"The A-Team"

Movie Watched Today: The A-Team

Genre: Action Comedy

Starring: Liam Neeson
Bradley Cooper
Jessica Biel
Quinton Jackson
Sharlto Copley (guy from District 9)

Director: Joe Carnahan

The A-Team consists of Hannibal (The leader), B.A. (The brawn), Face (the charismatic guy), and Murdock (the crazy pilot). I've never seen the series, but I believe this movie is set just after the show ends. After a successful mission, the A-Team is betrayed and framed. They are sentenced to 10 years in separate maximum security prisons. 6 months later, they systematically escape and go on another mission to clear their names.

To begin, I must define a concept that only one person reading this blog will understand. I did not invent this term, but I use it anyway. "CakeCakeCake" - it is the phenomena, usually applied to video games, of something creating a huge initial hubbub that gets amazing reviews across the board, but then several weeks or months later people realize that it wasn't -that- great.

The acting was all great, and I definitely don't have any gripes about that. All members of the A-team fit in nicely together. Liam Neeson was amazing as Hannibal, the militaristic ace-leader. Bradley Cooper again played the funny-man and was pretty entertaining without being overly annoying. I don't believe I ever saw Quinton Jackson in a movie before, but he makes a worthy successor to Mr. T. I really wanted to hear him saying that he pitied the fool who ___________ but no luck. Finally, Sharlto Copley, formerly the main character of District 9, shows that he wasn't just a one-hit wonder in his previous film. As Murdock, the INSANE pilot, he brings a good amount of comic relief to the movie in a different form than Face does.
Likewise the action was on-par with a high-budget summer blockbuster. Great explosions abounded, as well as several intense fight scenes.
One of the things I didn't like about this movie was the villains, honestly. There is a difference between making evil characters that the audience loves to hate and making villains be ruthlessly and relentlessly annoying. The baddies of this movie tend towards the latter.

I explained the concept of CakeCakeCake because that is what this movie did to me a little. Initially and up through the end I thought it was awesome. It was filled with exactly what it advertises: tons of explosions, shootouts, and missions. I easily would have given it a 9/10 if I was writing this from my movie theater seat. However, when I got out of the theater and began to think about it a little, I realized that it was a popcorn movie through-and-through. It is GREAT fun at the time, but in the end it is easily forgettable.

While the movie did CakeCakeCake me, it was still a fun and entertaining ride. If you are going to see a movie at the theater soon, I'd give it a hearty recommendation.

Final Score - 7.5/10