Liam Neeson in talks for 'A-Team'

[Hammock Parties]

Mood: Excited

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...goryid=13&cs=1

Liam Neeson is in negotiations with 20th Century Fox to star in its long-gestating bigscreen adaptation of "The A-Team" as Col. John "Hannibal" Smith. Bradley Cooper is in early talks to play Lt. Templeton "Faceman" Peck in the Joe Carnahan-directed pic based on the 1980s TV series.

Production begins in late August for a June 11, 2010, release.

Ridley Scott is producing with Jules Daly and series creator Stephen J. Cannell, with Tony Scott exec producing through Scott Free. Carnahan and Brian Bloom polished a script by Skip Woods, whose recent script credits include "G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra" and "Wolverine."

Neeson is in talks to play Hannibal, the role originated by George Peppard, while Cooper would play "Faceman," the role played by Dirk Benedict.

Neeson and Fox are working out money issues. He is coming off the global hit "Taken" and most recently completed "Chloe" and "Clash of the Titans," playing Zeus in the latter.

Cooper has established himself as a commodity after his starring role in Todd Phillips-directed hit "The Hangover." He just completed playing the title role opposite Sandra Bullock in "All About Steve."

Carnahan, Fox and Scott Free have kept the series premise -- four war vets wrongly convicted of armed robbery escape from a military prison to become do-gooder mercenaries -- but they've replaced the campy nature of the series with a tone closer to those of "Mission: Impossible" and "Ocean's Eleven."

Still to be cast are the roles of Capt. "Howling Mad" Murdock, played by Dwight Schultz in the original, and Sgt. "B.A." Baracus, the role that made Mr. T an '80s icon.

[Hammock Parties]

Brilliant.

First things first: there are some Mad Men showing up in films nowadays.

Second: there is no plot to this movie. What plot there is doesn't appear to matter to anyone at any time, because it just creates gigantic excuses for setpieces on top of setpieces.

Third: god bless it for it. This is the funnest movie of the summer so far, and has a good chance of sticking there until August. Everything is batshit insane. And I mean batshit. The whole setup is weird - the movie starts with Hannibal and Face already working for the Army, Hannibal tries to take B.A.'s van en route to saving Face from being killed by a Mexican drug lord, they save Face and the drug lord's wife (whom Face had slept with), get to a hospital, pick up Murdock, B.A. develops a fear of flying when Murdock's avoidance of heat-seeking missiles ends up launching him out the side of the helicopter, and, well, the entire point of the helicopter bit? To bring the drug lord across the border so that it would invade American airspace, thus causing an American jet to fire at it and blow it up. BAM. TITLE. This is a Joe Carnahan movie through and through. The movie just goes to insane levels from that point on, literally filling every bit of time between the next gunfight/explosion/chase/fistfight/mexican standoff/rampage/cooking session with about seven thousand jokes. Everyone's mugging for the camera. It feels so much like someone gave Joe Carnahan way too much money and said "try to make a franchise out of a TV show and make it look like Smokin' Aces." And he went off and did it. There's like five minutes of downtime where it gets serious (smartly this scene legit spends four minutes on Liam Neeson's face, since he's the only one who can pull it off), like an hour into the movie. Then it's back to wackadoo insanity cuckoo bird explosion slapstick gunfight bodyslam smirk. The movie's relentless. It wears you down. It works about as well as The Losers, and is about as deep. It's a compliment. This is the funnest thing to arrive in theaters since Kick-rear end.

Will it hold together on a second viewing? gently caress no. But neither has anything else this summer (maybe MacGruber, maybe Get Him to The Greek). Most haven't held up to one viewing. This one, thankfully, does.

[Deberg_1990]

From thr director of blood, guts, bullets and octane and smokin aces! I wouldn't expect anything less...
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[Hammock Parties]

I watched an episode of the A-Team last night...something about them taking out a beer company that was trying to strong-arm a little soda factory so they could buy the land.

It was wonderfully awful.

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by GoChiefs

I watched an episode of the A-Team last night...something about them taking out a beer company that was trying to strong-arm a little soda factory so they could buy the land.

It was wonderfully awful.

Yea.....its pretty bad. Pretty much every episode was the same.
Posted via Mobile Device

[DBOSHO]

Originally Posted by Guru

Did anyone actually get shot?

Of course. Plenty of bullets

[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.

[Hammock Parties]

Pretty much better than any A-Team episode ever.

****ing. Awesome.

Stay after the credits.

[Hammock Parties]

Hannibal's intro is just about the coolest intro for a badass I think I've ever seen. It was just so ****ing slick.

I'm hoping there are more A-Team movies. These guys could be better than the original A-Team.

By the way, lots and lots of little uses of the A-Team theme. I was a little disappointed we didn't get the full blown movement until the credits, though.

Also, it was so funny to see Hannibal using an AK-47 that looked like it popped right out of the TV show.

[DBOSHO]

Originally Posted by GoChiefs

Hannibal's intro is just about the coolest intro for a badass I think I've ever seen. It was just so ****ing slick.

I'm hoping there are more A-Team movies. These guys could be better than the original A-Team.

By the way, lots and lots of little uses of the A-Team theme. I was a little disappointed we didn't get the full blown movement until the credits, though.

Also, it was so funny to see Hannibal using an AK-47 that looked like it popped right out of the TV show.

i really liked the 3d movie with the hummer.
And there isnt even a word to describe how badass the scene with the falling tank was.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by DBOSHO

i really liked the 3d movie with the hummer.
And there isnt even a word to describe how badass the scene with the falling tank was.

I just about lost my shit when Hannibal started firing shells to "fly" the tank.

The hummer breakout was cool....not only because the movie played the A-Team theme, but "Reginald Barclay" was in the credits.

By the way, there are several breakout scenes in this movie, and they all rock.

[007]

Originally Posted by GoChiefs

I just about lost my shit when Hannibal started firing shells to "fly" the tank.

The hummer breakout was cool....not only because the movie played the A-Team theme, but "Reginald Barclay" was in the credits.

By the way, there are several breakout scenes in this movie, and they all rock.

Thats great!!!!

[Hammock Parties]

By the way, I wanted to shoot the screen during the stupid Twilight movie preview. Ugh.

[Fairplay]

Liam's career is in utter failure when it comes to acting in these roles. You know the film would be the suckage.

[Deberg_1990]

Funny how neeson has reinvented himself as an action star.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Frankie]

Originally Posted by Fairplay

Liam's career is in utter failure when it comes to acting in these roles. You know the film would be the suckage.

I was a big fan of George Peppard. But I hated the A-Team. However the purist in me thinks Liam is totally miscast as Hannibal here. I heard they originally wanted Bruce Willis. That would have been a much better choice for this role.