Hey folks, Harry here - I feel weird about this A-TEAM feature. I love the cast & director, but honestly - I'd much prefer for Carnahan to be bringing us his ESCOBAR epic - but if there has to be an A-TEAM movie, this is how I'd like to see it get handled. It does disturb me a bit that it seems to be such a direct lift off of the TV show, but then, we'd gripe if it wasn't, right? Just a very odd feeling project, need to see this trailer though, stat!
Hi Harry, if you choose to use this, you can call me HazMatt. Man, am I on the jazz now! As a movie theatre projectionist, I get the upcoming weekend's trailer hard drive on Monday. I went to ingest that bad boy today, and what did I spy? The first official trailer for The A-Team! It's mere presence surprised me, but the trailers 1:41 run time had me salivating. Just enough time time to watch it twice before we had to start seating for Avatar. Enough to satisfy my craving, but not enough to memorize everything and give you a full rundown. What I do remember... Starts off as you'd expect, with just a hint of the theme music and it's variation of the classic voiceover (Apparently they were arrested one year ago for a crime they didn't commit), which runs throughout the trailer. We see Hannibal in his colonel uniform attending a military funeral. Next we get quick shots of the team breaking out of a prison bus and then Hannibal meeting with Face on a beach. Some footage of fast cars and a shot of B.A. getting out of one. It's filmed from the rear, so we can get a good look at the mohawk! That just leaves Murdock, who's introduced in his familiar jacket/cap getup, complete with pilot's headset. From there it's all high action mixed with nostalgia, sure to leave fans of the show with a "plot-hatching Hannibal" sized grin. Everyone involved gets to break out a well known piece of of their character. Hannibal gets to chomp a stogie and proclaim "I love it when a plan comes together". B.A. gets to act hella-tough and lament on how much he missed his van. Which of course gets a big a reveal as any of the characters. Which is only fair, there are few vehicles more iconic than that GMC van. Face, full of his trademark charisma, questions the sanity of Hannibal's plan, tells B.A. that he has a bad attitude and makes out with Jessica Biel's Lt. Sosa character. And Murdock, who get's the least amount of screen time, still finds time to show us how off kilter he is by calmly announcing that their planes wing is on fire. After the escape and the character revealing we get around 30 seconds of the team on their mission which is all ziplines and gunfire and helicopters. It ends with the bullet riddled A Team logo and the tagline "There is no plan B". Don't look to me for a accurate critical review of this thing. I'm far too biased. I absolutely love the show and it looks like they're trying to keep it's fun spirit alive whilst ratcheting up the action several notches. So it's more than alright by me. But I can offer my opinions on a few small matters. From what I gleamed in the trailer, it looks like Bradley Cooper is staying the truest to his television counterpart. Something about the way he delivers his lines reminds me of Dirk Benedict's Faceman through and through. On the other hand, Sharlto Copley's Murdock seems to be from from the south. Unless that's just Murdock putting on a southern accent, as Murdock would do! Looks like Quinton Jackson is just playing a gruffer version of himself, which is fine, as Mr. T did the exact same thing. As for Liam Neeson... Look... Nobody will EVER truly replace george Peppard as Hannibal. I'm sorry, but he IS Hannibal. If he were still alive today I'd be the first signature on the petition to have his 80 year old face gracing the screen as the teams true leader. But having said that, Liam Neeson seems well suited to the role. He has that twinkle in his eye. The one that says, "I'll probably land us in a situation that will may us killed, but we'll have one hell of a time getting there.". He looks the part and sounds the part and I don't think he'll find a lot of negativity from the fans. My only gripes about the trailer are: 1. The theme music isn't fully there, just a tease of what it might sound like performed by a full orchestra and 2. I maybe wrong about this, but I don't think I saw a single flipped jeep! Believe me, this trailer does everything a good teaser should, it touches all the right bases without giving too much away. I don't know where you'll be this June 11th, but me personally? Even if it's just for two hours, I'll be hiring... the A-Team.
