The A-Team movie!

[Jawa Ex Machina]

It might...My concern is with the consensus being the thinness of the script. Not that I expected Mamet...but if it's just a series of setpieces held together with the flimsiest excuse of a plot I'll be disappointed, as I expected a little more with Carnahan at the helm.

He shares writing cred on this with Brian Bloom (debut writing cred) and Skip Woods (Wolverine, Hitman, Swordfish).

What does that tell you?

 

[David Jimerson]

Having a thin plot doesn't necessarily mean it won't be fun. One of my favorite popcorn flicks is Twister, and it has NO, none, zero plot, and the attempts to create one are actually embarrassing. But it's still darn fun to watch.

 

[Batutta]

I hated Twister...I was hoping the filmmakers would at least try, but when I read stuff like "The film seems nearly writer-free. Absolutely no time gets wasted on story, character development or logic. The film lurches from one action sequence to another, with little connection between the sequences.", I'm not encouraged. Oh, well.

 

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

I look at it this way, it's based on a so-so TV show. I bet there's as much plot as there was in any of the shows. They were usually about the team going out to do the impossible. I bet not much has changed.

Anyone expecting more is kidding themselves.

MAH

 

[David Jimerson]

That much is true. It's pointless to be disappointed about something which was always going to be what it is. If you are, then you had unreasonable expectations.

 

[Sad Max]

1) Innocent(s) in trouble

2) A-Team decides to help out. This usually involves Face or Hannibal doing something disguise-y.

3) Bad Guys threaten Innocent(s)

4) A-Team threatens Bad Guys

5) BA Baracus pities somebody. Murdoch flies something, preferably home-made, for extra points.

6) Bad Guys Lock A-Team in garden shed.

7) Construction montage involving welding, duct tape and gardening equipment

8) A-Team drives out of garden shed in a tank

9) Bad Guys' vehicles all blown up, several thousand rounds of small-arms ammo expended but nobody gets hurt

10) Bad Guys defeated

11) BA Baracus pities somebody else

12) Hannibal expresses his love for plans that come together

13) Closing credits

If they can hit these minimal points they will have satisfactorily evoked the original series.

 

[Batutta]

That much is true. It's pointless to be disappointed about something which was always going to be what it is. If you are, then you had unreasonable expectations.

I don't think it's ever unreasonable to expect a decent story. Again, doesn't need to be Schindler's List...but at least give me SOMETHING to watch other than some 'splodo. I know it's the A-Team movie, but the premise of the show actually has a lot of story potential.

 

[Sad Max]

Given that most of its interesting potential - to me, anyway - is quite dark, I doubt they'll do anything interesting there, for a summer popcorn movie.

 

[Batutta]

Given that most of its interesting potential - to me, anyway - is quite dark, I doubt they'll do anything interesting there, for a summer popcorn movie.

I was hoping the presence of Neeson meant they were going in a slightly darker direction. I'll go see it anyway...I was able to enjoy the first Transformers so I can get off on mindless action if the mood is right.

 

[Brandon Rice]

I cannot wait to see this! Yes, the original is cheesy, and this will be too, but IMO it's part of the charm of the show I'm a big fan, obviously.

 

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

I know it's the A-Team movie, but the premise of the show actually has a lot of story potential.

But the A-Team fans would be disappointed.

It's cheese mixed with action, rinse and repeat.

rogar-Smoke(DBG):

Haven't see it yet but if I do I certainly won't judge it based on its writing.

MAH

 

[Batutta]

But the A-Team fans would be disappointed.

It's cheese mixed with action, rinse and repeat.

But it could have been cheese mixed with action, folded in a nice warm story tortilla. Those elements don't necessarily cancel themselves out...I always seem to make this argument but people always fall back on the "it's just a stupid action movie" excuse. I just thought some of the folks involved were a little smarter, but judging by this article, its amazing anything resembling a movie made it to the screen at all--

http://www.deadline.com/2010/06/11-screenwriters-later-how-alex-young-lost-control-of-the-a-team/

 

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

But it could have been cheese mixed with action, folded in a nice warm story tortilla. Those elements don't necessarily cancel themselves out...I always seem to make this argument but people always fall back on the "it's just a stupid action movie" excuse. http://www.deadline.com/2010/06/11-screenwriters-later-how-alex-young-lost-control-of-the-a-team/

It's not an excuse, it's all about expectations.

