Belated Review: The A-Team and SWAT

Showing my age here...  I used to watch SWAT when I was a kid and I loved it.  I also watched The A-Team, and while I watched it every week and was a big Stephen J. Cannell fan, I didn't love the show as much as his others (Hardcastle & McCormick and Riptide).

The A-Team:

I have to admit, I was ambivalent about seeing this film.  I'm not crazy about all the remakes of TV shows out there.  I think Hollywood needs to come up with some original ideas and stop reviving old films and TV shows (or copying from each other).

When a friend told me she liked it, I decided to give it a chance.  Unfortunately, I don't share her enthusiasm.  It just didn't gel for me.  What made the show work was the banter and the charm.  This film was all cockiness with a couple of inside jokes here and there.  There was no cohesion for me.  It was just a big mess.

SWAT

Conversely, I liked SWAT.  I loved the old show, so I was expecting this one to disappoint. It didn't.  The characters were strong, the plot credible and the flow was really nice.  I only watched the film to catch the cameo by Steve Forrest (which was great, bye the way.  Just as the camera is panning up the front of the truck, I asked myself, "Who's driving?" and there he was behind the wheel.  Perfect!)

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