[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a-team_cast_2010-550x346_4540.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:L - R: Face, B.A. Baracus, Murdock and Hannibal.]]
%%
->''"There is no Plan B."''

The film adaptation of ''Series/TheATeam'' series, written and directed by Creator/JoeCarnahan and released in 2010.

The film follows the RagtagBunchOfMisfits from their roots when they come together pulling off a mission against a drug lord in Mexico. They become a legendary "crack commando team" running operations that regular military teams can't do. [[ColonelBadass Col. John "Hannibal" Smith]] (Creator/LiamNeeson) is the leader, the Man with the Plan. Lt. Templeton "Face" Peck (Creator/BradleyCooper) is the [[TheCasanova charmer]], point man and [[TheLancer has been with Hannibal longer than the rest]]. Cpl. Bosco "B.A." Baracus (Quinton Jackson) is the [[GeniusBruiser machine savvy]] [[ScaryBlackMan bruiser]] of the team. And Capt. H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock (Creator/SharltoCopley) is their (possibly [[CrazyIsCool insane]]) AcePilot.

Eight years and "80 successful missions" later, a complicated series of events put them in a very delicate operation to recover U.S. minting plates and several million dollars printed by them. Upon a successful completion, their commanding officer General Morrison (Gerald [=McRaney=]) is killed by a car bomb and the plates stolen, along with the money being torched.

Because of how classified the mission was, Morrison was the only one who could verify their story and they effectively look like bank robbers and conspirators with a rival mercenary group. They are [[CourtMartialed charged with war crimes]], stripped of their rank and sent to prison. But even that isn't enough to stop them, as six months later they break out of prison with the help of a UsefulNotes/{{CIA}} operative and set out to clear their name. This involves tracking down the location of the plates, the PMC leader who framed them, plenty of collateral damage, and the ATeamMontage.

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!!Contains the following tropes:

%%* AcePilot: Murdock.
* ActionPrologue: Also explains how the A-Team comes together, detailing Hannibal recruiting B.A. and Murdock to rescue Face.
* ActorAllusion:
** There are a couple of nods to Creator/SharltoCopley's South African nationality. Observable when Murdock's blabbering in a South African accent early in the film to get past journalists. He also speaks Swahili at one point. It also alludes to his role in ''Film/District9''.
** There's the part where Hannibal lures Lynch into a trap in a container, reminiscent of ''Film/BatmanBegins'' where Ras also compares fighting styles they're both using on each other.
** The "3D" film at a psychiatric hospital plays the show's theme tune, and one of the names of its opening credits read "Reginald Barclay" -- referencing Dwight Shultz's role as Lt. Barclay in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. Other names in the credits include G. F. Starbuck, a veiled reference to Creator/DirkBenedict's Starbuck from ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|1978}}'', and two more not clearly seen but confirmed by WordOfGod -- [[Series/{{Banacek}} Thomas Banacek]] (for George Peppard) and [[Film/RockyIII Clubber Lang]] (for Mr. T).
** Less elaborate than the above, but when the team had to travel through customs disguised in hilarious ethnic gear, Hannibal (played by Creator/LiamNeeson) basically went through as... Liam Neeson.
* AdaptationalVillainy: [[spoiler:Lynch.]] In the series, he was more of a HeroAntagonist. He was a good soldier who honestly believed that the A-Team were dangerous criminals who needed to be stopped. In the movie, he's a DirtyCop and a true villain. [[spoiler:However, he is replaced by another agent also called Lynch, implying that this is the "real" Lynch]].
* AffablyEvil:
** [[spoiler:Lynch, a friendly joking man who could have easily been a good member of the A-Team... if not for the whole "backstab you for some money" deal and his overwhelming sense of entitlement.]]
** There appear to be a couple of subtle occasions throughout the film that serve to differentiate between professionals (though not necessarily the good guys, i.e. Brock Pike [[spoiler:and General Morrison]]) and most of the bad guys (who tend to speak in stereotypical terms): Face's "administrator" and "operator" analogy v.s. [[spoiler:Lynch's "High-speed, shoot-to-kill" statement]], "suppressor" v.s. "silencer", among others.
** Whenever Pike evokes EvilerThanThou and is TooKinkyToTorture.
* AllPartOfTheShow: Murdock is broken out of a psych ward in Germany when the team rams a Humvee through a wall while a movie Murdock received from Hannibal was being played on said wall (the movie also featured a Humvee driving towards the camera). The crazies watching the film thinks it's all just a really good 3-D movie, as invoked by Murdock and Hannibal.
* AlmostKiss: Between Face and Sosa... more than once.
* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler:At the end, despite all they did, the A-Team are still wanted fugitives and are on the run from the law.]]
** Could also count as a potential SequelHook.[[note]]The filmmakers had in fact hoped to continue making movies; the writer has since told reporters that he'd already written the ActionPrologue for the next one, which would've involved Hannibal rescuing Face from a desert stronghold on a dog sled. Sadly, the movie didn't earn enough profit to justify this, and plans for a sequel were canceled.[[/note]]
* ArchEnemy: Did anyone else get this vibe between B.A. and Pike?
* ARealManIsAKiller: Lynch's incompetence is very much connected to his lack of experience in the field, and [[spoiler: B.A.'s character arc is only complete when he kills again]].
** Though in the case of the latter, it's less that he can't be a real man without killing, and more that it would be rather difficult for him to be a ''soldier''. None of the others ever question his manhood, nor his valor or dedication.
* ArrestedForHeroism: TheTeam catches Lynch and clears their names, and are promptly arrested for breaking out of prison.
* ArrowCam: Shown on Reaper [=UAV=] missiles. TruthInTelevision.
* ArtisticLicenseMilitary:
** The F-22 GunshipRescue at the end of TheTeaser. In real life US planes aren't allowed to fire missiles over US territory without orders from the President.
** In an early scene Agent Lynch, General Morrison, and Hannibal are meeting together and as Lynch leaves Morrison comments on the fact that he's wearing body armor in the command tent, implying that Lynch doesn't trust his own allies. Actually, Lynch's wearing body armor isn't unusual at all; military personnel in an active deployment zone are expected to wear their full gear at all times, even when they're just standing around in the command tent. (After all, one never knows when an attack might arrive.) The fact that Morrison and Smith ''aren't'' wearing their gear is more surprising.
** An Operational Detachment Alpha (the units that were colloquially named "A-Teams") consists of twelve soldiers, not four. In addition, each ODA specializes in a particular type of mission (mountain warfare, combat diving, etc) as opposed to being the JackOfAllTrades the team in the movie is. Of course, this is staying true to the TV show, and it would be a lot harder to give each of them their due if you had twelve main characters instead of four.
* ATeamFiring:
** While there is still a ''lot'' of gunfire, many people - random {{mook}} soldiers and main characters alike - actually do get shot, [[CreatorBacklash which B.A.'s TV portrayer Mr. T found it unacceptable in The A-Team media]]. Since this A-Team actually shoots to kill, it isn't as extreme an example of the original TropeNamer.
** Played with within the movie itself. B.A. becomes a pacifist and refuses to shoot to kill during part of the movie (perhaps a ShoutOut to the trope), and one of the things the A-Team prides themselves on is getting things done with minimal casualties (note minimal, not ''none''); that is in contrast to the trigger-happy Pike.
