A-Team, movie... thing. Discussion and Spoilers

[drasche]

I've had to wait for a week before watching the movie at the local theater (because of friends with not up to date schedule ) but finally, I saw it two days ago.

And I must say, I was expecting a good movie but I got an awesome one instead, so no real complaint. The cast was great. I was worried a bit about Quinton Jackson but in the end, he did a fine job. Sharlto Copley was totally amazing. I forgot for the entire movie he was the guy from District 9 and that says a lot about his acting talent. Neeson and Cooper were also right on spot with their characters. Cooper very much felt like the original Face while having his own style. Neeson doesn't exactly look like Peppard but I didn't mind at all.

My only criticism is about humor: the first half of the movie made us laugh so hard, I wished I could say the same for the second half. Of course there was good humor, just not as much.

Actions scenes and the "plans" were so over the top, and the scenes like the one with the exploding containers, but oh well, it's the A-Team on a grand scale so I don't mind.

I didn't know they would do an origin story, it was a welcome surprise, that way the movie could establish a few things like B.A.'s dislike for flying and Murdoch, which unsurprisingly are related

I wish I knew about the cameo AFTER the credits, but the music on the closing credits made me leave. I guess I'll see that on the DVD when it's released.

Lots of fun moments, the helicopter chase, the flying tank (best quote of the movie as far as I am concerned ), and the passports switch at the airport come to mind

Now I'm eagerly waiting for a sequel, and it better be as much fun!

 

[Captain Craig]

I saw it Wednesday night again for the second time with a friend who hadn't yet seen it. The humor at the start when planning for the Baghdad plate jobs is great. Murdoch's "blue man group transition to Braveheart" had good laughter all around.

I worthy movie to the TV show. I hope it can find legs, make modest profit and prove worthy of a sequel also.

 

[Servo]

Just saw it. I thought it was cheesy, outrageous,and completely unbelievable... and fucking awesome with it.

The most fun I've had watching a film in ages.

Murdock was by far the best of the bunch. Played to perfection by Copely.

"These bullets are in 3-D. It's like we're actually being shot at!"

 

[Australis]

THought it a complete hoot, and better than I thought it would be. Was never a fan of the TV show (which just seemed too cheesy). Hope there's a sequel.

 

[Captain Craig]

It's not going to make budget during its USdom run so sadly the odds of a sequel are diminished.
With the way it ended, marking a more direct tie to the TV show fugitives angle I was hoping for a sequel myself.

 

[the_wildcard]

It's not going to make budget during its USdom run so sadly the odds of a sequel are diminished.
With the way it ended, marking a more direct tie to the TV show fugitives angle I was hoping for a sequel myself.

Hmm, it only made $71 million in US, but it made $54 million internationally, for a total of $132 million. I guess that's not enough in Hollywood?

 

[Trekker4747]

It's not going to make budget during its USdom run so sadly the odds of a sequel are diminished.
With the way it ended, marking a more direct tie to the TV show fugitives angle I was hoping for a sequel myself.

Hmm, it only made $71 million in US, but it made $54 million internationally, for a total of $132 million. I guess that's not enough in Hollywood?

Not when your movie cost $110m to make and likely half-that again in promotions.

 

[RookieBatman]

Was never a fan of the TV show (which just seemed too cheesy).

It's certainly not for everybody, but I would recommend trying it again with the mindset that it's supposed to be cheesy. It's kinda like the old Batman show, where if you approach it as a serious show, it'll just see really silly and childish, but if you realize that the cheesiness is very intentional humor, then it actually becomes quite funny.

As good as the movie was, my favorite part of at this point is that it's got me back into watching the show. And yeah, it's not quite as stylish (in terms of our modern style) as the movie, but then, the movie didn't have Mr. T or the excellent George Peppard. Your mileage may vary, of course.

Hmm, it only made $71 million in US, but it made $54 million internationally, for a total of $132 million. I guess that's not enough in Hollywood?

Not when your movie cost $110m to make and likely half-that again in promotions.

Yeah, I've been told that a good rule of thumb to go by is that a movie needs to make about three times its given budget to really be considered profitable.

 

[Captain Craig]

Hmm, it only made $71 million in US, but it made $54 million internationally, for a total of $132 million. I guess that's not enough in Hollywood?

Not when your movie cost $110m to make and likely half-that again in promotions.

Yeah, I've been told that a good rule of thumb to go by is that a movie needs to make about three times its given budget to really be considered profitable.

For the big buget movies its not a bad rule.
Example: Prince Caspian, cost-$200, take-$150
Lots at play on its sequel but typically if it doesn't make back its US production budget sequels don't happen, typically. Voyage of Dawntreader(Narnia 3) due out November '10.

Some movies need only make back their budget + some. Not even hitting 2x like Blade, AvP or similar. The new Predators just hit production buget and is likely to only do $60-65m on a $40m budget but don't be shocked if a sequel is done.
Why? Cause the marketing is less on these despite it being a summer movie.

A-Team could have less in marketing than we think. I say its iffy but would love to see one.

