THE A-TEAM Post Release Thread

So the Copley bombing rumours were unfounded? Aces.

Tyler Foster, You should get...The A-Team. I loved the show, and it is my...2nd fave series ever, after...Star Trek. I do not recommend...Season 5, though. I prefered seeing the team on the run and fighting bad guys. Still...I love it when a plan comes together!

Glad to see Patrick Wilson get some love. I've always been a big fan of his from Little Children and Watchmen. Not seeing him in the trailers made me think he was playing a really small and meaningless role here.

Lotsa speculation and stories about six months ago that he wasn't clicking with anyone on set and his non-actor status was really getting exposed.

Great! I loved the Losers, and I expect this to live up to that one, if not surpass it. Should I assume Cooper delivers as well?

So Copley as "Howlin' Mad" Murdock and Wilson as the CIA agent are the standouts in the movie? The trailer looks like fun, and I like the original series, so I might check this movie out. Did they use the classic movie theme song? I hope they didn't leave it out; it's the best part of the TV show imo.

Anger Management, I love the theme song, as well as many other tunes in...Mike Post and Peter Carpenter's A-Team catalog. However, the best things about...The A-Team to me, are as follows.
1) George Peppard as...Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith. I love his signature line...I love it when a plan comes together.
2) Dirk Benedict as...Templeton "Face" Peck
3) Gloriously over the top action, by producers extrordinaire Frank Lupo/Stephen J. Cannell.
4) Melinda Culea as...Reporter Amy Amanda Allen.
5) The...EEEEEEEEEEvil Colonels Lynch and Decker. Bill Lucking as Lynch and Lance LeGault as Decker are excellent foils to the genius of...A-Team Leader, Col. John "Hannibal" Smith.

Apparently they use the tv theme and the "maybe you can hire...." narration in the movie.

I loved the hell outta this. I think it was going in with the combination of low expectations - and just wanting to sit back and be entertained after a crap day at work.

All the characters get some great stuff - aside from Biel who gets the most thankless role Ive seen in a while. And as mentioned, Patrick Wilson almost walks away with this one. The scene with the CIA guys and the main baddie in the car is so randomly hilarious.

And the reports of Copley dropping the ball are way off the mark.

Just try not to think about ANYTHING you've seen on screen a minute after you've seen it and I think you'll enjoy it. This movie does not hold up to any kind of dissection.

Just came back from the midnight screening and had a really great time. Just a lot of fun and some great laughs. Carnahan really surprised me here. I wasn't the biggest Smokin Aces fan but I dug this a lot.

Copley is terrific and all my fears about the sweetie man tanking subsided as the film went on. He was hilarious.

Wilson as Tyler said was also great.

Two complaints the action at times (especially the B.A fight in the beginning) is shaky cam bullshit and hard to see. A few too many quick cuts as well (at the end).

Jessica Biel is almost totally worthless in this. I mean I thought she added nothing and with this along with Valentine's Day is looking worse with every film. You could have put almost any actress in this role and I think they could have exuded more emotion or character. She wasn't this bad in Blade Trinity or Stealth (worse films).

Hard to believe I am saying this but Fox put out a quality summer film here and I'd be hard pressed to say they blew it casting wise (outside of Biel of course).

The Expendables will be better in the action category this summer but I doubt it will be as fun as The A-Team.

Interestingly enough, I might be disappointed if it did.

"Fun" can have many definitions, but I get where you're coming from. As I said in the B Thread, the positive vibes I'm getting from this point to it being this year's Star Trek. And that's what I was hoping for. So I'm really looking forward to it. Not sure when, exactly, it opens here in Bolivia. I think in a couple of weeks. So I'll avoid this thread to avoid spoilers. (Yes. I really don't want to know if The A-Team wins in the end or not.) But this has put me in a good mood.

Most fun I've had at the movies in a long time.

I would definitely call it this summers STAR TREK. At the end, I totally wanted to continue watching the team and their hijinks.

Wilson, as stated earlier, was great. Loved how slimy he was. Loved the nods to Blackwater and the 3D gag ("It looks like the bullets are coming right at me!") I thought Cooper was aces and it saddens me that they chose Ryan Reynolds to be Green Lantern because I think Cooper could have done a bang up job.

