“I love it when a plan comes together.”

Well, at long last, I am back home in Tennessee. I traveled through four states to get to Atlanta, but it was worth it to mend some bridges with pops. I barely got my reading done, so it looks like a little bit longer for the book review. I still can’t get into it. Maybe if I knew some back-story to the characters’ relationship, it would be more interesting.

Anyhoo, I went and saw a movie in good ol’ Atlanta– The A-Team. I fully expected to like it, but as a fan of the television series, and as a very critical person, I also expected to pick it to pieces. Usually, for me at least, that happens with every movie based on a novel (or even a children’s book) that I’ve read.

However, this time, I was very, very pleasantly surprised. I didn’t pick the movie to pieces. From the very first scene, it seemed like the movie picked up before the television show even occurred. It seemed like the missing limb. Some of the scenes were too extravagant for the original show, but they fit in with a modern adaptation. The characters were spot-on. I was very surprised with “Rampage” Jackson’s performance. Usually when a professional athlete of any kind is in a movie, their performance seems wooden to me, with a few exceptions (most notably Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson). He did the character of B.A. very well. I was also surprised at Bradley Cooper’s performance. In every film I’ve seen Cooper in, he always comes across as a womanizing, heartless jerk. True, Face is a womanizing jerk, but as seen with his romantic involvement with Jessica Beal’s character, he was never heartless.

Liam Neeson gave the best performance of the film, but the actor that portrayed Murdock was awesome. He played that character so well. I greatly enjoyed the imitation of Mel Gibson’s William Wallace. But, again, Liam Neeson’s character (Hannibal) was great. I’m a big fan of Neeson anyway, especially the Chronicles of Narnia series (he plays Aslan) and one of his latest films, Taken.

I would definitely recommend seeing this movie. It has a bit of a love story and a hell of a lot of action. I enjoyed it, even when seeing it by myself. It may not be appropriate for smaller children, but pre-teens, teens, and everyone else will definitely enjoy it. Fans of the series won’t be disappointed either. It’s true to the original series, but with a modern take. I loved the film and if they’re making a sequel, count me in.