The Thousands

It’s a shame The A-Team hits cinemas so soon after The Losers. Both kablooey-tastic movies feature a wisecracking, wronged elite military team trying to take down the evil insider who framed them. Both favour complex capers full of subterfuge and split-second timing. Both introduce each team member with an awesome freeze-frame. And they’re both awash with casual misogyny, spectacularly failing the Bechdel test.

The difference is familiarity. Resisting the temptation to parody its 80s TV origins, The A-Team instead wallows in them. Liam Neeson devours cigars as urbane, plan-loving leader Hannibal; Bradley Cooper is buff and smarmy as ladies’ man Face, and Sharlto Copley the appropriately deranged pilot Howling Mad Murdock. I was most worried about how UFC fighter Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson could shake off Mr T’s fool-pitying legacy, but he plays BA Baracus as a dignified teddy bear, guileless and inarticulate.

I enjoyed The A-Team‘s visual flair and sense of fun: action sequences are intercut with their planning sessions, and there’s a wonderfully preposterous scene in which the team ‘fly’ a tank. Jessica Biel tries hard to be badass, but her romantic subplot with Cooper left a nasty tokenistic taste in my mouth.