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L - R: Face, B.A. Baracus, Murdock and Hannibal.
"There is no Plan B."

The film adaptation of The A-Team series, written and directed by Joe Carnahan and released in 2010.

The film follows the Ragtag Bunch of Misfits 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. Col. John "Hannibal" Smith (Liam Neeson) is the leader, the Man with the Plan. Lt. Templeton "Face" Peck (Bradley Cooper) is the charmer, point man and has been with Hannibal longer than the rest. Cpl. Bosco "B.A." Baracus (Quinton Jackson) is the machine savvy bruiser of the team. And Capt. H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock (Sharlto Copley) is their (possibly insane) Ace Pilot.

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 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 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 A-Team Montage.


Contains the following tropes:

  • Action Prologue: Also explains how the A-Team comes together, detailing Hannibal recruiting B.A. and Murdock to rescue Face.
  • Actor Allusion:
    • There are a couple of nods to Sharlto Copley'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 District 9.
    • There's the part where Hannibal lures Lynch into a trap in a container, reminiscent of Batman Begins 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 Star Trek: The Next Generation. Other names in the credits include G. F. Starbuck, a veiled reference to Dirk Benedict's Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica, and two more not clearly seen but confirmed by Word of GodThomas Banacek (for George Peppard) and 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 Liam Neeson) basically went through as... Liam Neeson.
  • Adaptational Villainy: Lynch. In the series, he was more of a Hero Antagonist. 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 Dirty Cop and a true villain. However, he is replaced by another agent also called Lynch, implying that this is the "real" Lynch.
  • Affably Evil:
    • 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 and General Morrison) and most of the bad guys (who tend to speak in stereotypical terms): Face's "administrator" and "operator" analogy v.s. Lynch's "High-speed, shoot-to-kill" statement, "suppressor" v.s. "silencer", among others.
    • Whenever Pike evokes Eviler than Thou and is Too Kinky to Torture.
  • All Part of the Show: 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.
  • Almost Kiss: Between Face and Sosa... more than once.
  • And the Adventure Continues: 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 Sequel Hook.note 
  • Arch-Enemy: Did anyone else get this vibe between B.A. and Pike?
  • A Real Man Is a Killer: Lynch's incompetence is very much connected to his lack of experience in the field, and 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.
  • Arrested for Heroism: The Team catches Lynch and clears their names, and are promptly arrested for breaking out of prison.
  • Arrow Cam: Shown on Reaper UAV missiles. Truth in Television.
  • Artistic License – Military:
    • The F-22 Gunship Rescue at the end of The Teaser. 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 Jack of All Trades 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.
  • A-Team Firing:
    • While there is still a lot of gunfire, many people - random mook soldiers and main characters alike - actually do get shot, 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 Trope Namer.
    • Played with within the movie itself. B.A. becomes a pacifist and refuses to shoot to kill during part of the movie (perhaps a Shout-Out 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 Recoil Boost) without hitting that German fisherman in his rowboat right next to the tank's eventual landing spot.
  • A-Team Montage: 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.
  • Attack Drone: The Reaper UAVs that our heroes have to fight in German airspace.
  • As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Averted; the Spanish at the beginning is actually pretty good.
  • Awesome McCoolname: 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.
  • Badass Crew: 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 blows up the A-Team's tanker, and their plan, with a rocket launcher. He's also no slouch in the combat department: he out-shoots Face and was only taken out when Baracus blindsided him and engaged him in CQC.
  • Badass Boast: 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."
    • One ad for the movie changed this to "Give my team an hour, we're unbeatable."
    • Brock Pike, before he puts down two incompetent rogue CIA agents and proceeds to wreck Face's plan:
    Pike "Okay, paintballers. Time to go pro."
  • Badass Creed: Hannibal recites the Ranger Creed to B.A. to convince him to help.
  • Baddie Flattery: 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.
  • Beyond the Impossible: Pulling off crazy plans 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!
  • Big Bad Ensemble: The plot to steal the engraving plates brings together three people from three different organizations: CIA agent Lynch, Black Forest mercenary Brock Pike, and 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 Action Prologue, and the Fedayeen Saddam that the engraving plates are stolen from in the first place).
  • Big Damn Heroes: 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, 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!!!
  • Black and Nerdy: B.A. Baracus is a surprisingly eloquent Gadgeteer Genius who loves reading and philosophy (especially Gandhi)... and will also pile driver your sorry ass, fool.
  • Borrowed Catchphrase: Not only does Face get to go "I love it when a plan comes together", he's biting a key instead of a cigar.
  • Brick Joke: 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.
  • Brief Accent Imitation: Murdock, constantly.
  • Broken Pedestal:
    • The entire team has this reaction to 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: "The Reason You Suck" Speech 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.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Murdock is batshit insane, but he's the best goddamn pilot you'll ever find.
