You’re not going to be having any insights about the human condition watching The A-Team, but films of this nature aren’t intended to provoke thought.  This is pure Hollywood fanfare, which is so frequently plagued by bad scripts and worse acting.  The A Team, however, manages to sidestep those mistakes.

Walking in, I had only a vague recollection of the ‘80s TV show, which I watched pretty regularly as a kid.  This mild impression of characters without recalling specifics (Mr. T was muscular and said “I pity the fool” and had a mohawk, Face wore disguises, etc) may have worked to my advantage, as I wasn’t distracted by re-defined character traits.  I had no recollection at all of Murdock or Hannibal.

Joe Carnahan, Brian Bloom and Skip Woods pioneer the way with a solid, humorous script that - despite falling into many action film cliches - satisfies.  Sure, it’s annoying that Hannibal doesn’t just kill the bad guy like any truly smart leader would have done, and it’s annoying that this omission drives the entire third act.  And the characters defy gravity and mortality more than once...  But these are defining attributes of the genre, and must be taken with a grain of salt.

The true star of the film, appropriately, is the ensemble of four characters - each quickly introduced, each brilliantly cast, and each well-acted.  Neeson’s cigar-puffing, mastermind-cackling portrayal of Hannibal grounds the film. Sharlto Copley proves that his strong breakthrough performance (in District 9) wasn’t a one-time fluke; his Murdock is both mad and brilliant.  Bradley Cooper puts his usually-slimy characterization to rest and plays a more identifiable and charismatic Face.  Newcomer Quinton Jackson fills Mr. T’s shoes brilliantly as Baracus, perhaps the hardest role to fill.  And Patrick Wilson’s ubiquitous Lynch rounds out the cast.  Even Jessica Biel isn’t terribly annoying in her role (likely because it’s small).

The story itself is nothing to write home about, but is entertaining to watch and not overly predictable.  The action sequences are of a blockbuster scale, and are well-directed and sharply edited by Joe Carnahan and Roger Barton, respectively. 

I anticipate a sequel, which I would likely see...