** And then Justified with Pike during the Germany scene. Pike's eyes are watering from having just been flashbanged and he is firing a stockless rifle fully automatically.
** Played completely straight with the flying tank however. While Face is able to connect on shots with both the coaxial machine gun and the main gun against two Reaper drones, he is also able to fire the tank's main gun directly downwards at a lake (to utilize RecoilBoost) ''without'' hitting that German fisherman in his rowboat right next to the tank's eventual landing spot.
* ATeamMontage: You knew this had to happen... and since the movie's a little over two hours, we get two of them, and two others are a blend of planning and executing the plan instead of a straight montage.
* AttackDrone: The Reaper [=UAVs=] that our heroes have to fight in German airspace.
* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: Averted; the Spanish at the beginning is actually pretty good.
* AwesomeMcCoolname: Played straight and subverted by the same person. Names don't come much cooler than "Hannibal," especially for a military leader. Of course, his real name is John Smith.
* BadassCrew: The entire team, of course:
** Hannibal is an extremely skilled fighter, but even that pales in comparison to his keen intellect and his ability to come up with fool-proof plans at the drop of a hat.
** Face is a career soldier and a crack shot.
** Baracus is a mountain of a man, and by far the most lethal in hand-to-hand combat.
** Though not much of a fighter, Murdock is a wizard at the controls of any flying vehicle, and is more than capable of making them do the impossible.
** Brock Pike as well, despite Hannibal's scorn for the man. He is consistently the only real threat to the A-Team, always seeing through their plans and very nearly foiling them at every turn, most notably when he [[spoiler:blows up the A-Team's tanker, and their plan, with a rocket launcher]]. He's also no slouch in the combat department: [[spoiler:he out-shoots Face and was only taken out when Baracus blindsided him and engaged him in CQC.]]
%%** Sosa too.
* BadassBoast: Hannibal's line when he's in prison:
--> '''Hannibal''' "Give me a minute, I'm good. Give me an hour, I'm great. Give me six months, I'm unbeatable."
** [[TrailersAlwaysLie One ad for the movie changed this]] to "Give my team an hour, we're unbeatable."
** Brock Pike, [[spoiler: before he puts down two incompetent rogue CIA agents and proceeds to wreck Face's plan]]:
--> '''Pike''' "Okay, paintballers. Time to go pro."
* BadassCreed: Hannibal recites the Ranger Creed to B.A. to convince him to help.
* BaddieFlattery: Pike engages in this on occasion, such as when he and Face were stuck in a firefight with each other:
-->''How are you doing, handsome? Shit, can you cycle that weapon. Nice work.''
%%* BandOfBrothers:
* BeyondTheImpossible: Pulling off crazy {{plan}}s that shouldn't be physically possible is the A-Team's entire shtick, but the "flying a tank" scene in the movie deserves special mention. This is actually {{lampshaded}} just before the armored car heist.
-->'''Random soldier''': You think those clowns could really pull this off?\\
'''Agent Sosa''': Listen, listen, listen; I would never tell him this, but they are the ''best'' clandestine unit in the four branches, and they ''specialize'' in the ridiculous!
* BigBadEnsemble: The plot to steal the engraving plates brings together three people from three different organizations: CIA agent Lynch, Black Forest mercenary Brock Pike, and [[spoiler:Army general Russell Morrison]]. The relations between the three are tenuous at best, with multiple betrayals and attempted (and successful) murders. (There's also the Mexican cartel from the ActionPrologue, and the Fedayeen Saddam that the engraving plates are stolen from in the first place).
* BigDamnHeroes: Pike has Face dead to rights, gun trained on him, no ammo or help in sight...then here comes Baracus like a bat outta hell, [[DynamicEntry crashing a motorcycle to waste the rest of Pike's clip]], then proceeding to lay the mother of all spine-busters on him. He ain't gettin' up from that one, folks.
--> '''Face:''' Ohohoho! BOSCOOOOO!!!
* BlackAndNerdy: B.A. Baracus is a surprisingly eloquent GadgeteerGenius who loves reading and philosophy (especially Gandhi)... and will also pile driver your sorry ass, ''[[CatchPhrase fool.]]''
* BorrowedCatchphrase: Not only does Face get to go "I love it when a plan comes together", he's biting a key instead of a cigar.
* BrickJoke: Murdock stitches up B.A. in the opening sequence. Towards the end, B.A. makes a comment about it being his turn to stitch Murdock up.
* BriefAccentImitation: Murdock, constantly.
* BrokenPedestal:
** The entire team has this reaction to [[spoiler:Morrison's betrayal. He was their CO, was a lifelong friend of Hannibal's, and is implied to have had a long-running relationship with the entire team. The reveal shakes B.A, Face, and Murdock to the core, Face enough so to make him nearly commit murder on the spot. Hannibal's under more control, but only because he'd already deduced who the traitor was: TheReasonYouSuckSpeech he gives Morrison after ordering the other three out of the room shows that he's, if anything, even ''more'' nauseated by what happened than they are.]]
** In a much milder but still real version, this causes the rest of the team to have this reaction to Hannibal, too - not because they think he'd betray them, but because he didn't see the betrayal coming. After eight years under his command, the reminder that even he isn't infallible comes as a nasty shock.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Murdock is batshit insane, but he's the best goddamn pilot you'll ever find.
* TheCameo:
** Director and co-writer Joe Carnahan appears as the man who meets Hannibal, Face and B.A. in Mexico outside the hospital Murdock is being held.
** [[Series/MadMen Jon Hamm]] as [[spoiler:The second Lynch]].
* CarFu: In the first plot to steal the plates, later used by Hannibal to [[spoiler:save Pacifist Baracus from shooting Pike.]]
* CarMeetsHouse: When the team [[spoiler:breaks Murdock out of the military hospital in Germany]].
* CharacterCatchphrase:
** Hannibal's is "I love it when a plan comes together."
** In a comedic variation, Lynch's is "no relation." A LegacyCharacter, he keeps coming across soldiers who have encountered an "Agent Lynch" in a previous war zone and don't remember him very fondly.
* ChekhovsSkill: You might be inclined to think that Face uses his skill at running a shell game just to illustrate a point about how people think...[[spoiler:It's actually a rather more literal part of ThePlan.]]
* TheChessmaster: To Hannibal, being a mere one step ahead of your enemy is an IndyPloy. If you're at least three steps ahead, ''then'' you've got a plan. Made more awesome by the fact that he often only needs as much time to come up with a plan as others would an Indy Ploy.
** Note that his plans still can and at times do go wrong, for example the seaport scene[[spoiler:, where the team only avoided having to fight their way through the security due to Murdock and B.A.'s unspoken understanding of foreign cultures- they are to disguise themselves as a rabbi and a Tanzanian citizen, respectively, but manage to assume each others' "identities" convincingly when it turns out that Face gave them the wrong passports. Even Hannibal comments afterward, "There is a God"]].
** Face may be turning into this by the end of the movie. He, not Hannibal, is the one who sets up the final plan to expose Lynch in LA harbor. (Though since they're up against a CIA agent and Face is an Army Intelligence officer, he's also uniquely qualified to figuring out how the other person thinks - note that his plan only goes wrong when [[spoiler:Pike]], who's a different animal altogether, takes matters into his own hands).
