All Four One and One Four All

I admit the moment I heard they were remaking The A-Team for the big screen I thought – still burned by the memory of Bewitched and The Dukes of Hazzard – that a movie adaptation would be a hot mess.

Thanks to co-writer-director Joe Carnahan, though, The A-Team is quite easily the best blockbuster so far this season.

Honestly, the movie’s totally rock ’n’ roll, relentlessly cheeky, and because of Liam Neeson, as Col. John “Hannibal” Smith, and Bradley Cooper, oh-so-studly.

Neeson and Cooper, who plays Lt. Templeton “Faceman” Peck (and sooo should’ve been re-nicknamed “The Body” the actor got so ripped), are joined by District 9’s Sharlto Copley, as H.M. “Howling Mad” Murdoch, and Ultimate Fighter Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in the role of B.A. Baracus.

The foursome slips into character effortlessly, perfectly cast and suited to complement one another. These men, like the plans they execute on screen, come together in a way audiences will love, trust.

The plot of the movie you know: Just as on the TV show upon which it’s based, it follows the members of an elite military unit looking to clear their names in the eyes of the military, which suspects them of a crime they didn’t commit.

They specialize in the ridikolous – like breaking out of maximum-security prisons in the most spectacular of ways, flying tanks, and being awesome 24/7 – so their considerable talents come in handy when they find themselves in the middle of a conspiracy that may or may not involve Jessica Biel’s Capt. Charisa Sosa, a.k.a. an ex of Faceman’s, and/or Patrick Wilson’s shadowy CIA operative, Lynch.

The A-Team clocks in at almost two hours, but what a fun couple of hours it is. This is how you remake a TV show, smartly and with a touch or irreverence and just enough of a tip of the hat to the past. It so worked for Charlie’s Angels, and I’m beyond-glad Carnahan & Co. have a winning formula in their hands.

My Rating ****

Photo: 20th Century Fox.