Anyone stay for the scene at the end? Not too much, probably just something duke fleed would lose his shit over.

EDIT: My favorite part isn't just one scene, it's the fact that it feels like these people have been working together for 8 years. Little things like having Hannibal and Face discussing something while Murdock and B.A. are in the background goofing off really cements that feeling that these guys have known each other for years.

Saw it last night at midnight. I was tired and restless (unrelated to the movie), but I love it when a good summer movie comes together. It's a blast. There are flaws, the script is all over the place, a lot of dicey shaky cam and CGI really threaten to ruin the whole thing. But the four main actors and Patrick Wilson's bro-ish crazy bad guy just send this thing to the stratosphere. Liam Neeson is insanely badass as Hannibal. Bradley Cooper has a ton of charisma in him, and I hope to hell that if Carnahan gets the Preacher gig, Cooper takes on Jesse Custer. Sharlto Copley's first post-District 9 gig is perfect, he really nails the whole crazed annoying guy persona and he's hilarious. Rampage...well, rampages as B.A., no one can replace the singular reckoning force that is Mr. T, but he makes Baracus his own.

Also of note is the fact that this is only the second film I've seen in digital projection, as my theater has just recently finished converting over a lot of the projections.

Also great: the entire male part of the audience booing the Eclipse trailer, which prompted me to call out a George C. Scott-esque "TURRRRRRRRRRRRRRNNNNN ITTTTTTTTTTT OFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!"

Not good: the Takers trailer. Hey, let's take Heat and make it overly hip so teenagers can see it! Damn you, Hayden Christensen, and your stupid little porkpie.

I really enjoyed this. There's a Tag Team review coming.

High energy can overcome a lot of flaws. This thing moves from action scene to action scene so fast that you don't have time to analyze the plot. Just big, dumb fun.

The Classic series was An...A+ team for NBC. Now...The A-Team is An A-List, Action Extravaganza, that features Amazing Action, Acting, And A Grade A...Score by...Alan Silvestri. Easilly Joe Carnahan's best film.
The Only weakness is that, The A-Team...ENDS! I love it when A plan comes together!

Jessica Biel is...Awesome, As Lt. Sosa, first A nemesis, then offering...Assistance, to the team. While, Patrick Wilson's Lynch is...EEEEEEEEEEEvil, Brian Bloom's Pike is...EEEEEEEEEEEEviler! The entire, A-Team was extremely well cast. Led by Liam Neeson's Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith is so channeling George Peppard's Colonel Smith, that they could be brothers. Bradley Cooper is, Face, And is...Perfectly cast. Both, Sharlto Copley, and Rampage Jackson (no relation to either the classic, Midway Arcade game, or Action Jackson, Are Amazing As well. I give this...Adaption of...The A-Team, an...A+! I Am, On The Jazz, And will see...The A-Team Again, Tuesday A.M.!

I heard the mutters about Copley too but from the (very) little I've seen he seems fine. Like the scene in the falling tank where BA asks when the plane exploded and Murdock hollers back at him, "Recently!" Admitedly it's not much to go on but to me the delivery was perfect.

Not blown away, but an enjoyable gambol nonetheless. The STAR TREK comparison feels pretty apt. Both are movies where you don't care a lot about what the characters are trying to accomplish, but you like the characters enough that it doesn't much matter. You just enjoy seeing them do shit together.

Neeson was predictably great. Cooper was adequate. Took a little while to warm up to Rampage but right at about the time he was locked in the container in Baghdad he had won me over. Really happy to see Copley come off as well as he did. His enthusiasm for the role was extremely evident.

Most of the set pieces were satisfying. The helicopter dog fight, the tank flight, and the high-rise raid were all thrilling. The climax could have toned down the fake-ass crate ratio.

The credits during the 3-D movie were good for a chuckle.

Much, much, much better than I expected. Carnahan delivers a very well-directed action movie that retains the spirit of the show (not relying on guns) and manages to add a bunch of pretty black humor.

Best movie of the summer, so far. Never expected that.