* ChivalrousPervert: Face. There are several hints suggesting that Face does do genuine favors when possible.
* ClearMyName: The main reason for the A-Team to take up the job offer.
* CloudCuckoolander: Murdock provides some ''REALLY'' wonderful commentary in just about every situation.
* ClusterFBomb: Hannibal [[spoiler:in the gag reel during a briefing. It upgraded the Blu-Ray release from a 12-Certificate to a 15.]]
* CoincidentalDisguiseComplementingTrait: Murdock (who is white) and B.A. (who is black) have to get through airport security with fake passports and disguises as a rabbi and a Tanzanian citizen respectively. But Face accidentally gave them the wrong passports, and Murdock gets his passport checked by an actual Tanzanian guy who gives a Swahili greeting to his "fellow citizen." Hannibal, seeing from a distance what appears to be an impending disaster, [[SoMuchForStealth quickly starts brainstorming a plan to violently take out the security staff and rush through]], but it turns out Murdock also knows Swahili and responds in kind.
* CompositeCharacter: Lynch. He shares a name (and gender) with the Army cop who was chasing the A-Team in the original TV show, and some of his more buffoonish qualities, but not much else, with most of that role falling to Captain Sosa instead. He also has similarities with General Stockwell from the fifth season, a shady spymaster who helps the A-Team escape custody in exchange for them carrying out missions for him (though in this case, it's only one mission, retrieving the engraving plates).
* CoolVersusAwesome: Tank versus two Reaper [=UAVs=]...''in midair''.
* CourtMartialed: The beginning is caused by the team being tried for a disastrous covert operation that resulted in the [[spoiler:apparent]] death of a general, dishonorably discharged, and imprisoned.
* CrazyEnoughToWork: Hannibal's plan to steal the plates from Baghdad is described by Murdock, of all people, as "batshit insane".
* CruelMercy: Despite Lynch's promise to clear his name and those of his team, Hannibal ultimately decides against killing [[spoiler:Morrison]] as originally agreed upon since the latter will be forced to testify before the authority, hopefully achieving the same result. [[spoiler:Morrison is only [[MercyKill saved (albeit unintentionally) from living to see his own reputation destroyed in the process]] by Lynch's idea of videogaming with an AC-130.]]
* CurbStompBattle: Hi, Pike. [[spoiler:Meet BA's piledriver.]]
** Furthermore, once Lynch shoots [[spoiler: Murdock disguised as Morrison]], the seemingly-defeated Hannibal proceeds to get right up and [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson layeth a smacketh down]] upon Lynch, who'd previously defeated Hannibal in hand-to-hand, though that was AllAccordingToPlan.
* CurseCutShort: "AMF" or "Alpha Mike Foxtrot", which is short for [[spoiler:"Adios, mother-"]]
* CuttingTheKnot: Face develops an elaborate plan that uses cargo containers as a giant-sized shell game. This works fine until Pike decides "screw this!" and knocks over all the containers!
* DarkerAndEdgier: No more ATeamFiring, B.A.'s [[spoiler:trademark overhead throw]] is now lethal, however, [[CreatorBacklash much to the dismay of Mr. T (the original portrayer of B.A. in the television show), who found the film too violent]].
* DeadPersonImpersonation: [[spoiler:Murdock using a modified soundbox from a doll to mimic the General, who was pretty damn dead.]]
* DefectorFromDecadence: [[spoiler:General Morrison]] tries to spin his betrayal as this, evoking the Pentagon's WeHaveReserves and WarForFunAndProfit tendencies. Hannibal isn't having any of it.
-->'''[[spoiler:Morrison]]''': Don't you get it, Hannibal? We fight for them, we bleed for them, we die for them, they don't give a rat's ass. Death and destruction, they're selling it like it was on a goddamn commodities exchange!
-->'''Hannibal''': Don't push this off on them. This is not about them! Your war protest was... ''stealing'' billions of dollars! ''Who are you?''
* DeliciousDistraction: One sure way to get B.A. off your case, especially if you're Murdock, is to give him curry tapenade. And don't forget the toasties!
* DoABarrelRoll: Murdock during both airborne {{Chase Scene}}s, in aircraft ''that really shouldn't be doing that''.
** It should be noted that a Huey really can do that, but there’s no sane reason on God’s Green Earth why you would ever want to. But this ''is'' [[BunnyEarsLawyer Murdock]] we're talking about.
** Also, a more literal example near the beginning, which ends with Face throwing up. More of a tire roll, really.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: Murdock's extreme piloting is enough to cause Baracus, an experienced Airborne Ranger (as in a guy who jumps out of airplanes for a living) to subsequently become completely ''terrified'' of flying afterwards.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Barely ten minutes into the movie, [[spoiler: the classic A-Team van]] meets its demise in this fashion. Eight years later, B.A. hints that [[spoiler: he's restoring it]] and hints that the pictures he has of his work so far is the closest Murdock will ever get to her. Considering how '''PISSED''' at the loss he was back then, this may not be an idle threat.
-->'''Baracus''': YOU PANCAKED MY VAN! I'MMA KILL YOU, FOOL!\\
'''Murdock:''' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint You can't park there, that's a handicap zone.]]
* DuelingMovies: With ''Film/TheExpendables'', which came out the same year. Both were GenreThrowback action movies that appealed heavily to nostalgia for The80s, ''The A-Team'' being the movie adaptation of one of the decade's most iconic and beloved TV series, ''The Expendables'' offering a new franchise for action stars who had their glory days back then. Sadly, they never turned into Dueling Franchises, as despite the hopes of the writers and filmmakers, ''The A-Team'' didn't make enough money to earn a sequel.
* EnhanceButton: Although it is not shown exactly ''how'' he enhanced it, Hannibal has a surveillance photo of Pike in much higher definition than Lynch. Also invoked later when Sosa could reconstruct Lynch's face from a jammed CCTV footage, albeit after a substantial wait. The photo was hardly pristine, either; Lynch's face is clear enough, but it's still grainy and the colors are way off.
* MrFanservice: The entire male cast. Especially Faceman.
%%* EveryCarIsAPinto
* EveryoneMeetsEveryone: the film opening details how the A-Team [[BackStory gets together]] - with the team bonding over all four of them being [[BandOfBrothers Army Rangers]] while battling a corrupt Mexican general.
* EvilCounterpart: Pike is this to Hannibal; both leaders of a team, but while Hannibal loves the BatmanGambit and cares about his men and his honor, Pike has ''no'' loyalty to his men, is easily willing to turn to his trigger finger for solutions, and only cares about himself in the end.
** If you pay attention to his arrogance, his penchant for ogling women, and his generally empty charm, Lynch may be this for Face. At the end, it's even revealed that Lynch is [[spoiler:an agent, but also technically a ConMan]], like Face. But unlike Face, his EvilPlan cohorts [[spoiler:want to cut him out (since the rogue CIA agent has no intent whatsoever to reward them for their work)]] and women don't really want anything to do with him.
* ExactWords: Hannibal in Iraq. "B.A., for the last time, nobody leaves the truck once we take it over."
** While they're in the falling tank after the plane it was on gets blown up:
-->B.A.: "Tell me we're not on the plane any more".
-->Murdock: [gleefully] "We're not on the plane any more".
