The A-Team [2010]

Starring: Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Biel, Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson, Sharlto Copley, Brian Bloom
Writen By: Joe Carnahan & Brian Bloom and Skip Woods
Directed By: Joe Carnahan

I don't think the ME generation of today can fathom the importance of television in the 80's. If I recall we only had access to Channel 5 & 8 (Singapore) and RTM 1 &2 (Malaysia) (this was even before TV3). The whole family was glued to the idiot box no matter how bad the programmes were.

So I hope you can see why we're so attached to properties from that era. I'll save my more detailed justification for my generations attachments to entertainment properties from that era for another time.

The A-Team was a very popular show even with its wash-and-repeat formula. Writer-director Joe Carnahan (NARC, Smokin' Aces) brilliantly avoids such trappings and instead shows the origin of how these four very different men came together. It helps that he has recruited very charismatic group of actors with excellent chemistry for the leads.

His screenwriting partners Brian Bloom and Skip Woods could have helped strip some extra fat. It feels like there's one-too-many rescue/retrieve missions in the movie. The ballistic and ridiculously over-the-top ending threatens to leave a bad after taste but thankfully such woes prove a minimal inconvenience.