By: James Potter
I went into the theater with the expectations of seeing a movie that looked pretty and not much else; in the field of looks this movie did not disappoint one single bit! However, what about the cream filling? Well in the Too Long Didn’t Read version The A-Team did not disappoint me. This review, as all my other reviews, will not contain plot spoilers but will go into the fine details of this film.
From the introduction and partial back story of the characters to the subtle discovery of the main plot The A-Team does an interesting job of pulling the audience into the story and keeping your intelligence entertained as well as your inner demolitionist. The A-Team does a spectacular job of balancing story with action and unlike some other action movies of the same genre, it did not leave you wanting more shit to blow OR making you feel like too much stuff just happened.
What really worked for me was the interlacing of a specific description of events and then said events, it was very fun to watch and I wasn’t burdened with remembering too much information; Unlike Sherlock Holmes, the cool editing and narrating of key sequences wasn’t lost after 20 minutes. This movie does throw a lot of story your way but doesn’t work it in a manner that makes you have to remember everything and any new developments are worked out pretty quickly.
The characters were engaging, comedic, and well timed with just the right amount of weapons training and balls to the walls crazy attitudes! Having watched the old show I can comfortably say that everyone followed their predecessors to a Mr. T… See what I did there? All the sweeter was that these fine gentlemen gave the already established character something new and unique to the fellow actor. Unlike the television show everyone had equal screen time and brought their own unique talent to the table with several extra dynamics that made the film something new. I was thoroughly impressed with District 9’s Sharlto Copley, and bear in mind he has very little acting experience in this genre. And yes, Rampage has his UFC moment, fortunately brief though.
The style of action is fairly unique in that it keeps you guessing what is going to happen next and if what just happened is possible; Mythbusters could have an orgy of episodes themed on some of the stuff that happened in this movie. This rose of a review is, however, not without its thorns. I felt that the action was slightly wasted on me because of jerky camera movements and too up close to the action; I could never get into Bourne for that specific reason. Also when Rampage got serious he was somewhat difficult to understand because he just mumbles…A LOT. Surprise surprise Jessica Biel did not do a bad job with her roll, probably due to the fact that her job was small in this film, and she was not here for sex appeal.
In the end I felt my money was well spent and this is the action movie of the summer. If you go in expecting nothing more than a blockbuster then you will be fairly surprised. If you go in expecting a good story on top of the kick ass action then you’ll get what you paid for. Go see it and WAIT AFTER THE CREDITS FOR A TREAT
- J
