The A-Team: Just a good old action film!

A group of Iraqi War vets known as The A-Team are on the run from the military. They are accused of a crime they did not commit and are not only trying to clear their names, but also bring the real perpetrators to justice.

Far from being just another big, dumb excuse for showing explosions the film had an actual story to it (certainly one tinged with hints of the modern world as in the movie evil military contractors and shady Government agencies were after a set of one hundred dollar bill printing plates and framed The A-Team when they stole them) that kept the audience engaged but all director Joe Carnahan needed was the slightest bit of a plot so that he could unleash a plethora of outlandish and extremely entertaining action sequences that would have mouths gaping (the “flying” of the tank was my personal favorite). Throw in a sturdy and effective performance from Liam Neeson as the team's leader Hannibal Smith, good support from Bradley Cooper as Face and Sharlto Copley as Murdock (sorry Quinton Jackson, I did not buy you as B.A. for a second), plus the always beautiful Jessica Biel and you get a nice bit of popcorn action film amusement that will keep you entertained.

If you are looking for the prototypical summer action film extravaganza, you could not do much better than The A-Team.

Grade: B-

Smokin Aces: All style, no substance

When a one million dollar hit is put out on Las Vegas illusionist and wannabe Mafioso Buddy “Aces” Israel, a number of unsavory figures track him down to his penthouse suite in Lake Tahoe and raise hell trying to collect the bounty.

Smokin Aces certainly had its share of memorable characters which livened up the screen, including the sadistic Tremor Brothers, a pair of female assassins (one of which was R&B singer Alicia Keys) and Ryan Reynolds who earned some action chops as a somewhat straight laced FBI agent. Once the attack on Buddy’s penthouse started, its hyperkinetic pace and stylized nature kept action fans contented until the credits rolled.

But it failed to capitalize upon the obvious visual storytelling talents of its director Joe Carnahan. Unfortunately, he has no one to blame but himself because he wrote the script, and the story spent so much time ineffectively setting up most of the players in the hunt for Buddy that by the time the violence did start, the audience was indifferent as to who got killed or even if anyone got Buddy. Also, there were two specific story points that seemed to be totally unnecessary and succeeded only in slowing it to a halt. One was the Matthew Fox (Dr. Jack in Lost) cameo which only went on for as long as it did because he was in the menial part and the other was the run-in Hollis had with an ADD suffering kid that rivaled Jar Jar Binks in annoyance. Carnahan tried to go Tarantino and make Smokin Aces the kind of film people would easily and readily quote lines from (a permanent part of pop culture) but it was nothing more than a good looking wannabe.

Grade: C