* {{Expy}}:
** The Black Forest private military corporation is an obvious analogue of the infamous Blackwater PMC.
** Lt. Sosa is one for Lynch in the TV series; Considering that [[InNameOnly Lynch]] in this film is a [[spoiler:[[AdaptationalVillainy corrupt]], [[PyschopathicManchild immature]] [[AdaptationalJobChange CIA agent]] trying to get the printing plates from Pike and Morrison, before teaming up with Pike to go after the A-Team (who have stolen the plates)]], Sosa is more like the heroic, if antagonistic, authority figure going after the team that Colonel Lynch was in the show.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: Brock Pike, a self-serving and treacherous psychopath as he might be, faces death while maintaining his composure when he thinks it to be inevitable. See the JugglingLoadedGuns entry for details. [[spoiler:He doesn't know that events would eventually conspire to give him a second chance.]]
* {{Fanservice}}: Face spends an inordinate amount of time with his shirt open--or [[ShirtlessScene missing entirely]].
* FastRoping: [[spoiler: Hannibal]] does this [[spoiler:one-handed from the 30th floor of a building while shooting with the other hand. Baracus, on the other hand, drops from a flying fox right onto the top of a speeding truck]].
* FlatlinePlotline: This is [[spoiler:the setup for Hannibal's prison escape.]]
* FlippingTheBird: [[spoiler:In an IronicEcho, done by Lynch's assistant (who is constantly irritated at Lynch's stupid entendres), and then done to the A-Team when Lynch is caught (who is constantly irritated at... duhhhhhhhhhhh)]]
%%* FreeFallFight
* FormerRegimePersonnel: The faction that the A-Team retrieves the engraving plates from early on in the movie are identified as former [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fedayeen_Saddam Fedayeen Saddam]], who have gone into business for themselves since the fall of their regime.
* GambitPileup: The team was double-crossed by Pike and and his team who were backed by [[spoiler: Lynch AND Gen. Morrison]]. Then [[spoiler: Morrison double-crosses Lynch and splits with Pike.]] We find out later that [[spoiler: Morrison merely beat Lynch to the punch.]] All of this is on top of Hannibal and Face's antics.
* GambitRoulette: Many of Hannibal's plans rely on precise timing and chance, and they are all vulnerable to someone taking out a grenade launcher.
* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: [[ColonelBadass Hannibal]] [[CulturedBadass loves a fine cigar.]] [[spoiler:He's [[BadassBookworm able to calculate how much tetrodotoxin to put in his favorite Cuban]] to render him unconscious long enough to feign death and escape, with LudicrousPrecision]].
%%* GreatEscape
%%* HandsomeLech: Face.
* HiddenDepths:
** Face, TheCasanova of the crew, is in fact quite capable of falling in love. Unlike many instances of this, he's not dismayed by it either.
** B.A. reads philosophy and at one point even takes a vow of non-violence.
** Murdock is an {{Omniglot}}, who's able to take himself out of a mistake in his forged paperwork with a language the rest of the team didn't even know he spoke.
* HighAltitudeBattle: Do we have to tell you? Okay, tank vs Reaper drones in mid air. That's right, ''a falling tank that is shot out of a cargo plane shooting down Reaper drones in mid air.''
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: Lynch orchestrated the team's prison break, expecting them to do his dirty work. But he ''severely'' underestimated the resourcefulness of the A Team, especially the fact that Hannibal is always one step ahead of everyone else tactically.]]
* HowsYourBritishAccent: Murdock briefly puts on a South African accent. Sharlto Copley is actually from South Africa.
* IcyBlueEyes: Pike (Brian Bloom), whose icy blue eyes serve his creepy {{jerkass}} character well.
* IHatePastMe: Hinted at with B.A. We don't have too many details, but he grew up in a very rough neighborhood, which did a lot to turn him into the fighter he is today. His vow of nonviolence is at least partly a rejection of that past.
-->'''B.A''': When I was a kid, all you heard in the hood was, Bosco's a badass, out collecting scalps. That's where the mohawk came from. Was always at war.
-->'''Hannibal''': That's what warriors are for.
-->'''B.A''': Hannibal man, I don't miss that life.
* ImportantHaircut: Played with. While in prison, B.A. let his hair grow out to distance himself from his past. When broken out of prison [[spoiler: he was given clippers by Face ''specifically'' so he could return to the mohawk, but he decided on just a close buzz cut just because of his new outlook. Just before the final mission, and after a talk with Hannibal on fighting for your faith, he cuts it back to the mohawk.]]
* InsigniaRipOffRitual: When the A-Team is sentenced for undertaking an operation that since Gen. Morrison is [[spoiler:pretending to be]] dead, nobody can confirm wasn't a wildcat job.
* InspectorJavert: [[strike:Captain]] 1st Lieutenant Sosa. [[spoiler: She's the [[OnlySaneMan only sane woman]] in the entire government.]]
* IronicFear: After his first experience with Murdock's piloting skills, B.A. was so scared he could not stand flying anymore, despite being in a occupation where jumping from a plane was an occasional must. He was not happy about it.
* ItAlwaysRainsAtFunerals: [[spoiler: Morrison]]'s funeral is suitably wet.
* ItHasBeenAnHonor: Murdock says this while Hannibal is attempting to fly the tank. B.A. chimes in with a far less dignified "I'm too young to die!"
* JugglingLoadedGuns: Shown when two CIA agents attempt to off Pike. Pike is extremely annoyed at the attempt of the first agent sitting to his left to shoot him in a moving car... or screw a [[ShownTheirWork suppressor]] on... or aim it correctly. Pike begs Lynch not to let this agent shoot him because that'd just be embarrassing and, when his plea goes unanswered, overpowers the agent and hands the gun to another one sitting to his right. To Pike's disappointment, however, that second agent then proceeds to answer a phone call while simultaneously pressing the gun to his other ear. At that point even ''Lynch'' finds the agents' lack of firearm discipline upsetting.
* JustPlaneWrong:
** You ''can'' do a barrel roll in a Huey, there's just no sane reason why you'd ever ''want'' to: it puts a lot of strain on the rotor heads (to the point where an early model would probably break altogether) and you're liable to have the main rotor collide with the tail rotor if you pull negative g-forces. Chalk it up to [[RuleOfCool Rule of Murdock]].
** The fight scene with the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Atomics_MQ-9_Reaper Reaper drones]] is utter nonsense. The Reaper couldn't intercept the A-Team's plane to begin with: the normal cruising speed of a C-130 is 336 mph (540 km/h) but the Reaper tops out at about 300 mph (482 km/h). Also, they aren't armed with machine guns, only missiles (and air-to-ground missiles at that), nor are they capable of the dogfighting-level maneuverability seen in the tank scene. They're designed for long loiter time in low-velocity flight, and are known to lose their connection to the satellite if they bank too hard to right or left.
* KarmaHoudini: Only potentially with [[spoiler:Lynch]]. The second [[spoiler:Lynch]] basically apologizes for the first's inadequacy, and it's sort of hinted at that he's going away permanently.
* KnuckleTattoos: B.A. has the words [[MythologyGag "Pity" and "Fool"]] tattooed on his knuckles.
* LargeHam: Liam Neeson gets in a few moments of this, as does B.A. Murdock, of course, lives this trope.