 

[Technobuilder]

A-Team was the type of movie I expected to just be alright and ended up being very enjoyable and entertaining.

It's a shame it didn't have any legs at the box office... as it was one of the better movies to be released this summer.

 

[Trekker4747]

I'd really like to see a sequel too and it may may happen if the movie finishes a decent/fair run in theaters and does good on home video.

 

[Mr Pointy Ears]

I was excepting it to big like most of the big screen versions of 80's tv show remakes--BAD,but i was pretty happy with the movie,they dtuck with the format not and going over board(trying to fly the tank)hope they do some more A team movies.

 

[gh4chiefs]

Well I finally broke down and saw this movie last night. I had real reservations about it because I have such a disdain for remakes, especially shows that I was really invested in (The A-Team was one of my favorite 80's shows along with Magnum and Dukes of Hazard).

After seeing it, I'm probably little more "meh" about it than most of the reviews here. It wasn't like it was horrible or anything, it certainly had lots of enjoyable moments (except I was at the whole "flying tank" scene). All the actors had their moments that I really liked, where I could see the link to originals. I probably liked Hannibal the least, I guess I just liked the more goofy/glib Hannibal as portrayed by Peppard. The constant reference to BA as Boscoe (Yes I know this is his name) was a little disconcerting IMHO.

Overall it better than most remakes out there, but I guess my love of the original probably didn't let me really get into it. And since I was predisposed to not like it, I guess I came away with about as positive of an experience as I was going to get with it. I'm ambivalent about sequels.

 

[FPAlpha]

Gave it a C as a movie on its own (so far not comparing it to the TV show),

It was a typical Hollywood summer action movie.. way over the top, with a paper thin plot and the usual rock soundtrack and cool one liners mixed in with a small lovestory and some personal problems that are solved. Nothing unusual to see and it would have been fine if the title was not "A-Team".

I love the show to death (apart from the last season) because i grew up with it and for as long as i remember Saturday and Sunday was always A Team with several episodes coming up so i could always watch them.
The show had a grand heart and the characters were awesome, funny and very entertaining. Objectively speaking it was not high quality.. the scheme for almost every episode was the same. Some people need help, Hannibal makes a funny contact scene, they kick some ass and then build something out of junk to kick some more ass and win the day.

This movie failed to capture that.. while i think the actors were well chosen (especially liked Bradley Cooper as Face) they didn't come close to the originals even though they tried.

No one can fill in the shoes of Mr. T and Dwight Shultz and their special chemistry but to be fair they only had one movie to establish something and not several seasons.

Biggest drawback was the absolutely embarrassing CIA "villain".. an amateur if there ever was one and the scene where they want to shoot the mercenary leader in the car was just embarrassing and ruined the entire movie. Why? Because that scene made a joke of the main villain and thus not any danger at all.

Remember Gruber from Die Hard? Now that was a villain.. very smart, always one step ahead of the authorities and ruthless like hell. The Die Hard franchise would have died right there if we would have gotten such a joke right there.

So as movies go it's a solid C.. nothing truly memorable but i've seen worse.

Btw...did someone catch the easter egg when they saw "A-Team Movie" at the military asylum and one of the actors was named Reginald Barclay

 

[gh4chiefs]

. . . it would have been fine if the title was not "A-Team".

That was kind of my thoughts as I was watching it. Call it something else, give these guys different names, and I probably would have enjoyed it more.

At times I thought it kind of suffered from an identity crisis. There were times when there was the crazy over-the-top "cartoonish" action that you might expect from the series (flying tank comes to mind) but at other times it seemed to want to be a more gritty, "down and dirty" action movie.

 

[rainrotoka]

I like this movie, It is a wonderful a action movie for me. I like Liam Neeson, Jessica Biel, they both have done a fabulous job in this movie. Jessica Biel is my one of favorite Actress. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_Cooper

 

[Servo]

. . . it would have been fine if the title was not "A-Team".

That was kind of my thoughts as I was watching it. Call it something else, give these guys different names, and I probably would have enjoyed it more.

No you wouldn't. You'd be in here going on about how this new movie just ripped off the A-Team instead.

 

[gh4chiefs]

. . . it would have been fine if the title was not "A-Team".

That was kind of my thoughts as I was watching it. Call it something else, give these guys different names, and I probably would have enjoyed it more.

No you wouldn't. You'd be in here going on about how this new movie just ripped off the A-Team instead.

Hey don't presume to speak for me, ok?

 

[Servo]

Hey don't presume to speak for me, ok?

After telling us how much you loved the original A-Team series, and how invested you were in it, I'd bet my entire bank account that if they had given this film a different title and changed the character names, you'd have been bitching that they ripped off the A-Team, and that they should have had the balls to make a proper A-Team film instead.

Am I wrong?

 

[gh4chiefs]

Yes you're wrong, You don't know one thing about what I would or wouldn't say about some hypothetical movie that doesn't exist. This thread was about discussing what we thought about THIS movie and I did that. Again don't presume you know what I'll say about another movie. I made no personal comments about you or any other poster in this thread, so how about you doing the same?