The A-Team

Directed by Joe Carnahan

(PG-13)

**

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I “pity the fool” who sees The A-Team, said Lou Lumenick in the New York Post. This big-screen version of the campy 1980s TV series is “overlong, overblown, and utterly forgettable.” The movie stars Liam Neeson as “Hannibal” Smith, Bradley Cooper as “Faceman” Peck, Sharlto Copley as “Howling Mad” Murdock, and Quinton Jackson as B.A. Baracus. Instead of Vietnam vets, this motley crew is composed of Iraq soldiers being framed for a crime they didn’t commit. The plot and character development stop there, said Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times. Director Joe Carnahan is more concerned with staging ludicrous stunts, deploying an insane amount of artillery, and creating crashes of every kind. His A-Team plays like an “NFL highlights reel of cascading cars, exotic explosions, and can-you-top-this craziness.” Everything is “too big, too bold, too shameless,” but then so were the ’80s, said Elizabeth Weitzman in the New York Daily News. The TV show wasn’t that good to start with, but at least the film captures much of the over-the-top fun of the original.