* LadykillerInLove: Face was this when he was still with Sosa. Unlike most examples of the trope, he's actually pretty accepting of the fact, and it's his love interest who had a problem with it:
-->"You heard I was a player and you wanted to play. And then I got serious and you freaked! You panicked... and you ran."
* LegacyCharacter: The CIA agent is only referred to as "[[MrSmith Mr. Lynch]]", an obvious pseudonym commonly used by the CIA. Other characters joke about this by asking Mr. Lynch if he's related to the other Lynches they met in the past. Also qualifies as a MythologyGag, the Army Colonel chasing the A Team in the original series was named Lynch.
* LivingLegend: The entire team, with more than one character referring to them as the best unit in all four branches of the U.S. military. When they hijack a C-130, one of the Air Force crewmembers recognizes who Hannibal is on sight, which suggests they're as legendary with the rank-and-file (even outside of their own service branch) as they are with their leaders.
* LuxuryPrisonSuite: Face's cell in the military prison, due to his... [[TheCasanova connections.]]
* MacGuffin: The set of U.S. currency printing plates.
* MacGyvering: The Team can build various things out of scratch, like electromagnets, flotation systems, explosives, and [[spoiler:bulletproof facemasks]].
* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:It looks like Pike is the BigBad, except he's TheDragon to Morrison, and both of them, combined, are arguably TheDragon for Lynch.]]
* MarqueeAlterEgo: Sort of. When the team disguises themselves to get through seaport security, Hannibal is disguised as, basically, [[spoiler: Liam Neeson.]]
* MathematiciansAnswer:
-->'''Sosa:''' Gilbert, you've either deliberately aided and abetted a federal fugitive's escape, or you're the single dumbest human being I've ever come into contact with. Would you like to know which way I'm leaning?\\
'''Gilbert:''' [[MaleGaze Forward!]]
* MeaningfulEcho: "I love it when a plan comes together."
* MeaningfulName: All four of the main characters' nicknames.
** Hannibal Smith: Named after UsefulNotes/HannibalBarca, the Carthaginian general who invaded the Roman Republic by taking an army with WarElephants straight over the Pyrenees and the Alps, kept his army together through a seventeen-year campaign, and inflicted some of the worst defeats in Rome's history. All of which make him a very appropriate namesake, as the A-Team's leader is known for being [[TheChessmaster brilliant]], [[RefugeInAudacity daring]], [[BunnyEarsLawyer unconventional]], [[AFatherToHisMen beloved by his men]], and very capable of consistently [[DavidVersusGoliath beating superior odds]].
** Faceman Peck: He's the team's resident con artist, and as such often the face of the team when they're on an operation. He's also TheCasanova, whose pretty face (and charm) has opened a lot of doors.
** B. A. Baracus: The "B.A." stands for "Bad Attitude." Self-explanatory.
** H. M. Murdock: The "H.M." stands for "Howling Mad." Also self-explanatory.
* MythologyGag:
** B.A.'s knuckle tats of "PITY" and "FOOL".
** [[spoiler:B.A.'s black van that gets crushed.]]
** Hannibal's use of a select-fire Ruger Mini-14 with folding stock while [[spoiler: rescuing Face]] in Mexico.
** the containers during the climax also have the Ruger Firearms crest prominently displayed.
** The original theme tune is used in the "3D film". (It's actually the Silva Screen (British record label) recording of the original theme tune, as revealed in the end credits.)
** Agent Lynch is probably a reference to Colonel Lynch, the army officer that chased the A-Team in the first season of the series. [[spoiler: Fittingly, Lynch ends up being after the A-Team towards the end of the film.]]
** At the end, Lynch is [[spoiler: replaced by another agent using the same codename]], which might be a reference to the many {{Suspiciously Similar Substitute}}s who showed up in the TV series after the Lynch character was retired in Season 3.
** The film ends with the opening narration used in the TV series.
* NeverHurtAnInnocent: The movie essentially replaces the TV show's rules (in which almost nobody ever dies) with this. The A-Team are happy to kill bad guys, but real sticklers about avoiding collateral damage. This is in fact what kicks the movie's plot into motion: Hannibal, knowing what trigger-happy sociopaths the Black Forest mercenaries are, doesn't want to leave the Sadr City mission to them, since he believes (correctly) that his team can do the same job with zero civilian casualties.
* NoEndorHolocaust: The (in)famous scene with the parachuting tank. A tank's main gun has considerable range especially when fired from such a great height, and Germany is a densely populated country. All those shells the heroes fired to steer their tank in the right direction would have to come down somewhere, with a not-insignificant chance of this "somewhere" being a busy street or even a settlement. Even if the team had the presence of mind to only load kinetic tank busters instead of high-explosive shells, it's still an incredibly risky, if not callous tactic for the good guys, but nobody ever makes a fuss about it.
* NoodleIncident: The team makes numerous references to past missions, seeing as how they have 8 years and 80 missions worth of material.
** Still wondering what the hell went on in Venezuela.
** Or why Face was so beat up in that first scene in Iraq, he had multiple bandages and an IV in one arm.
** In their initial meetings with Lynch, Hannibal notes that he knew an "Agent Lynch" during [[UsefulNotes/TheGulfWar Desert Storm]], while Morrison knew another one in [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar Laos]]. Knowing them, whatever they were doing in these wars was probably eventful enough to deserve an entire movie for each of them.
** Also prior to meeting the rest of the team, B.A. had been dishonorably discharged for "some bullshit".[[note]]The "War Stories" prequel comic at least covers this, though its canonicity is debatable: some of B.A.'s co-workers were running a black market ring supplying Middle Eastern street gangs with U.S. Army weapons, and roped him into it without his knowledge. When he realized what he was into, he put an end to it and brought it to his superiors' attention. However, the Army authorities ruled that while he wasn't as guilty of the others, he should have known better than to involve himself in such shady events to begin with, and choose to discharge rather than commend him.[[/note]]
*** In the original series BA had punched out a high-ranking officer in Vietnam who the A Team later had to rescue. This is another MythologyGag.
* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler:General Morrison, who suffers Character Death]].
%%* ObfuscatingInsanity: Murdock...
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: [[spoiler:Despite clearing their names, the A-Team are still arrested for escaping from jail, which Sosa found ridiculous, while her superiors felt it must be done.]]
* OffOnATechnicality: [[spoiler:{{Inverted}} by Sosa's superiors, who send the A-Team ''back'' to prison on grounds that despite proving their innocence of the crimes they were originally convicted of, "it's still illegal to break out of jail."]]
* OhCrap: General Tuco in the opening scene when he realizes that [[spoiler: he's over American soil]].
** [[spoiler:Face and Hannibal]] when they realize that [[spoiler:B.A. and Murdock accidentally switched passports at the customs desk.]]
** [[spoiler: Agent Lynch]], when he is addressed [[spoiler: by his [[IKnowYourTrueName real name]].]]
* {{Omniglot}}:
-->'''Face''': "You speak Swahili?!"\\
'''Murdock''': "You don't?"
* OneManArmy: Downplayed, but Pike alone proves to be more of a threat to the whole team then [[spoiler:Lynch does with his entire CIA killsquad.]]
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: After the discovery of [[spoiler:General Morrison's betrayal]], Face comes close to executing him on the spot, while Murdock tries to talk him down and reminds him that they can't clear their names if he's dead. It says everything about how shaken everybody is that Howling Mad Murdock is suddenly the voice of reason.
