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The A-Team director Joe Carnahan has said that an appearance from Mr T is still a possibility in his big screen spinoff.
T, who played BA 'Bad Attitude' Baracus in the original TV series, earlier ruled out featuring in the revamped version, saying that he does not believe in making cameo appearances.
Carnahan revealed to MTV News that talks to bring in Mr T are ongoing and the mohawked actor respects his Baracus replacement, cage fighter Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson.
"There's still a discussion about T," Carnahan said. "We would love to get [Mr T] in this film somewhere. He's such a personality. I think that he has tremendous respect for Rampage, and there's always a way to make these things work. Just to have the presence [of Mr T] in this film, I think, would be a big boon."
Original A-Team castmembers Dirk Benedict and Dwight Schultz will appear in the action blockbuster, due out in cinemas this summer.
DS
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Director: John Singleton
Screenwriter: Stephen J. Cannell, Bruce Feirstein
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Jessica Biel, Liam Neeson, Sharlto Copley, Patrick Wilson
Running time: 117 mins
Certificate: 12A
Pity the fools who innocently stroll into the cinema expecting a smart rehash of the legendary 1980s television series. Hannibal's plans may well come together in the movie, but the overall unappetising fusion of noise, inane dialogue, miscasting and general dumbness fails to combine for a satisfying experience. Not even a cigar-chomping, scenery-chewing Liam Neeson and several high-octane set pieces can salvage the efforts of this c**p, sorry, crack team of commandos.
The original TV series was hardly a probing character study, instead relying on a certain innocent charm (despite the abundant violence) to amass a sizeable global audience. That is lost in the movie version, which is a charmless affair brought down by the laziness of its script and a plot that would be stretched out for a 45 minute show let alone a two-hour feature.
Frenzied speculation had surrounded the casting for years, but only the commanding Neeson as the mastermind strategist John 'Hannibal' Smith and District 9's Sharlto Copley as manic helicopter king 'Howling Mad' Murdock walk away with credit. Bradley Cooper appears to turn in the same performance as he has done in most of his previous movies and lacks the necessary swagger and glint in the eye to play the suave 'Faceman' Templeton Peck with aplomb.
Worst of all is Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson as B.A. (Bad Acting?) Baracus. The curious term 'damp squib' deserves to be trotted out to describe his apologetic turn, which makes his plane-fearing character into an all round softie. Jackson tries to deploy Baracus's famous fierce gaze, but even camp comedian Alan Carr exudes more macho menace. It's a shame that no one in the editing suite had the balls to splice into the film some footage from those recent Mr. T Snickers adverts. Of course, comparisons to the original cast are always likely to be unfavourable to the newbies. Yet in this case it's very valid to do so because the movie desperately and frequently trots out the TV show's catchphrases in a bid to tap into the audience's assumed collective nostalgia and win favour. The famous black van and Baracus's haircut also come under needlessly close inspection by the camera lens. The foregrounding of these, plus woefully underwhelming post-credits cameos from two of the original cast, hardly help to create a new cinematic entity that stands on its own two feet.
As for the unengaging storyline, that involves the attempts of the quartet of skilled war veterans to bring down some badass dude who has framed them for a crime they did not commit. There are lots of explosions and Jessica Biel keeps popping up in an annoying role as an inquisitive government bod and love interest for Face. That's about it.
A lot of dollar bills have clearly been thrown at this project and fortunately the money is up there on the screen in a succession of impressive airborne set pieces. An early helicopter chase certainly alleviates the boredom for a brief period, as does an audacious sequence involving a tank parachuting through the skies. If only a similar amount of attention had been shown towards injecting some wit, verve and invention into the script.
If you have a problem, if no one else can help and if you can find them - maybe you can fire – not hire - The A-Team. Or at least the poor misguided souls who made this mess. Go and rent the far superior and similarly themed The Losers instead.
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I have not seen this yet, but was not really expecting anything else tbh. Same rehash from the tv series, which I only watched because of Face and Mr-T, not for the 'rivetting' storylines :D
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The guy who plays Murdoch is great in the film
Neeson is a bad choice as Hannibal
Cooper shows off his abs every minute of screen time nearly but he is hot
Its harmeless fun but not as good as the tv show
