The A-Team

A Team movie poster D
Originally uploaded by Movie Poster Shop

When it comes to special ops no one is better than Col. Hannibal Smith and his A-Team – B.A., Face & Murdock. The four can tackle any challenge with a crazy plan and accomplish the mission goal with a minimal body count. While getting ready to leave Iraq they are presented with the ultimate final mission by the CIA – rescue US currency plates and millions in counterfit bills from the insurgents moving them. However, even though the A-team succeeds the are double crossed and end up wrongly imprisoned in separate military facilities biding their time until Hannibal gets his team out and starts them on a mission to clear their names.

I may have been too young when The A-Team initially aired to remember episodes very clearly, but what I can tell you without a doubt is that it was my FAVORITE show for a very long time; when I found out it was being made into a movie, I was a tad bit scared that a piece of my childhood would be ruined – I mean G.I. Joe was nothing more than stupid fun, and don’t even get me started on Transformers. However, let me tell you this - The A-Team totally rocks.

From the moment the film opens you are sucked into a high octane, high fun world of action, intrigue, loyalty and friendship. There is not an unused moment of this film – there is absolutely no down time. The characaters never pause and neither does the audience. This could sound exhausting, but I think it was only about thirty minutes into the film where I decided I had to see The A-Team again because I was having so much fun watching it. Joe Carnahan and team captured the essence of the television show and made it twice as much fun as I remember it being originally.

The best way to talk about why The A-Team rocked is to talk about the cast of characters, because the show and the film are nothing is not lead by an assortment of fun and entertaining individuals.

Liam Neeson plays Hannibal. I don’t remember much about Hannibal on the television show besides a lot of laughter and chomping on cigars, but I think a man that’s played gods and assassins is more than qualified to play the leader of an elite army unit. Neeson was a fantastic Hannibal, he was cocky, street-smart and ready for anything that hit his team.

Quinton Jackson take over the very recognizable role of B.A. – originated by Mr. T. While the movies version of his being added to the team may be a little thin at best, there is no doubt from the first shots that Jackson more than adequately fills Mr. T’s shoes – the only thing missing are the gold chains.

Sharlto Copley may have hit the international geek spotlight when he starred in District 9 but that alone did not make him a shoe-in for my favorite character of the series – Murdock. Yet Copley does Murdock proud, finding the fun and insanity in a character whose loyalty and irreverence make him one of the most vital reasons Hannibal’s plans work. Copley captures that essence that makes you wonder if Murdock is really mad, or is only playing it that way.

Then of course there is Bradley Cooper as Face. I loved Bradley Cooper the moment I first saw him during his brief residence on Alias and I have to tell you I am thrilled that he’s gotten to an A-List standpoint – pun intended. Cooper is an amazing Face – cocky, ingenious, impulsive, creative and always ready to have a good time. He is the perfect choice for Face and in this installment of the franchise is the glue that hold the team, and the movie, together.

Anyone familiar with the show will be thrilled to see tidbits of the familiar littered throughout the film and I have to insist that you stay for the end of the credits to see several familiar faces pop on screen. Whenever I see cameo’s like that I always have to wonder if they are as thrilled as the audience that a character they made beloved is back on screen – even if they are not the one playing them. In this case I hope the surviving original cast is happy, because I know the audience is.

The one thought that struck me while I the credits rolled is that this years The Loser’s really was a cheap homage to The A-Team; it cannot hold a candle to the original and Joe Carnahan proved that while the original can often be imitated, nothing is like the real thing.

Director: Joe Carnahan
Writers: Joe Carnahan, Brian Bloom & Skip Woods
Hannibal: Liam Neeson
Face: Bradley Cooper
B.A.: Quinton Jackson
Murdock: Sharlto Copley
Charisa Sosa: Jessica Biel
Lynch: Patrick Wilson

Capt. Sosa: They are the best, and they specialize in the ridiculous.

Watchmen

Before the Watchmen there was the Minutemen
Originally uploaded by Bucky Rocket

I did see and enjoy Watchmen in less than 24 hours. This film is quite good, entertaining, and worthy of adoration. However, that being said there are some problems with Watchmen.