* OohMeAccentsSlipping:
** Creator/SharltoCopley does a fairly admirable job of holding his vaguely Southern accent, but he tends to switch around accents a lot. It does work for the character, though, seeing as he is insane and an omniglot, and a lot of the more noticeable ones ("Oh you gorgeous rustbucket, did you miss your daddy!") were on purpose. At one point, Copley unleashes his real-life accent in all its unintelligible glory when Murdock impersonates a South African cameraman.
** Liam Neeson has a few moments of this as well, mostly when he's saying anything with an "oo" sound, like "you."
* OriginsEpisode: The ActionPrologue shows how the team was first formed, and [[spoiler:the main plot shows how they became the vigilantes they were in the original series.]]
* OutsideContextProblem: In the final battle, Face has his plan tailored to Agent Lynch's mentality. He does an accurate job of predicting it, too. Unfortunately, he didn't account for Pike slipping off the leash and bringing a rocket launcher to the party.
* OutsideRide
* PreMortemOneLiner: Pike loves these, and he spouts them on numerous occasions (even though he was interrupted before the coup-de-grace both times):
** To Baracus:
--->'''Baracus:''' *pointing a gun at Pike* "l don't wanna kill you, man."\\
'''Pike:''' "You don't wanna kill me? You're not gonna kill me. I'm gonna kill you, Baracus... Here we go, because I got two guns. I'm a lefty, remember that, right? So, as soon as that hammer goes back, it's on."
** To Face:
--->'''Pike:''' "How are you doing, [[TermsOfEndangerment handsome]]? [[BaddieFlattery Shit, can you cycle that weapon. Nice work.]] Jeez, close friends and bullets. Where are they when you need them? Don't take this too personally, but look here," *pointing at the muzzle of his rifle* "smile, wait for the flash."
* ProductPlacement: Everyone seems to be driving Mercedes-Benz cars. There's also Sosa's Dell computer, which is exactly the utilitarian model you'd get saddled with on a government budget. FridgeBrilliance concerning the cars: ''They're in Germany!''
** Utterly lampooned in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdQzGPz-wLM official spoof trailer]] by Orange, in which even the cast ends up complaining about how much it's wrecking the movie ("I love it when a... ''talk plan'' comes together!").
** In the climax at L.A's Port, all the containers have the prominently displayed crest of the Ruger Firearms Company.
* PrisonChangesPeople: During his stint in prison B.A. Baracus took a vow of nonviolence. By the movie's end, however, he had discarded it.
* PsychopathicManChild: [[spoiler:Lynch is]] a mild type C; his loose attitude makes him come off like he's a 16 year old with the CIA's car keys. He leers at his hot assistant, brags about the CIA's rules being cooler than [=DoD's=], and gets really excited about "awesome" combat incidents, which he compares to video games (see ShoutOut below).
-->'''Agent Daly''': Zulu 1, Zulu 1, this is Broadsword. You are clear to engage.\\
'''[[spoiler:Lynch]]''': Broadsword, did you come up with that? That's awesome. '[[Film/WhereEaglesDare Broadsword]].' '''Broad''sword.'
* PuttingTheBandBackTogether: Each member of the A-Team is sentenced to serve their time in a different prison, likely because if they were all in the same place, Hannibal could have broken them all out in a week. The beginning of the second arc is the team being reassembled one prison break at a time.
* QuoteToQuoteCombat: Hannibal to B.A. in an attempt to get TheBigGuy's fighting spirit back after he took an oath of nonviolence in prison.
-->'''B.A. Baracus''': ''(reading from a book)'' "Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary."\\
'''Hannibal Smith''': [[UsefulNotes/MahatmaGandhi Gandhi]]. ''({{beat}})'' "It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence."\\
'''B.A.''': Who said that?\\
'''Hannibal''': Same guy. Gandhi wasn't afraid to fight for what he believed in.[[note]]This quote, by the way, is legit. It comes from Gandhi's book ''On Non-Violence''.[[/note]]
* RadarIsUseless: An air battle takes place between the A-Team in a stolen C-130 and two Reaper drones (which is [[JustPlaneWrong impossible to begin with]] but that's beside the point), with Lynch also sending an AC-130 gunship to attempt to kill the A-Team... All of which takes place in German airspace with no apparent reaction from the authorities.
* RecklessGunUsage: A group of CIA agents grab Pike, handcuff him, and put him in the back of a car. Suddenly one of the agents in the back seat decides to shoot Pike there in the car, much to the surprise of their leader Lynch. However he's so inexperienced that Pike, in a rare AffablyEvil moment, begins walking the agent through how to load and prepare his gun for use. ''Then'' the agent starts fiddling with a HollywoodSilencer, trying to put it on the wrong way, (and while the gun is pointing at himself) and insisting on calling it a silencer rather than a suppressor, despite Pike's attempts to correct him on the terminology. Then he lines up to shoot Pike in such a way that if his hand so much as twitches he'll be more likely to kill the agent on the other side of Pike instead. At that point, Pike gets so exasperated that he takes the gun away from the agent (he can do it because they [[HandyCuffs handcuffed him wrong]]) states that "it would be embarrassing to get killed by that guy" and hands the gun over to the other agent in the hopes that the second agent will be more competent and allow him to die with some dignity. Amazingly, the other guy manages to top the first by answering his cell phone while he's holding the gun, and winds up holding the phone to one side of his face while pressing the loaded, ready to fire gun against the other side. At this point even Lynch, who is constantly criticized for being a desk jockey with little to no real world experience, looks seriously disturbed by the morons on his team. This is all going on in a moving vehicle too, adding to the likelihood of an IJustShotMarvinInTheFace moment.
-->'''Pike:''' You've handled a gun like that before? And you're still alive? That's amazing to me.
* RecoilBoost: While the tank is in a complete freefall following an attack by two Reaper drones, Hannibal orders Face to man the main cannon, rotate the turret and fire off some rounds to adjust the tank's fall trajectory towards a nearby lake. Not only does Face manage to fire enough rounds to successfully course correct and cushion the fall into the body of water, but he also takes out the second drone with a lucky shot.
-->'''Gammons:''' They're trying to shoot down that other drone?\\
'''Charissa:''' No. They're trying to fly that tank.
* ReCut: The DVD version adds 19 minutes of footage, some F-bombs and reintegrates TheStinger into the plot.
* RecycledSoundtrack: A Creator/SilvaScreenRecords cover version of the show's theme is heard [[spoiler: when the van drives through a projection screen]].
* RefugeInAudacity:
** "They are the best, and they specialize in the ridiculous!"
** The [[PuttingTheBandBackTogether entire sequence where they break out of prison]], culminating in the team ''flying a tank''.
* ReluctantWarrior: B.A. becomes one for a short time.
* RemakeCameo: Cameos of Creator/DirkBenedict and Creator/DwightSchultz (Face and Murdock in the original series) served as TheStinger in the theatrical version, however the Extended Cut placed them into the film.
* TheReveal:
** The Arab assisting Pike is actually [[spoiler: General Morrison]]. Cue the MassOhCrap moment from the cast.
** This movie gives an entirely plausible reason for B.A.'s fear of flying and why he hates Murdock so much... [[DrivesLikeCrazy Murdock's piloting]].
