The A-Team

Months after its not so surprisingly poor performance at the box office this summer, Joe Carnahan's (Narc, Smoking Aces) film adaptation of The A-Team finally hits DVD shelves with an extended cut that contains even more explosions but still manages to lack the same amount of substance and momentum the theatrical version was desperately in need of. While the film is jam-packed with enough stylized action and macho male posturing to satisfy many fan boys' urges, Carnahan's self-gratifying passion project sadly fails to engage its viewers with its convoluted plot and paper-thin characters in this over-budgeted, mediocre film. Although there will be those who are able to somehow follow and comprehend the Alpha Unit's "Black Ops" mission of stealing U.S. Treasury Plates being used to produce counterfeit money in Baghdad, many of the film's target audience will be spending the time waiting for Bradley Cooper to scratch their Hangover itch by saying something funny, while viewers who can actually remember the television show will be disappointed to see the film has exploited sex and violence in ways the television show never would. However, unlike other commercial and critical film adaptation duds like The Mod Squad and Miami Vice, Carnahan's adaptation of The A-Team manages to capture the same goofy, playful tone of the beloved action show throughout its agonizingly formulaic narrative, thus making The A-Team a fairly harmless, yet forgettable, watch. The DVD includes a commentary track with Carnahan continuously bringing up how the film was filmed in British Columbia and constantly criticising the stuntmen used in the movie. The DVD also includes a 90-second, action-packed feature entitled "A-Team Theme Mash-Up Montage" for those who can't bother, or are too smart, to sit through the entire film.