Stars Bradley Cooper, Jessica Biel, Liam Neeson, Dirk Benedict, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson

I was dreading having to sit through the movie adaptation of The A-Team. If you loved the popular US television show from the 1980s, there’s every chance you’ll be giving it a wide berth. How can anyone fill the shoes of George Peppard, Dirk Benedict, Mr T and Dwight Schultz?

The good news is, the casting could scarcely have been better, with all four actors mostly managing to make the roles their own (albeit with varying degrees of success) and largely eliminating memories of the original quartet of crack commandos.

Anyone who remembers the original series will have the voiceover from the opening credits indelibly imprinted on their minds. It tells the back story of The A-Team, which is the focus of director Joe Carnahan’s movie. Re-introducing us to the Special Forces operatives so familiar from the 80s, the plot is based around an attempt to frame our boys for a crime they didn’t commit.

Attempting to clear their names, the team becomes embroiled in a dangerous mission to recover plates used for printing counterfeit cash, aiming to discover who is behind the crime and the framing operation.

Action fans will find plenty to enthral in this stunt-heavy shoot-em-up. Some sequences are jaw-droppingly far-fetched yet air-punchingly awesome, particularly for teenage boys who will adore these set pieces.

But with some dubious special effects and a smidgen too much action, the film’s strength lies in the comical interplay and verbal sparring between the four main characters.

And, though Liam Neeson may not quite have the sardonic humour of George Peppard’s Hannibal Smith, he certainly has the presence. His gruff, Darkman-recalling tones lend an air of authority that is crucial in marshalling this otherwise disparate band of wayward military misfits, albeit ones that are highly trained and astonishingly adept.

Bradley Cooper lacks the suavity and charm of Dirk Benedict’s Faceman but he does bring a mega-watt smile and super-tanned, taut torso to the vain ladies’ man that will have modern audiences drooling, while Sharlto Copley makes an arguably even more unhinged – and as such more unlikeable – Murdock.

Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson as B.A. Baracus is perhaps the most problematic casting decision of all, since Mr T was – and still is – inextricable from his role as the angry, blinged-up, Mohican-sporting badass. Finally, it’s good to see hottie Jessica Biel in the role of Charissa Sosa, a strong woman who isn’t, for once, encouraged by her director to disrobe.

A dull story with no surprises is drawn out to feature length, meaning many will tire rapidly of the film, willing it on prematurely to its denouement.

Incorporating lines and motifs from the original series, fans of The A-Team might enjoy seeing B.A. Baracus’s iconic van, even though it is destroyed early doors, and may well lap up the inclusion of key catchphrases. And while newcomers might appreciate the updated revisions – setting it to a sick rap soundtrack, shifting to larger scale international locations and incorporating bigger and more expensive bangs – what’s most likely is that in trying to please everyone, most viewers will walk away unsatisfied.

I love it when a re-make comes together but unfortunately, in this case, it generally doesn’t.

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