The A-Team - C-

You're thrown into this horrible mess in the very first scene as Hannibal (Liam Neeson) is about to be executed in Mexico. Of course, he escapes and immediately meets BA (Rampage Jackson), who just retrieved his cherished van from a body shop. Hannibal is on his way to save Face (Bradley Cooper) from execution at the hands of a Mexican druglord. When they escape, they meet Murdoch (Sharlto Copley) at a safe local hospital. They have to escape one more time. And that's the first 20 minutes - absolutely void of subtlety and restraint - like the rest of the film.

A few years later, the team is in Iraq and recruited by a CIA agent to recover a plate that produces $100 bills. What follows is a ridiculous plot that is simultaneously obvious and too complex. Needless to say, the gang keeps escaping from prison, danger, airplanes, tanks, everything. Instead of focussing on character, the film strives to keep the audience's attention by throwing something at the screen every 15 seconds. The cast is likable enough, but poorly managed by director Joe Carnahan. There's no rapport or chemistry and you wonder by badasses like Hannibal and Face would keep the other two around since they have major liabilities. This A-Team supposedly is in life-threatening situations are they're keeping clinically insane people around who don't add anything to the missions. Carnahan's action scenes are disorienting and careless with senseless camera angles and they're chopped together with brief, confusing expository scenes that consist of actors yelling at each other. Jessica Biel's presence saves it from the D-pile. C-