movie coverI'd rather be watching TV![IMDB link] [Netflix link]

PEOPLE: Written & Directed by Joe Carnahan. Co-written by Brian Bloom, who voices Captain America in the 2010 Avengers cartoon. Mr. T’s portrayal of B.A. Baracus is replaced by WWF wrestler Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Colonel Hannibal Smith is now played by Liam Neeson (Zeus from Clash Of The Titans 2010, Batman Begins, Aslan from the new Chronicles Of Narnia movies, Qui-Gon Jinn from the Star Wars prequel trilogy, Schindler from Schindler’s List, etc). Faceman is now played by Bradley Cooper (The Hangover, Yes Man, Wedding Crashers). Captain Murdock is now played by Sharlto Copley (the District 9 guy).

“Lynch” is played by Patrick Wilson (the pedophile from Hard Candy, Nite Owl II from Watchmen). God he gets annoying in the movie–and that actually works pretty well for it.

We also have Jessica Biel. No complaints here.

PLOT SUMMARY: An origin story!

UNCOMFORTABLE PLOT SUMMARY (inspired by this): [highlight for spoilers]→ Covert military team saves the day, only to be punished by being wanted fugitives for the rest of their lives.

QUIRKS: Insane action-comedy with a covert military twist.

VISUALS: Some of the craziest fucking action scenes I’ve seen in awhile.

SOUNDTRACK: Crappy like most movies, but at least they have You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) and Anarchy In The U.K. (even if it’s only the Guitar Hero version. Isn’t it funny how studios over-punish downloaders in order to “save the artists”, but then deliberately choose cover songs in order to not give those same artists their royalties? Typical corporate double standard.)

MORALS: Non-violence only goes so far. People don’t quote Ghandi’s violence-inciting quotes as much as they quote his peace-inciting quotes, but in reality, almost everything good that any human has ever gotten has been a result of some violent conflict in the past.

POLITICS: The CIA fucking sucks.

GOOD STUFF: Crazy action peppered with lots of comedy. Multiple plot lines, too. I thought the whole movie was going to be about the conflict in the intro. Nope, that ended. Then I thought it was going to be about the heist. But nope, that ended too. And then the movie kept going on for another hour. It’s a long story that leaves you satisfied.

BAD STUFF: Nothing. Some people might claim it’s not realistic, but they’re missing the whole point of watching an entertaining movie. This isn’t a documentary, it’s an action-comedy flick based on an action-comedy TV show! Did anyone really think the TV show was ever realistic??!

CONCLUSION: I had completely forgotten the original A-Team series, even though I watched it religiously as a kid. I had even forgotten that it was a *comedy*-action series, not just an action series. I had forgotten who comprised the A-Team, too. All I knew was: Mr. T, military, action. It was great to be re-introduced to the A-Team concept on a 2010 big movie budget instead of a 1983 crappy TV-budget. There are some major badass moments in this movie (like “flying the tank”) comprised of tons of unrealistic, entertaining action sequences, as well as a lot of laughs that I was not expecting (because I’d forgotten the original series was also a comedy). The 3 of us watching this all loved it and were pleasantly surprised. No haters here!

RATINGS:
Clint: Netflix: 5/5 stars. IMDB: 8.4/10 (a high 8).
Carolyn: Netflix: 5/5 stars. IMDB: 8.6/10 (a low 9).
TwoBeans: Netflix: 5/5 stars.

The native public rating for this movie is: IMDB: 7.1/10, Netflix: 4.0/5 stars (Netflix‘s predicted rating for us was 4.1/5 stars).

RECOMMENDATION: If you’re not a purist fanboy or a whiner, you should check this out. It’s one of the best action movies for 2010 (which has been a good year for action movies, if you ask me).

MOVIE QUOTE: Flight Control Commander: Are they trying to shoot down the other drone?
Capt. Charisa Sosa: No, they’re trying to fly that tank.Mood: full
Music: Sepultura – Attitude (live)