A is for 'Almost'

Illness derailed my initial attempt to see “The A-Team,” but my plan finally came together this past weekend.

I’d been looking forward to this movie for ages, excited about the prospect of seeing one of my favorite childhood shows on the big screen. (I may complain about the endless series of remakes Hollywood churns out, but I can dial down my indignation when it’s something I want to see.)

Of course, there was some apprehension because I was afraid the filmmakers would turn the team of noble, wrongly accused soldiers into a group of trigger-happy killers. I worried the film would go the way of the 2005 “Dukes of Hazzard” remake — a promising cast in a film that completely missed the spirit of the original show.

“The A-Team” wasn’t that bad, and in fact, was better than I expected. However, a crucial moment in the movie also ensured it was not as good as I hoped.

A big debate about the film was whether anyone would actually get shot. If you watched the original show, you know that countless rounds of ammunition were expended in each episode yet, with a few exceptions, no one ever seemed to get shot. Of course this was unrealistic, but also something I liked. “Action” doesn’t mean “killing.”

Maybe the folks behind the show were trying to keep from being overly violent, a concern virtually nobody making TV shows or movies has today. But I like to think that Hannibal, B.A., Faceman and Murdock just preferred not to dispense lethal justice.

I didn’t really expect no one to get shot in “The A-Team” movie, but I hoped, as they updated this concept for the 21st century, they would keep the spirit of the show intact — that the A-Team wouldn’t be another group of shoot-em-up “heroes.”

And they almost weren’t.

The early parts of the movie take place when the characters are in the military, often in a combat zone. Some lethal measures are taken — but that’s to be expected in war. Those weren’t my favorite parts, but they made sense.

Later, the film actually introduces a reason why at least one of the characters doesn’t want to kill. This was more than I had hoped for, and set up an interesting dynamic with the other characters, who were used to solving problems without pulling punches.

Maybe, I thought, they’ll make it part of the story, that these guys decide to take the high road.

But toward the end, one of the characters takes a life, completely unnecessarily. It’s not a kill-or-be-killed situation. It actually seems like it was done to show that, hey, if you’re the good guy, killing’s no big deal.

I know, I know, it’s not realistic for a bunch of soldiers to not kill people in a gunfight-filled action movie. Well, check out some of the other stunts they pull in this movie (very exciting and entertaining) and tell me how realistic that is.