* RunForTheBorder: A clever inversion of this trope. [[spoiler:In the film's beginning, the team runs from Mexico to America in a helicopter while being pursued by General Javier Tuco. Upon crossing the border, Tuco's own chopper is blown up for engaging in combat with American soldiers on American soil.]]
** And all of that went according to his plan [[spoiler:made after Face botched the previous one by getting caught in bed with Tuco's wife]].
* RunningOverThePlot: At the beginning, Baracus almost runs over Hannibal, which appears to have come out of nowhere from Baracus's view.
* SanitySlippage: [[spoiler:Inverted. Murdock thinks he might have gone ''sane'' as a result of Face's plan.]]
* ScarsAreForever: B.A. sports a scar on his right arm from where [[spoiler:Hannibal shot him when they first met]]. It might have healed better if [[spoiler:Murdock hadn't stitched it up with a lightning bolt stitch pattern]].
* SettingUpdate: The secret mission that earns the team their fugitive status goes from "rob the Bank of Hanoi" to "steal counterfeiting plates used by terror cells in the Middle East".
* SharedIdentity: The pseudonym Mr. Lynch is used by various CIA agents in order to ensure their actions cannot be traced back to one specific individual, despite them each clearly and unabashedly not being the same man.
* ShootTheRope: Hannibal does this in the opening to free Face from a noose. He also shoots the wire on Pike's handcuffs to steal the plates from him.
* ShoutOut:
** Murdock smears half of his face with blue paint and references ''Film/{{Braveheart}}''.
** While looking at AC-130 camera footage, [[spoiler:Lynch]] exclaims "It's just like ''[[VideoGame/ModernWarfare Call of Duty]]''!" ''Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare'' featured a section where the player controls the weapons on an AC-130U "Spooky" gunship. The audience sees only a glimpse of what the antagonist is seeing, but it does indeed resemble that section. Also noting that the Gunship's call sign is [[VideoGame/SupremeCommander2 Broadsword]].
*** Even better - it also directly references the [=MW2=] AC-130 perk, since the AC-130's turrets are controlled from a laptop, as it is here.
*** Also, this refers to Creator/BrianBloom (who portrays PsychoForHire and DragonWithAnAgenda Brock Pike and was one of the film's screenwriters) [[ActorAllusion having lend his voice to the]] ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' games (Bloom provided additional voices in ''Call of Duty: Finest Hour'', ''Call of Duty: World at War'', ''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2'', ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII'' and ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyAdvancedWarfare'', while he also voiced characters Guzzo in ''Call of Duty 3'', Yuri in ''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3'' and Keegan P. Russ in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyGhosts'').
** When the 3D movie "The Greater Escape" plays in the nuthouse, one of the names listed is Reginald Barkley. This is a reference to a character played by Dwight Shultz in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. He also played H.M. Murdock in the original ''A-Team'' TV Series.
*** Also partial obscured names could also be references, but the full name could be a reference to other roles the original actors played. We can see Thomas (obscured last name. This could be Thomas Banacek played by George Peppard. Also seen is G.F. Star(obscured). This might be Starbuck played by Dirk Benedict.
** The {{MacGuffin}} of the movie, a set of engraving plates offered by the U.S. government to the Shah of Iran, is the same one that was used in ''Film/RushHour2'' nine years earlier. In that movie, the engraving plates went missing during the UsefulNotes/IranianRevolution, and eventually made their way to a Hong Kong [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs Triad]] through the black market. In this one, the Iraqis stole the plates during the UsefulNotes/IranIraqWar.
* ShownTheirWork: The tank is, in fact, an M8 Buford light tank (though it was officially called an "Armored Gun System" as a bureaucratic counter to Congress saying "You already have a tank[[note]] The Buford was meant to fill the Light Tank role for airborne troops and cavalry scouts, with the M1 Abrams as the Main Battle Tank for armored cavalry and heavy armor formations[[/note]]"), of which six were made before the project was canceled in 1997. It really is designed to be air-dropped.
** The subversion is that the Buford in the movie is equipped with Level III armor package, which in reality would have made the tank too heavy to be carried by the Hercules, let alone being air-dropped from it at high altitude. Technically the air-droppable baseline Level I can already protect it from machine gun fire of the Reaper drones, however.
* SinisterSurveillance
* SkyHeist: The A-Team completes their seizure of printer plates for American dollars from an ex-Iraqi Army gang by hooking their cargo container to the underside of a V-22 Osprey piloted by Murdoch and flying away with it--with B.A. conveniently locked in the container so he can't kill them all over his fear of flying.
* SlapSlapKiss: Face and a French journalist. Plus an even-more-amusing Slap-Slap-AlmostKiss with Sosa, involving a GroinAttack, [[EyeScream eye-gouge]], and Face only narrowly avoiding getting shot.
* SleightOfTongue: [[spoiler:Face reveals they have the key to get out of the van in the end... with his tongue. Where did it come from? When he and Sosa were [[GetARoom french kissing]] earlier.]]
* SmokingIsCool: Hannibal loves his cigars.
* SmugSnake: Lynch, oh so much.
** Pike is just a tad bit on the slithery smug side, as well.
* SoftGlass: Averted. When FastRoping, the team shoot out the windows before swinging through them, and when B.A. falls onto a glass ceiling he only cracks it and winces in pain before shooting his way through it.
* SoftWater: Terminal velocity fall in a tank with only one intact chute? Aim for the water. Though rapid-firing the tank's main gun into the water ''could'' maybe disturb it enough to reduce the surface tension ''a little''...[[RuleOfCool oh what the hell, they're the A-Team!]]
* SpannerInTheWorks: [[spoiler:Face]] wasn't expecting [[spoiler:Pike to have a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoulder-launched_Multipurpose_Assault_Weapon SMAW]] on him. Turns out to have been ''invoked'' by Lynch and Pike.]]
** [[spoiler:Pike wasn't expected to get his neck cracked.]]
** [[spoiler:Hannibal wasn't expecting Lynch's double-cross.]]
* SpiesAreDespicable:
** Lynch is a less than competent PsychopathicManchild taking the opportunity to profit from the war, while his team are a bunch of fools and incompetents so bad they make Lynch look good in comparison. What's really notable is that the entire CIA is viewed in this light. Hannibal and Morrison both recall working with CIA agents in previous conflicts, but it's not a fond memory. And if Hannibal is correct, the entire CIA leadership is in on Lynch's plan to steal the engraving plates and give Langley "their own printing press."
** Inverted with Face, the unit's intelligence officer. He's very good at being a spy, while still being a competent soldier and a loyal friend and teammate. While he's happy to take advantage of bystanders for the sake of a mission, he also doesn't deliberately endanger and discard them once he's done with them as Lynch is fond of doing.
* StarterVillain: General Javier Tuco.
%%* TheStinger
* StuffBlowingUp: The climax has a LOT of this, to the point of wondering if Creator/MichaelBay may have been consulted for the scenario.
* SympatheticInspectorAntagonist: [[spoiler:Sosa eventually turns into this by the end of the film.]]
* TalkativeLoon: Murdock, of course.
* TankGoodness: The team is seen airdropping a tank, which they proceed to ''use in a dog fight'' while it's still parachuting down. And it is awesome.
