When Maria and I saw “Date Night” in the theater a few months ago, one trailer in particular stood out. Sure, I immediately wanted to see the movie being advertised, but I could not believe when my wife leaned over and said she could not wait to see the big-screen version of “The A Team.”

I don’t know why that surprised me so much. She’s a huge James Bond fan, we have seen the Jason Bourne movies and she enjoyed the new action-packed Sherlock Holmes. Since my love for the renegade foursome comes from watching the TV show as a kid, I just didn’t think she had the same memories. Either way, we caught the flick a few weeks ago, and it delivered.

“The A Team” won’t win many awards, but it provided lots of cool explosions, an interesting enough story and better than expected performances from the cast. I lost myself in its simplicity for a couple of hours, which is all I can ask for from a movie like this.

I really liked the tidy way they introduced the characters before they worked together to set the stage for the rest of the film. The way the cast works with the combination of technological advances and old-fashioned sneakiness made the story as believable as possible in a film like this

I worried about Liam Neeson as Hannibal, but he brought a toughness I did not expect. I liken it to the way Daniel Craig portrayed Bond when he assumed the role a few years back. There was an edge that set the tone for the whole movie. Bradley Cooper pulled off Face just as I expected, Rampage Jackson gave B.A. more depth than Mr. T could ever imagine and Sharlto Copley provided Murdoch with a dizzying combination of craziness and dependability.

Remakes like this can crash and burn pretty easily. They managed to put enough effort into the story that things like flying a tank and dodging a barrage of shipping containers just seem like fun. Plus, they kinda, sorta left room for a sequel that might include more Jessica Biel. That’s a winner for everyone in my book.