The A-Team

To my great surprise, this is a good and hugely entertaining action ride. The trailers where underwhelming, but these four cool guys ended up winning me over. The action scenes are so over the top that it’s impossible not to smile. The climax on the other hand, maybe is a bit too over the top, there were moments when I didn’t know what was going on and why, so the impression went a bit down, but I still think it’s an 80% film. (2010-07-18)

The A-Team is fun. The A-Team is funny. The A-Team is certainly not smart, but it knows that very well, and it doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not. When I saw it in the movie theater, I was bothered by the slightly complicated plot and the hasty editing, which made several scenes a mess. But after watching the (extended) DVD version, all the criticisms are gone and I give this more than two-hour, but incredibly fast-paced blockbuster a fifth star. Great! The action scenes are beautifully over-the-top and a joy to watch, whether it's the famous falling tank from the trailer, the opening helicopter chase, the team's liberation from prison, the action in Frankfurt, the finale on the docks, and so on... The actors are precisely chosen and everyone enjoys their part (Neeson's line "So, Satan walks into this bar..." could become iconic). Silvestri's soundtrack (his most original thing since Van Helsing) deserves a mention.__ P.S. A 3D film in a German hospital... That scene is unprecedented. (2010-06-18)

An awful B-movie. Awful garbage. And awfully entertaining. Not on the action side, though; there’s very little of that and what there is terribly confused due to deranged editing, but after the ungainly introduction as soon as it establishes itself as a buddy comedy full of over the top scenes in “best 3D effect ever" style, then... Then you can either angrily get up from your seat and go home muttering about dumb Hollywood, or you can remain seated and abandon yourself to harmless, mindless fun. And at least it’s meant to be fun; I must admit that I expected something more like “it’s so bad, it’s genius". (2010-06-10)

The phrase "much ado about nothing" can hardly be more fitting than here. I would still be willing to forgive The A-Team for not coming up with a proper and original story, but I won't forgive the fact that all the expected and praised action seemed dull and overstuffed clutter with zero build-up and a desperate lack of catchphrases and insight. The 3 stars are more or less because I really like Neeson and Cooper and because, despite the bland result, the A-Team at least made a good effort to pay homage to and build on the classic action films that were taken for granted in Hollywood twenty years ago...))) I recently read that if Chuck Norris eats a whole box of sleeping pills, it will show up in one blink..., I watched the supposedly most stylish and over-the-top action movie of recent years, and by the end I was sleeping like a baby... 55% (2012-10-12)

From the first to the last minute, it's ruggedly honest, exhilaratingly blockbuster-like, and unfortunately also scriptwise bite-sized. However, as a whole, A-Team surprisingly holds together despite the patched-together individual missions, problems, and locations. Some things are so exaggerated that even the least perceptive smile feels ashamed (tank), while other times it goes full throttle, taking your breath away (imaginative chemistry in the photobooth, rappelling from a skyscraper, or every scene with Bradley Cooper, who effortlessly steals the whole film and doesn't even break a sweat). I didn't believe in this return to the past at all, but now I can be even more satisfied. (2010-07-30)