* TeamChef: In short: Murdock cooks like he flies; skillfully and with a complete disregard for conventions and common sense. One of his staples is steak, "nuked" by peppering Cordite on it and then flipping it over to expose it to the flame, and served up with a side of [[ScrewballSerum antifreeze]]. What disqualifies him from LethalChef status is that this dish was so good the team wanted to eat it again (although Face noted that he'd like Murdock to hold the antifreeze, since it ended up giving him partial paralysis). B.A. is also rather fond of his coconut curry tapenade.
* TearingThroughTheMovieScreen: A movie is being shown in the facility where Murdoch is being held. The screen shows a vehicle driving along a desert road, straight at the camera. As the vehicle fills the entire screen, an actual car crashes through the wall and the screen.
* TechnicalPacifist: B.A. becomes this for a while, but Hannibal uses a Gandhi quote (ironically) to convince B.A. to be willing to kill again:
-->'''B.A.''': Gandhi said, "Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary."\\
'''Hannibal''': "It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence."\\
'''B.A.''': Who said that?\\
'''Hannibal''': Same guy.
** [[spoiler:Comes back when he kills Pike with a piledriver.]]
* TemptingFate: "Don't worry! Turbulence has never brought down a plane." [[spoiler: Cue Reapers. "They bring down planes all the time."]]
* TenMinuteRetirement: [[spoiler: B.A., who swears off killing. Until the final battle]]
* TheMountainsOfIllinois: There are no mountains near Frankfurt, Germany.
** There is, however, the Taunus low mountain range just a bit north of Frankfurt.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Murdock of all people gives one to [[spoiler:Morrison when the team finds out he betrayed them:]]
-->"[[spoiler:You son of a bitch... You're not a general. How could you do this to him? How could you do this to us? You know nothing about leading men.]]"
* TheTeaser: The opening twenty minutes, in which we see the heroes draw out and set up the assassination of a Mexican cartel leader. Doubles as an OriginsEpisode.
** Arguably the mission in Baghdad that sets up the movie, too, which shows us the kind of mission the A-Team has been carrying out for the U.S. Army during the last eight years.
* ThemedTattoos: Everyone in the team is an Army Ranger and they use their Ranger tattoos as a sign of comraderie.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: "Overkill is underrated", indeed.
* ThoseTwoGuys: Sosa's aides.
* TooYoungToDieLamentation: B.A. [[https://youtu.be/104tQfcK1sI?t=112 yells "I'm too young to die!"]] as [[ItMakesSenseInContext the freefalling tank he's in gets buttoned down]] by the rest of the team in preparation to try to "fly" it via RecoilBoost.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Baracus has his coconut curry with toast points, as prepared by Murdock.
* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The marketing spoiled the Hercules scene, portions of the bank scene, and portions of the various escapes. Compared to a lot of movies, this is pretty restrained.
* TranquilFury: Morrison pulls off an ''epic'' moment when Sosa barges into his tent demanding he tell her the whereabouts of the A-Team.[[note]]Sosa, a ''captain,'' barging into a ''general's'' office and demanding information from him is a ''grievous'' breach of protocol, regardless of her given authority, and he even gives her a chance to rephrase the question.[[/note]]
-->'''Morrison:''' Captain, in nearly forty years of being in this army, I have learned to control my temper and my voice when in the presence of a subordinate officer who, for at least the time being, seems to have ''lost her goddamn mind''.
* TrickedIntoAnotherJurisdiction: The film starts with the team baiting a Mexican cartel into chasing them over the Rio Grande in helicopters, making the cartel guilty of invading US airspace and getting shot down by Air Force jets.
* TrueCompanions: Pretty obvious, but the A-Team themselves. A beta example may be Sosa's team and Lynch's detachment.
* TrustPassword: In the prologue, Hannibal recites the Ranger Creed to B.A. to get him to help.
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: Implicit from things like the "crime they didn't commit" occurring during the final US withdrawal from Iraq.
* UniversalDriversLicense: Murdock can fly anything with wings or a rotor.
* UnfoldingPlanMontage: Used twice: First in the raid to capture the plates convoy at the beginning, then the "misdirection" assault on Los Angeles Harbor at the end. Both also include [[ATeamMontage A-Team Montages]] of the team gathering equipment.
* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: Subverted in the movie using the "Sherlock Holmes method", where plot-wise the plan is going on at the exact same time as its being detailed, while in-universe it isn't the case. Later played straight when [[spoiler: Hannibal calls Sosa to make arrangements on bringing the plates and Morrison to her, knowing that Lynch is most likely listening in. Face then calls Sosa right afterwards. While we aren't privy to the conversation, its fairly obvious that they're letting Sosa in on the real plan.]]
* UnwantedAssistance: Face was actually upset Hannibal broke him out, as because he is so charismatic he was living a decent prison life including a tanning booth, a hot female guard for a "companion" and was due for a parole hearing in a week. (Though that dropped the second he realized Hannibal needed him and could get the charges cleared.)
* ViewersAreGoldfish: The movie repeatedly shows the audience flashbacks of things that happened just earlier.
* ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption: Subverted in the passport scene, where both Murdock and B. A. are able to talk themselves out of a sticky situation.
* VomitDiscretionShot: When Face is making out with the Mexican drug lord's wife they rescued after they pull him into the van.
--->*kiss kiss kiss* "Wait, I just threw up." *kiss kiss kiss*
* WatchThePaintJob:
** Very early on, [[spoiler:B.A.'s GMC is wrecked by a Air Conditioning block dropped by Murdock.]]
** And earlier, [[spoiler: getting shot by Hannibal doesn't annoy him. ''His blood staining the seats from getting shot annoys him.''.]]
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Due to a traumatic experience with Murdock's flying style, B.A. is deathly afraid of flying. Guess what the team has to do a lot of during missions?
** Made more [[{{Irony}} tragic]] when you think that he used to be part of an [[ItsRainingMen air-dropped Ranger battalion.]]
* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: [[spoiler:At two different points, Pike has B.A. and Face in his gunsights, but takes too much time gloating before actually trying to shoot.]]
** [[spoiler:Also, Hannibal could have easily shot Pike when he took the plates from him in Frankfurt, but didn't, and ends up with Pike gunning after both him and B.A. almost immediately thereafter.]]
* WretchedHive: Sadr City, where the initial mission to retrieve the engraving plates takes place, is described as such by Morrison.[[note]]In real life, Sadr City was a Baghdad district that was developed with an eye to housing the urban poor and rural migrants, disproportionately Shi'a at a time when Iraq's rulers were Sunni; as a result, its residents tended to be badly neglected and abused. The situation did not improve after the U.S. invasion and the subsequent ethnic infighting, with the district becoming a militant hotbed and clashes with American soldiers being frequent, leaving many of them with this view of it. It's no surprise that Morrison is very hesitant to send a mission there, or that the Army brass contracted with a mercenary firm instead of sending their own men after the plates.[[/note]]
-->'''Morrison''': UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein was a certifiable madman. But even he wasn't crazy enough to go into that place more than once in thirty years.
* WrongfulAccusationInsurance: Notably Averted. At the end [[spoiler:Sosa's boss and the military arrest the A-Team for having escaped prison in the first place, as that is still a crime, even if they are innocent of the original charges]].
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