike to double-cross Lynch and fake his own death. When Lynch learns that the team has Morrison in their possession, he orders an air strike to eliminate them all in one fell swoop. The team barely manages to escape, and Morrison is killed.
Realizing that their backs are to a wall, Face hatches a plan. Hannibal arranges to meet Sosa (knowing her phone lines are tapped by Lynch) on board a cargo ship at a downtown dock, saying he’ll hand over Morrison and the plates in exchange for his freedom. Face then calls her on a second, untapped phone he had previously given her. Lynch reenlists Pike, and sets up a trap for Hannibal and company at the docks. This has been anticipated by Face, who sets off an elaborate series of diversions to split Lynch’s team up, and more importantly, get Lynch directly involved. The plan nearly goes awry when Pike fires a rocket at the ship, nearly destroying it, but he’s eventually killed by B.A. Lynch tracks down Hannibal and a hooded “Morrison”, and shoots “Morrison” in the head before engaging Hannibal in a vicious fistfight. Hannibal soon gets the upper hand until Lynch grabs a hold of his gun, however the container they are in is lifted- revealing Sosa and dozens of Federal agents with guns drawn. “Morrison” is revealed to be Murdock in a melted-Kevlar helmet. Lynch is taken into custody by the CIA, but contrary to what they were expecting, the A-Team is once again arrested by the military, this time for escaping incarceration. Sosa promises to do all she can to set them free, before kissing Face goodbye as he is led into a prison van. In the van, the team laments their misfortune, but Hannibal seems optimistic, and defers to Face, who reveals a key in his mouth presumably obtained from Sosa’s kiss. Face then utters Hannibal’s catch-phrase: “I love it when a plan comes together”.
The film ends with a recital of the opening narration from the original television series.
The A-Team HD Trailer:
