TRAILER PARK: The A-Team

There Is No Plan B

As a fan of the '80s action-adventure series growing up, I'm interested to see what the big-budget adaptation of The A-Team comes out like. I love the choice of director in Joe Carnahan (Narc, Smokin' Aces), and the casting looks very strong on the surface, but I was left feeling quite unsatisfied by this first trailer. The TV series was a huge amount of silly fun, but the tone here feels quite serious. I somehow doubt we're going to get injokes like enemy jeeps doing flips, which villains crawl out from unscathed. Take away the title, a few catchphrases ("I love it when a plan comes together") and the iconic van (why does B.A have an '80s-era GMC van, anyway?), and it doesn't look like anything special...

The final "money shot" of Faceman (Bradley Cooper) firing a gun from a tank's turret at an airplane as it parachutes through the air, was confusingly edited and a bit laughable. It's also worrying to me that Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (while visually a good likeness of Mr. T as B.A Baracus), looks utterly charmless and twice as wooden. I don't expect a lazy impersonation of Mr. T and his catchphrases ("I pity the fool!") from Jackson, but there has to be something of the same flavour to B.A. I didn't pick up on any evidence of that here, sadly. Similarly, casting Sharlto Copley (District 9) as Murdock seems very astute, but I'm no longer sure based on this trailer. Will the South African newcomer be hamstrung by having to affect an American accent? They have remembered to make Murdock very funny and insane, right?

Of course, it's far too early to write The A-Team off based on this one trailer, and I'm guessing the next trailer will explain more about the plot, and help setup the characters' individual personalities for those unaware of the TV show. After all, The A-Team only ran from 1983-87, so the movie's target audience have grown up in a world where Mr. T's just the guy who sells Snickers. I really do hope the plan comes together, though...

Released: 10 June 2010 (AUS), 11 June 2010 (US), 30 July 2010 (UK)