If they remake Godfather then I expect perfection. A-Team, not so much.
It was a mediocre TV show in its prime.

Again, haven't seen it and not defending it. I just don't have a clue as to why some people expect more than senseless action mixed with a few funny one-liners in a movie like this.

MAH

 

[Everts]

It's not an excuse, it's all about expectations.

If they remake Godfather then I expect perfection. A-Team, not so much.
It was a mediocre TV show in its prime.

Again, haven't seen it and not defending it. I just don't have a clue as to why some people expect more than senseless action mixed with a few funny one-liners in a movie like this.

MAH

Maybe they thought it was gonna be more like Baywatch !

 

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Maybe they thought it was gonna be more like Baywatch !

:grin:

Nobody can touch the Hoff.

MAH

 

[Batutta]

It was the filmmakers involved that raised my expectations. If it had been Michael Bay or Stephen Sommers presents The A Team I would have abandoned all hope a long time ago.

 

[Jawa Ex Machina]

You guys got it all wrong.

It's not about "how much plot" there is or what the TV show was.

It's about the story as written taking itself serious and working within the context of it's own universe. It's why PG-13 action movies fail time and time again, because there's violence without consequence, and without consequence any action scenes will fail to have the slightest bit of gravitas.

Look, let's take DIE HARD 4 as an example. Between the pilot falling out of the helicopter, hits his head on the concrete and GETS UP and Bruce Willis surfing on the jet plane - even if you buy all those impossible feats, the way they're done totally undermines any action scene in that movie because they tell us nobody is going to get hurt. There's not going to be any sort of serious consequence to anything that happens.

When I see stuff like that tank falling down in the A-Team clips, I just see a hundred laws of nature that are completely ignored. Things that SHOULD have killed these people but didn't scratch them. Instead of ignoring these things, what the writers COULD have done, is they could have used them to up the ante and present some real drama in the situation.

John McClane in DIE HARD 1 and Indiana Jones in the first three films are GREAT action characters because they were human and were severely injured all the time.

THE DARK KNIGHT is a PG-13 action, and that worked so well because characters died. The main character were seriously injured. Everything had a consequence.

Face having an airplane blow up in his face while falling down in a tank while laughing it off makes no sense and no matter how campy the TV show might have been in the 80s era of McGuyver and Air Wolf doesn't excuse that.

 

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

A-Team is not The Dark Knight, nor is it DIE HARD.

Have you seen the TV show?

The first mistake was trying to make a movie out of the series. After that it's your mistake for going to see it and expecting DARK KNIGHT or DIE HARD.

Seriously, guys.

Some movies are just summer popcorn flicks and nothing more. Not an excuse, more of a reality.

MAH

 

[Jawa Ex Machina]

A-Team is not The Dark Knight, nor is it DIE HARD.

Have you seen the TV show?

The first mistake was trying to make a movie out of the series. After that it's your mistake for going to see it and expecting DARK KNIGHT or DIE HARD.

Seriously, guys.

Some movies are just summer popcorn flicks and nothing more. Not an excuse, more of a reality.

MAH

Yes, I grew up with the TV show.
I don't expect it to be THE DARK KNIGHT or DIE HARD in tone, but I do expect a certain degree of quality in my entertainment, no matter what genre it is.

There are no "just summer popcorn flicks". There are movies. It's all movies.
Storytelling works the same for THE DARK KNIGHT, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, SUPERMAN THE MOVIE and SPIDER-MAN 2 as it does for BATMAN & ROBIN, THE PHANTOM MENACE, SUPERMAN IV and SPIDER-MAN 3.

There is no difference there.

Saying it's okay for a movie to lack quality in the writing department because it's "just a summer popcorn flick" is just being appologetic about it, no offence.
The ticket still costs the same. It's still 2 hours of my life.

It's especially important that we at forums like this realize that if we're going to be a part of the next generation of filmmakers.

I know this is a camera forum, and most people here think visually, but if the screenplay sucks it doesn't matter much if the film is shot on 70mm or an iPhone.

 

[Sad Max]

Maybe they thought it was gonna be more like Baywatch !

...the first feature film shot entirely in slow-motion...