I do have to say that my first pet peeve with Watchmen is some of the music. I understand that Snyder wanted to keep the music rooted in the era of Watchmen but for me when two of the songs were used it ended up being utterly laughable.

The first was the use of Flight of the Valkyrie’s when we first flashed to Dr. Manhattan & the Comedian participating in the Vietnam War. This was such a cliché and took me out of the moment completely. After Apocalypse Now that song cannot be used without very specific connotations and imagery. It shouldn’t be used for Vietnam any more.

Secondly, I thought using the song Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen when Nite Owl & Silk Spectre finally hook was downright laughable – and I’m not the only one that thought that – a majority of the audience at both showings I went to laughed at this song choice and this is not supposed to be a laugh educing scene.

I must also express without giving any spoilers that I liked Watchmen but after reading the graphic novel I am not sure if I like how they changed the ending. The original ending in the graphic novel plays on the very 1980’s mentality that was afraid of the outside world; now the ending plays to the very contemporary mentality of the enemy within and I am not sure I like that. I think time will tell which is the better ending.

What I do have to say is that I am very sorry that Alan Moore fel the need to exclude his name from the credits of Watchmen; Moore has been burned time and again by the Hollywood system and when he found out Watchmen was going to be a reality he took his name off of it without ever considering it. As rumor has it Moore refuses to ever see the film. Ultimately, I think that is quite sad as Watchmen preserves as much of Moore’s tale that is physically possible.

Edward Blake: God damn I love working on American soil, Dan. Ain't had this much fun since Woodward and Bernstein. Congress is pushing through some new bill that's gonna outlaw masks. Our days are numbered. Till then it's like you always say, we're society's only protection.
Dan Dreiberg: From what?
Edward Blake: You kidding me? From themselves.

Watchmen

Watchmen: Comedian
Originally uploaded by AsceticMonk

Since its publication there has been the universal theory that Watchmen is one of the single most brilliant pieces of literature ever written, and possibly right next to Atlas Shrugged as one of the most unfilmable pieces of literature.

I am one of the ones that agrees - Watchmen is unfilmable – but Zach Snyder may have gotten as close to filming Watchmen as anyone can every hope to get. There are simply things in Watchmen that cannot fit into a movie: Hollace Mason’s autobiography, the news stories of missing artists & scientists, the relationship of Sally with her husband/manager, the newsstand, the black freighter, the lesbian cab driver; if everything that were in the graphic novel were in Watchmen the movie would have to be at least six hours long, or 2-3 separate movies.

Watchmen at its core is the story of a group of retired superheroes; it is told from the perspective of a world that is our reality (only slightly tweaked to change history), a world that actually relied on heroes until they began to see them as a threat. The question behind the story is how do these characters deal with being more than the average citizen when they are no longer allowed to use those skills. For some it eats away at who they are, some have no sense of identity, one feels like he is no longer a member of humanity and only one of them remains active despite being a wanted man. This is a story that explore the morality and humanity of the superhero myth.

When reading the graphic novel my favorite character was Comedian, which is actually quite disturbing as he is possibly one of the most amoral characters in history, but he is the character that galvanizes the plot of the story, and he is by far the most symbolic of all the characters. In the filmic version Comedian is played with brilliance by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. I have loved watching this man at his craft since I discovered him on the CW’s Supernatural and I hope he has a long career on the big screen.

All in all Watchmen is a damn fine interpretation of Alan Moore’s graphic novel, but it does have a few things I have issues with. However, that is for a different review as I saw Watchmen twice in less than 24 hours.

Director: Zack Snyder
Writers: David Hayter & Alex Tse
Laurie Jupiter/ Silk Spectre: Malin Akerman
Jon Osterman/Dr. Manhattan: Billy Crudup
Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias: Matthew Goode
Walter Kovacs/Rorschach: Jackie Earle Hayley
Edward Blake/Comedian: Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl: Patrick Wilson
Sally Jupiter/Silk Spectre: Carla Gugino
Hollis Mason/Nite Owl: Stephen McHattie
Richard Nixon: Robert Wisden

Adrian Veidt: It doesn't take a genius to see the world has problems.
Edward Blake: No, but it takes a room full of morons to think they're small enough for them to handle.