[Hammock Parties]

YES!

This is a good deal of fun. It's honest to the original material but fun enough that it really does feel like a movie and not just a slightly upsized episode might be for a show on Fox. I will say that it goes a bit too far in the finale, but other than that it's a more than worthy remake.

The cast is roundly excellent. Neeson still sounds like Neeson but he seems comfortable and the grey hair ties the character together. Cooper is a good Face and the script does him favors to build the character so that was fun. BA gets the most "character" development in the movie, which is probably for the best so that it wasn't two hours of someone trying to ape Mr. T's mannerisms and quips. He gets that stuff in and it's fun, but he's given a little here and there to say so it helps. I didn't even know that District 9's Copely was going to be Murdoch so that was a pleasant surprise. They actually let him have his accent or to do other accents a few times so I can't say how well he actually does as an American but regardless Murdoch and BA had good moments and Murdoch alone was the source of much audience laughter.

The plot is a little scattered but workable. I really liked that they showed several phases of the team rather than go the Mission Impossible route of showing just one operation. You get a feel for them before they formed up, after they were comfortable, and after they're on the run. It gives a nice broad basis so you aren't just supposed to accept any camaraderie or history. They also stayed true to the MacGyvering basis of the series several times, which I felt helped make it, as a film, stand apart from just being any other action setpiece movie. You don't get a lot of movies where they cobble something together like this, so it gave it character.

The action is over the top but the only time I slightly taken out of it was during the finale where it got a little too much "running from a greenscreen threat that will never harm them". Outside of that it was silly but okay. There is some shakeycam for those that are sensitive to that but the film is also paced well enough so it wasn't overwhelming and they did a fair job of establishing what was going on to help people follow along. Sit a few rows further back and I think you'll be fine.

If I had some issues, it was that their plans were extremely precarious and several times rely on people doing Bond villain talking before shooting or to shoot in particular locations. The big CG ending was perhaps too much and there are a couple of punchlines or alternate takes used in the trailers that felt missing in the film.

Oh, and stay to the end for a scene after the credits roll.