One of the handful of summer releases I am most looking forward to is The A-Team. I loved everything about the show; from the characters, to the action, to the family friendly vibe, it was a truly original and lasting show. So there is no reason to believe I won’t love the movie, right?
Mr. T, star of the original series begs to differ. According to a report from Yahoo, the former B.A. Baracus thinks the filmmakers bankrupted the series’s image:
People die in the film and there’s plenty of sex but when we did it, no one got hurt and it was all played for fun and family entertainment. These seem to be elements nobody is interested in anymore.
One of the great things about the show was that nobody ever died. It gave it that unique family element. Sure it had adult themes, and the occasional Face Man sexual tension, but it was nothing that made watching it with my dad too awkward. Mr. T continues:
It was too graphic for me. I’ve no doubt it will do big business at the box office but it’s nothing like the show we turned out every week.
I have to agree with him. Even at the expense of a few box office dollars (and given that I haven’t seen it yet), I think I would have preferred a truer, more accurate adaptation. Even if it was just a subtle or playful quirk, it would have paid respect to the series, which would have earned fans. Surely, the sex and violence will win over the crowd that has never seen the original, but I side with Mr. T on this one. But that might change when I see it.
The A-Team hits theaters this weekend.
Do you agree with B.A. Baracus? Any fools need pitied?