I posted this last night, and had 5 online with in a minute... there was a problem, though, so today... we go again!
I've actually met Andy (AKA Andrew, AKA @ComedyFish).
He was doing a great job of cheering me up, after having £400 stolen. Then Steven Gerrard ruined all of his good work.
Son of a bitch.
Take it away @ComedyFish
Duh Dun Der DEEEERR. Dun ner Neeeerrrrrr
Duh dun dun der, ner neh-neh-ner NEEEEER
Ah that perfect rendition of the A-Team theme tune has surely transported you back to the 80s, well it surely has if you’re in your 30s like what I is.
Lets face it the 80s was a great time to watch TV as a kid: Buck Rodgers, Battlestar Galactica, Automan, Knight Rider, Street Hawk, Airwolf… er Manimal and of course the A-Team.
Roll on 30 or so years and Hollywood has run out of ideas and seems set on raping our childhood memories
This summer (2010 of the year of our Lord) saw the release of the much hyped A-Team film starring Liam Neeson (Hannibal), Bradley Cooper (Face), Sharlto Copley (Murdock, who by far steals the film) and some dude called Quinton "Rampage" Jackson as(BA). The film is basically a ‘how did it all start’ kind of film and so in a way the first half is basically a recounting of the famous A-Team opening monologue
“In 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. They promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no-one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-Team.
KABLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM!!!!!!!!!!”
Now cleverly the makers of the updated version, Joe Carnahan (director and writer) (he did Smokin’ Aces), and Skip Woods (he done Wolverine) realised it is best to move the action forward from 1972 to 2002 and so not have 55 year old war veterans jumping around, blowing shit up and basically giving themselves all hernias for 2 hours.
It’s ~2002 and our heroes don’t know each other (well Hannibal and Face do but the gang ain’t together yet). Each is introduced with their own pretty nifty story line, showing how ace and everything they are. They get together and then via a handy caption we are told its 8 years later and they have had 80 successful missions. Obviously it’s not worth giving away the rest of the plot but suffice to say they get set up (a la the original monologue) bust out of prison and then set out to clear their names.
This film is simply a lot of fun. Completely ridiculous fun. It keeps elements of the original series, sometimes too much (Hannibal says ‘plan’ about an infinite amount of times in the first 10 minutes), you see them gather materials for their makeshift equipment etc and although the characters are given a slighter harder edge, it never takes itself too seriously. In that way its done a very good job because although often you are sitting looking at the screen going “What the Hell????” you’re doing it with a smile on your face. This is a knowing film which never seems to besmirch the original. When the gang’s plane gets blown up and they basically use a tank attached to parachutes to escape… you want to look around and share the moment with your mate… when they start to STEER the floating tank by firing its gun turret it all seems perfectly normal!
There is also a lot of humour in the dialogue too, I laughed out loud lots in this film, this is simply a ‘grab your popcorn, leave your brain at the door and enjoy this’ type of movie.
However this film is by no means perfect, several bits didn’t gel with me specifically BA finding God (in no way necessary or done well) and the whole Docks scene. For some reason Face takes over making the plans and the plan is stupid and all over the place. There is far too much CGI and in fact I didn’t like it one bit – and that’s a good 15 mins of the movie.
However I came out enjoying the film as a whole (which I think is a testament to the very enjoyable first 4/5ths of the movie) and actually hope they make another one (although Neeson is famous for ‘not doing sequels’)
Overall I give it 4 out of 5 fishies!
Lovely stuff. Cheers, Andy.
Why not get off your ass this weekend and go and see it?
You know... to sit on your ass, in the Cinema.
There's a few goodies out at the mo. Theres Inception, Toy Story 3, Knight And Day, Splice, Karate Kid,
Flash and I will be back with our thoughts on Salt, so look out for that, too!
Hit the 3-D Post Cloud and look for Cinema, or Film.
*sighs*
Or just hit this link.
No comments:
Post a Comment