I could see a correlation between...The A-Team and G.I. Joe Rise Of Cobra, as both are properly...Over The Top Action Extravaganza's and completely...Awesome! Also, G.I. Joe Rise Of Cobra, the best film of...2009, will now be joined by...The A-Team, which will...Easilly, be...The Best Film Of 2010! I love it when a plan comes together!

Nick Nunziata, I was not sure, who the actor was at the end, playing the new...Lynch, but then I had a strange desire to have a...HAMM, sandwich.

That's interesting.

This was great. I was just the right age to worship the show during its peak (about 6 years old and fanatical about Mr. T and sometime guest star Hulk Hogan) so it's got a ton of nostalgic value for me. The cast was uniform great except for Biel (who was passable), and all the action bits aside from the dock showdown at the end were really, really well done. Copley was literally perfect as Murdock. That finale came close to really hurting it though, until the aftermath mostly redeemed it. Did anybody see Dirk Benedict or Dwight Schultz's cameos? They were so nondescript as to be non-existent, to the point where I'm questioning if they even made it to the final cut.

Holy shit, this movie was a blast. I went in expecting to love Copley and nothing else, and while he was great(and even got to talk in his Wikus voice for a quick second), Patrick Wilson is the films secret weapon. Hes suave and cool and kind of a dick. Love the call of duty reference. Despite some really shoddy CG, this thing moves at break-neck speed, and although a lot of the bigger action beats seemed to happen towards the beginning, I was satisfied by the end. This summers Star Trek? Id agree to that i think. we'lll have to see on repeat viewings.

What a... delight!

The plot snowballed into a mess that I didn't bother following, and that really bogged the movie down towards the end, but I was surprised by how relentless it was, for the most part. It's nice to see a bona fide action movie, with guns and bullets and fighting, and without some nerdy superhero twist. And very few fatalities! Was Major Dad the only person killed in the whole thing?

The casting director is the real star of the show. All four leads were lovely. I want to see a spinoff sequel with BA and Murdock getting jobs at a McDonald's, or attending a community college together.

Rampage Jackson exhibited a surprising amount of range. His uses of "fool" never felt anything less than natural. And his masquerade as a noble Archbishop Desmond Tutu-style African dignitary was most convincing. GOOD MORNING TO YOU.

The movie was very funny throughout, but I laughed hardest at the fact that Jessica Biel has programmed her cellphone to show a Fox-authorised behind-the-scenes headshot of Bradley Cooper whenever Face calls her.

The movie had the same drawbacks as most modern movies. Crappy blue tint in daytime scenes, crappy orange tint in night scenes, too much mumbling, and shitty Canadian tax-shelter location photography. But I have made peace with these failings, as a 21st century moviegoer.

When will filmmakers stop staging action scenes at boring nighttime shipyards? It's a boring location. Always has been, always will be.

I actually recognised icy villain Pike as that kid from ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA who spends 10 minutes eating a cream cake on a staircase. I think it was his eyes. Does that make me gay? Anyway, besides him, the villains sucked.

I also LOLed at the overuse of flashbacks. Like when the three shipping containers started being swapped around, and they had a hamfisted flashback to the scene, FIVE MINUTES EARLIER, where Face played that game with the three cups.

Good movie, great chemistry; a sequel is essential.

How many of you guessed old "Major Dad" Gerald McRaney wasn't in the Humvee when it blew up? And him turning Arab a few months later.

I think they couldn't have gotten a better cast then what they got here. Liam, Cooper and Copley captured the essense of the original characters perfectly.

Laughed when Murdock gave his "Braveheart" speech.

P.S- Apparently its not doing all that well according to Deadline, so I would expect a sequel anytime soon. Though I would welcome one.

Karate Kid (and the obnoxious brat Jaden Smith) destroyed A-Team at the box office, unfortunately. Other than Jessica Biel, the movie was loads of fun and I'm surprised it didn't do well. Maybe it needed a Justin Bieber song....

I wouldn't get too down on the sequel. The real surprise is how well KARATE KID is doing. Most people were predicting 30-35 for A-TEAM, and it'll probably get close to 30.

July fucking 30th can't get here fast enough...

I believe Face programmed his own picture into that phone, which is way funnier.

