The A-Team 2010

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: Heavy on biceps and aggression and -- crucially -- the zinging chemistry between its four leads Read more

A.O. Scott, At the Movies: I was not charmed by it. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: So, what do we have here? We have a big, bombastic, violent variation on the original theme of rocket launchers and machine guns and wisecracks. Read more

James Rocchi, MSN Movies: The A-Team is so busy trying to connect with the audience's hearts, minds and wallets that it never quite connects with itself. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Nothing - not the characters, not their stories and certainly not their violence - is meant to register deeply. Their words and worlds are disposable; it's no wonder they fade so fast. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: If you're a fan of causeless effects, consequence-free causes and digital Dada, let the silly times roll. Read more

Ted Fry, Seattle Times: Fans of explosions, machine guns, brutal fisticuffs and elaborate set pieces that fuse digital effects with impressive practical stunts will get their fill as the A-Team, class of '10, accomplishes its mission -- and exactly according to plan. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: The film's featherweight tone and self-conscious excess would be a lot more palatable if everyone didn't seem so insufferably pleased with themselves. The film acts as if it's won the race before the starting gun has even been fired. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: It's temping to say that you're better off not thinking about the plot and how tenuously it all holds together. The truth is, you're better off not thinking at all. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: This is a movie that could have gotten away with making only a little bit of sense had it more superpowers or superstars. Neeson doesn't quite count since he's made the mistake of giving a performance. Read more

Cliff Doerksen, Chicago Reader: "Sex and the City 2 for dudes"? "A Bourne film with frontal-lobe damage"? Pithy descriptions don't come easy after a brain-fragmenting experience like this movie version of the unaccountably popular '70s TV show. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Let's just be thankful that Carnahan, instead of redoing "The A-Team," didn't remake "Gandhi." The Ganges would have run red. Pacifism is for wussies. Read more

Tom Maurstad, Dallas Morning News: This team may have given itself an A, but viewers likely won't be so generous. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: The toss-away jokes? Who cares? The idea that B.A. Baracus becomes a peacenik in the middle of the film? Who cares? The ending's complete lack of resolution? Who cares? Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: It's trash so compacted it glows. Read more

Laremy Legel, Film.com: With a healthy dose of smirking adolescent attitude The A-Team plays as a solid action film. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: I pity the fool, as TV star Mr. T might say, who mistakes this for genuine entertainment. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: The A-Team is a gigantic pile of ear-deafening nonsense, but it is brisk and goofy and well shot by Carnahan (Smokin' Aces) and a lot livelier than Robin Hood or Iron Man 2. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Rent The Losers if you want a cheesy action movie. Wait for The Expendables if you want a gritty, pumped-up one. And mark this A-Team strictly C-grade. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Both in name and spirit, The A-Team drags the Eighties into the 21st century, and you might be surprised to find -- if only briefly -- that you've missed them just a little. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: It couldn't have been easy making a movie with less plot, character development and dramatic credibility than an episode of a campy '80s TV series. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: No, the plan doesn't completely "come together." But this A-Team is close enough for government work. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: The A-Team is really no better or worse than a whole bunch of other steroid studio-built extravaganzas, but the cumulative effect of these stunts-aplenty window-crashing-fireball-exploding-freeway-chasing-rocket-launching shoot-outs is numbing. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Had the action sequences been better framed and presented, this might have been one of the summer's mindless high points. As it is, it's a passable diversion. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: To say it's cartoonish would to be insult cartoons. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: How it is interesting to watch a movie in which the "action" is essentially colorful abstractions? Isn't it more satisfying if you know where everyone is, and what they're doing, and how they're doing it in real time? Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: The Hollywood suits figure you'll overlook a movie's faults as long as the action has juice. Isn't it great when a plan comes together? Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: The A-Team is reasonably good fun. If you're a 12-year-old boy riding an intense Cherry Pepsi buzz and totally devoted to destroying some brain cells, that is. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: The characters ... are without interest. Their problems are not our problems. But the sheer motion, the spectacle and the flashes of wit take The A-Team out of the realm of garbage. It's fun. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: The A-Team is utterly convinced of its own lovability even as it strains our credibility, abuses our patience, and punishes our eardrums. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Excuse me, I need to sit down, catch my breath and extinguish my singed eyebrows. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The diabolical sadist of the team was director Joe Carnahan. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: To the old box-office maxim that trite makes right, a fresh corollary must be attached: Chaos is the new order, and ugly the new beautiful. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: I pity the fool who fails to share the popcorn. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: No onea(TM)s coming to a big-screen version of the lunkheaded TV show expecting The Hurt Locker. But would it have killed the editors to let a single shot breathe for more than two seconds? Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Despite a talented cast, this nearly two-hour inane frenzy of action and violence is rarely more than bloated and boring. Read more

Brian Lowry, Variety: Frankly, a little less budgeting for visual effects -- in exchange for more physicality and sharper character interplay -- would have improved matters, but the pic still works moderately well as the equivalent of a mindless B-movie. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: A thoroughly unnecessary but nonetheless satisfying adaptation of the cheeseball 1980s TV series. Read more