The action opens in Mexico, with Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith (Liam Neeson) held captive by two corrupt Mexican officers, working for the renegade General Tuco (Yul Vazquez). Hannibal escapes after being left to be fed on by two guard dogs, and sets out to rescue his comrade-in-arms Templeton "Faceman" Peck (Bradley Cooper), who is himself held captive by Tuco at his private ranch, caught after he had seduced the General's wife.
Hannibal makes it to the ranch in time to save Face from a grisly demise, after enlisting disgraced Ranger Bosco B.A. Baracus (Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson), driving to the rescue in B.A.'s modified GMC Vandura van. With the three men now on the run from the enraged Tuco, they stop in at a nearby Army hospital, to recruit the services of insane pilot H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock (Sharlto Copley). In a medical chopper, they engage Tuco in a vicious aerial dogfight, which results in B.A.'s permanent fear of flying, and ends when they manage to lure Tuco's chopper into American airspace, where it's destroyed.
Cut to "eight years and eighty successful missions later", where the team - now a highly-regarded, elite combat unit - is stationed in Iraq. Hannibal is contacted by CIA Agent Lynch (Patrick Wilson), who reveals that Iraqi insurgents are in possession of U.S. treasury plates being used to manufacture counterfeit currency.
Lynch wants Hannibal and his team to steal the plates and over 1 billion dollars in counterfeit cash that's due to be moved out of Baghdad.
At the same time, Defense Criminal Investigative Service Captain Charissa Sosa (Jessica Biel) arrives --warning her ex-lover Face, with whom (along with the rest of team) she does not like to stay away from the plates and out of Baghdad. Against the advice of his commanding officer, General Morrison (Gerald McRaney), Hannibal agrees to steal the plates, albeit in an unofficial "Black Ops" mission. The mission is successful, but when the team returns to base to meet their commanding officer, both the shipping container carrying the money and Morrison's Humvee are destroyed by men from the private security firm Black Forest (a fictionalized version of Blackwater Worldwide), led by the ruthless and wise-cracking Brock Pike (Brian Bloom) With Morrison the only proof that they were, in fact, acting on the U.S.'s behalf, the team is arrested, tried, dishonorably discharged and sentenced to ten years in federal prison.
Six months later, the incarcerated Hannibal is visited by Lynch once more, who reveals that Pike may be trying to sell the plates with the help of a mysterious Arab backer. Hannibal, who has been tracking Pike on his own, strikes up a deal with Lynch: clean records for himself and his team, in return for the plates. Lynch agrees, and Hannibal escapes prison with the help of a drug-soaked cigar that makes him appear dead. Hannibal then breaks out Face (pretending to be a removal man and stealing the tanning bed Face is in), B.A. (by ripping off the door of the prison bus transporting him) and Murdock (through distracting the German V.A. hospital in which he's committed with a 3-D movie).
Now on the run the "Alpha Team" sets out to prove they were set up all along.
Directed by Joe Carnahan (Smokin' Aces) the film is rather gleeful and unapologetic as revs up the ridiculous with one insane action set piece after another...The movie has a tank sequence that defies all logic and so if your brain is properly checked at the door by then...You might as well ask for a refund on your ticket.
The actor's seemed to get along quite well understanding what kind of film this is and just have fun with it--Neeeson Cooper Jackson and Copley do ok here--although I wish Jackson didn't have to utter the line "I pity the fool!"or a variation thereof because no one pulls that one off except Mr. T
Biel is the film weakest acting link--sharing no chemistry with Cooper when it counts.
As scripted by Carnahan Skip Woods and Bloom--I just wish at least one of the "twists" of the story were not as easy to spot a mile away. I know it's not high drama here but one surprise might have been nice.
Did not love it nor do I hate it--fits nicely along side 09's summer fare “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."--Not a knockout by any means but still fun
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