And it's the picture from the poster if I recall. So good.

Felix, I guess that it was after I saw, the sheik, that...General Morrison wasn't...Simonized. Gerald McRaney of course was in the cool detective series with 2 brothers...Simon and Simon.

Is the film anything like this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXEk3deCOm0
If so, I'm there.

Overall I thought it was everything you could hope for from an A-TEAM movie. The movie has a sense of humor and isn't afraid to be ridiculous. All four leads were solid. Rampage just needs to slow down sometimes when he talks. I think I missed a good 50% of his emotional diner speech. I thought the opening was the strongest part of the movie. Each character gets their own intro and their own time to shine. Then they all scream together in a chopper. I'd like to thank Fox for clearly explaining B.A.'s fear of flying.

"I'LL NEVER FLY AGAIN!!!!!
THIS IT IT!"

The funniest thing about the movie was B.A.'s emotional journey. The whole film leads up to him LEARNING HOW TO KILL AGAIN through the teachings of Ghandi.
As for the villains, I agree that PIKE was the strongest one. Patrick Wilson was fine, but his character was pretty much a goofball surrounded by other goofballs. I did like that "silencer/suppressor" scene in the SUV, though. Biel is....in the movie. Didn't really like her/didn't really hate her. My only real complaint is that the last action scene at the docks is by far the weakest. And I'm glad I stayed for the corny cameos.

*face enters prison tanning salon*

"I know this is good for the body, but what do you recommend for the....
FACE??"

*dirk benedict emerges from tanning bed*

Probably not a good movie to see at 1:10pm after you've been up since 11:20pm the night before. Still had a blast. Sucks the van really only got a cameo.

Well it's good to see they finally learned to aim.

I really liked this. It's lives off the performances of its four leads, but that's just enough to keep it going. The only problem I had was with the third act and the flying CGI crates. I hope if they make a sequel they look at the mistakes of Iron Man 2, and realize that your leads' charisma can only get you so far.

Edit: Loved Murdock's breakout. I know they had to shoot that before the 3D craze came about but it almost seemed like commentary on the whole thing.

I liked how they worked the opening narration from the tv show into the film. How often do you see STILL WANTED BY THE GOVERNMENT flash on screen at the end of a movie?

Also, how many nods to Dwight Schultz were there??
I caught "Dr. Schultz" on Hannibal's toe tag and "Reginald Barclay" during the 3D movie credits.

A very solid action romp. I enjoyed it - though I wanted to hate it.

Only gripe is Cooper trying to hard to sex up his movie star appeal. Just give it up buddy. Rampage was effective. Wikus KILLED it! People were LOL'ing. Liam is da man as always.

I like how random Liam van jacks Rampage when in Mexico and shoots him and then notices his tattoo. ''You Ranger?'' Liam looks at his tattoo and shows him his. A homo-erotic moment. No wonder Rampage is pissed about the ''gay'' fiasco.

Also, I like the flashback action scenes that plays out throughout the movie. Not really - but it worked.

Oh, Alan Silvestri off-da-chain with the score. Loved it! I will def see this movie again.

Finally, I was thinking with the action in this movie, Joe Carnahan could direct the next BOURNE and/or TAKEN 2. Cus damn, the action was badass.

So, I was dragged to see this today, and didn't hate it nearly as much as I thought I would. I love Liam Neeson so he makes any and everything tolerable for me. Patrick Wilson was a pleasant surprise and made his character likable and funny, when he shouldn't have been anything but a tool.

Jessica Biel annoyed me, had no chemistry with Cooper, and I wanted them to shoot her. Repeatedly. I don't understand why she was still the HBIC if she'd been demoted to 1st Lt.

The one thing that made me groan was in the opening scene where Hannibal first meets Baracus and says something along the lines of "I don't believe in coincidences". Have all screenwriters resorted to the idea of fate and destiny to cover up contrived coincidences?

That ass. It was what was noticeable when first meeting Cooper in Iraq. Some male teen(s) were like, "Damn, that ass.'' Whispering of course and where you can hear them.

RE: THE BADDIES

They were cool-as-hell. I liked them. Pike was gangster and he owned his screentime. Lynch was nasty in a very likable way.