(From left) Bradley Cooper, Sharlto Copley, Liam Neeson and Quinton Jackson star as the fugitive commandos of The A-Team. 
Opens Wednesday 16 June at UCG De Brouckère, UGC Toison d'Or, Kinepolis and others. (showtimes)

By Esteban Pagaran 

BRUSSELS (16 JUNE 2010) – As will be evident to fans of the original TV series,  director Joe Carnahan has blown up everything about “The A-Team” – the guns, the planes, even Peck’s pecs – in rescaling it from the small screen to the big screen. (Bigger things are actually blown up, as well.) 

Newcomers to the franchise will hardly feel left out. As has been the case lately with so many action heros (Robin Hood, Spiderman, and James Bond, to name a few) this film serves to reveal the back-story of how its four protagonists – Hannibal, Face, B.A. and Murdock – became the bad-ass band of commandos known as the A-Team.

At first glance, the cast is – well, the original cast. As the silver-haired Hannibal, the 6’4” (1.93m) Liam Neeson seems to have done everything short of, er, actually becoming shorter to emulate George Peppard as the team’s leader. In a role that George Hamilton missed due to age, Bradley Cooper (The Hangover hunk) does a faithful turn as the swaggering, perma-tanned  Templeton "Face" Peck (originally Dirk Benedict of “Battlestar Galactica,” who makes a cameo appearance). 

Pity the fool who tries to fill Mr. T’s shoes,  but “America’s Toughest Bouncer” of 1980 has been replaced – mohawk and all – by the Ultimate Fighting Champion of 2007: Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Sharlto Copley (District 9) shows off his accent skills as the unpredictable Murdock. 

Jessica Biel (above) as Charisa Sosa, the U.S. military agent chasing the A-Team, checks out Bradley Cooper (below) in a "poolside" scene.

The film opens with a quartet of electrifying, and often amusing, escapes by the four men – each of whom is held captive and suffering mistreatment by various authorities  (legitimate and otherwise) in Mexico.  Employing their complimentary skills of leadership, muscle, charm, and pre-MacGyver ingenuity, the four getaways realize they’re meant to be together.

Eight years later, the action moves to Baghdad during the first Iraq war. General Morrison (Gerald McRaney) and a CIA operative named Lynch (Patrick Wilson of Little Children) send the A-Team to recuperate engraving plates initially given to the Shah of Iran to print American dollars outside the US. Now in the wrong hands, the A-Team must devise a plan to get those plates back. 

It’s all a set-up, of course, and miscarriage of justice enters on cue. Court-martialled and imprisoned for a crime they did not commit, the formidable foursome must now stage four more escapes before setting about clearing their names. 

While they may look the same, The A-Team’s characters' have been updated both for the new millennium and the big screen’s greater tolerance for violence. While the prime-time TV series resorted to pain infliction on a par with “Road Runner” (giant explosions from which everyone ran away scared), today we see Hannibal nonchalantly discharging a round into B.A.’s bicep just to underscore a point. Still, loyalty, meticulous planning and precise execution remain Hannibal’s core strengths. 

While women were just part of the scenery in the original series, the film's plot (in development for around 15 years) includes a major role for Jessica Biel as Charisa Sosa, a government agent who attempts to recapture the four fugitives with the full arsenal of American military – though even unarmed she’s equally potent in putting Face off-balance . 

Though it follows the same basic formula (the iconic theme music is played with each accomplishment), it is a relief that, at 117 minutes, The A-Team does not feel like one long episode of the TV show – it’s much more like 4 consecutive episodes, and good ones. The special effects, graphics and stunts are beyond impressive,  and one airborne sequence is truly to die for, even if flying tanks sound a little over the top. And though the macho humour remains woven throughout the script, there are some inspired gags here and there, including a fine parody of the current “3-D” craze in filmmaking. 

At the end, viewers who saw last  year’s Sherlock Homes may experience a jolt of déjà vu – but I’m inclined to give the writers the benefit of the doubt.

The A-Team is a fine action-adventure film that provides a convincing back-story for the well-known band of commandos on the run, and offers a good ratio of one-liners per explosion. I recommend this movie strongly to fans of the genre, and predict that others will enjoy a decent two hours in the theatre.

 47% of the "Top Critics" at RottenTomatoes.com have given positive reviews of this film.

Certification: USA: PG-13 | UK: 12A | Ireland:12A

Showtimes
UGC De Brouckere: 13:30  16:00  19:30  22:00
UGC Toison d'Or: 14:00  16:30  19:00  21:40
Kinepolis Brussels: 14:00  16:45  19:45  22:30

NOTE: At Stockel, this film is dubbed over in French.