Review - The A Team

I was stoked when I first saw the preview for A-Team a few months ago. There's a lot of nostalgia for me with 80s action television.

The movie started out jumping right into a mission with a bunch of action and excitement to introduce us to the various characters. The presentation of each character was well done and gave a good overview into each of them. The dialog and direction really made each character vibrant and believable. I loved the dynamic between the team and their interactions with each other.

The intent of their initial mission was a little vague, but the real purpose was to introduce us to the team, so that was alright. We then fast forward a few years and find them being tasked with a new mission. The character introductions here got a little confusing as we were bombarded with a handful of new players, each of whom seemed to have a hidden agenda and were speaking based on knowledge from the time period we (the audience) had just skipped over. This wasn't awful and actually helped play into the intrigue as the movie progressed.

This second mission that we witness involved even more outrageous escapades than the opening scene. It was quickly evident that each subsequent piece of action would increase in scale until, by the end of the movie, the believability factor was totally thrown out the window. The final action scene was so outrageous and over the top that it was hard not to laugh/scoff/shudder while watching.

I felt like the villains and the plot of the movie were entertaining and well crafted, even if slightly predictable at times. The movie kept a generally whimsical and cheesy outlook on the state of things but had enough 'conspiracy theory' and political bureaucracy to send a message about corruption and problems in government/military/etc.

The cinematography was generally good. I liked the name overlays during the opening scene. The camera angles were generally pretty good. My biggest complaint was that many of the action sequences were jumpy and dizzying as the camera bounced and whipped around right in the middle of the action. I like feeling close to the action, but for me, in a movie, there is definitely such a thing as "too close" and a number of the scenes really needed to back the camera up and give us a steady shot we could actually follow rather than just bouncing us around like we're literally right in the middle of the fight.

Overall this was a pretty fun show. The action and plot certainly got unbelievable at times but the humor, characters and general dynamic helped maintain a fun and entertaining pace.


3 out of 5 stars