The screenplay for “The A-Team” is a brilliant gem of literacy and dramatic depth, but the action sequences leave something to be desired.
Just checking to make sure you’re paying attention. Of course I’m kidding, but sometimes my fingers get weary of typing the reverse: Hey, here’s a big action blockbuster, the script sucks, but things sure blow up good.
In “The A-Team,” a testosterone inflation of the 1980s TV series, the script at least shows signs of life and the action scenes are crazy-go-nuts. The result is an enjoyable popcorn picture, as long as you’re willing to suspend disbelief about every realistic component of what the human body can survive as punishment.
There’s a story line, which director Joe Carnahan and his co-writers don’t seem to have taken seriously. A dandy opening sequence cements the line-up of the Special Ops undercover group known as the A-Team: leader Hannibal Smith (Liam Neeson), Face Peck (Bradley Cooper), B.A. Baracus (pro wrestler Quinton “Rampage” Jackson), and “Howlin’ Mad” Murdock (Sharlto Copley).
It’s hard to argue with the casting: Neeson brings his authority (and the new butt-kicking image he got from “Taken”), it makes perfect sense to put a pro wrestler in a role once inhabited by the ineffable Mr. T, and “Hangover” star Bradley Cooper, who radiates vanity and a certain oily charm, is well-cast here.
The other name may not be familiar, but Sharlto Copley came out of nowhere to play the lead role in last year’s “District 9,” the hit South African sci-fi epic. His off-kilter style fits his role. (For a couple of cameos, stick around to the end of the end credits.)
The team gets involved in international intrigue that stretches from Bagdad to Germany, some of which is connected to a CIA operative (Patrick Wilson), some of which has to do with Face’s ex (Jessica Biel), an Army captain.
The giant set-pieces include an attempt to “fly” a tank that has fallen out of a plane and a cargo ship that spills its containers all over our heroes.
Carnahan seems to think that since this kind of stuff is unbelievable anyway, he might as well shoot the moon and drop his characters from planes and skyscrapers without them incurring bodily harm. Also, I didn’t mention the truck that barrels out of a tunnel and falls off a cliff into a lake. They survive that, too.
The odd thing is, Carnahan does have a talent for super-macho dialogue scenes — for instance, a hilarious sequence here involving a gun, the CIA guy and a prisoner (co-writer Brian Bloom) in a car.
With a few more scenes like that, “The A-Team” might have been more than a guilty-pleasure summer movie. But you know the drill: so many things to blow up, so little time.
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