  • The Cameo:
    • 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.
    • Jon Hamm as The second Lynch.
  • Car Fu: In the first plot to steal the plates, later used by Hannibal to save Pacifist Baracus from shooting Pike.
  • Car Meets House: When the team breaks Murdock out of the military hospital in Germany.
  • Character Catchphrase:
    • Hannibal's is "I love it when a plan comes together."
    • In a comedic variation, Lynch's is "no relation." A Legacy Character, he keeps coming across soldiers who have encountered an "Agent Lynch" in a previous war zone and don't remember him very fondly.
  • Chekhov's Skill: 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...It's actually a rather more literal part of The Plan.
  • The Chessmaster: To Hannibal, being a mere one step ahead of your enemy is an Indy Ploy. 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, 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 Pike, who's a different animal altogether, takes matters into his own hands).
  • Chivalrous Pervert: Face. There are several hints suggesting that Face does do genuine favors when possible.
  • Clear My Name: The main reason for the A-Team to take up the job offer.
  • Cloud Cuckoolander: Murdock provides some REALLY wonderful commentary in just about every situation.
  • Cluster F-Bomb: Hannibal in the gag reel during a briefing. It upgraded the Blu-Ray release from a 12-Certificate to a 15.
  • Composite Character: 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).
  • Cool Versus Awesome: Tank versus two Reaper UAVs...in midair.
  • Court-martialed: The beginning is caused by the team being tried for a disastrous covert operation that resulted in the apparent death of a general, dishonorably discharged, and imprisoned.
  • Crazy Enough to Work: Hannibal's plan to steal the plates from Baghdad is described by Murdock, of all people, as "batshit insane".
  • Cruel Mercy: Despite Lynch's promise to clear his name and those of his team, Hannibal ultimately decides against killing Morrison as originally agreed upon since the latter will be forced to testify before the authority, hopefully achieving the same result. Morrison is only saved (albeit unintentionally) from living to see his own reputation destroyed in the process by Lynch's idea of videogaming with an AC-130.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Hi, Pike. Meet BA's piledriver.
    • Furthermore, once Lynch shoots Murdock disguised as Morrison, the seemingly-defeated Hannibal proceeds to get right up and layeth a smacketh down upon Lynch, who'd previously defeated Hannibal in hand-to-hand, though that was All According to Plan.
  • Curse Cut Short: "AMF" or "Alpha Mike Foxtrot", which is short for "Adios, mother-"
  • Cutting the Knot: 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!
  • Darker and Edgier: No more A-Team Firing, B.A.'s trademark overhead throw is now lethal, however, much to the dismay of Mr. T (the original portrayer of B.A. in the television show), who found the film too violent.
  • Dead Person Impersonation: Murdock using a modified soundbox from a doll to mimic the General, who was pretty damn dead.
  • Defector from Decadence: General Morrison tries to spin his betrayal as this, evoking the Pentagon's We Have Reserves and War for Fun and Profit tendencies. Hannibal isn't having any of it.
    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?
  • Delicious Distraction: 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!
  • Do a Barrel Roll: Murdock during both airborne Chase Scenes, 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 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.
  • Drives Like Crazy: 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.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: Barely ten minutes into the movie, the classic A-Team van meets its demise in this fashion. Eight years later, B.A. hints that 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: You can't park there, that's a handicap zone.
  • Dueling Movies: With The Expendables, which came out the same year. Both were Genre Throwback action movies that appealed heavily to nostalgia for The '80s, 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.
  • Enhance Button: 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.
  • Mr. Fanservice: The entire male cast. Especially Faceman.
  • Everyone Meets Everyone: the film opening details how the A-Team gets together - with the team bonding over all four of them being Army Rangers while battling a corrupt Mexican general.
  • Evil Counterpart: Pike is this to Hannibal; both leaders of a team, but while Hannibal loves the Batman Gambit 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 an agent, but also technically a Con Man, like Face. But unlike Face, his Evil Plan cohorts 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.
  • Exact Words: 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 Lynch in this film is a corrupt, immature 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.
  • Face Death with Dignity: 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 Juggling Loaded Guns entry for details. 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 missing entirely.
  • Fast-Roping: Hannibal does this 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.
  • Flatline Plotline: This is the setup for Hannibal's prison escape.
  • Flipping the Bird: In an Ironic Echo, 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)
  • Former Regime Personnel: The faction that the A-Team retrieves the engraving plates from early on in the movie are identified as former Fedayeen Saddam, who have gone into business for themselves since the fall of their regime.
  • Gambit Pileup: The team was double-crossed by Pike and and his team who were backed by Lynch AND Gen. Morrison. Then Morrison double-crosses Lynch and splits with Pike. We find out later that Morrison merely beat Lynch to the punch. All of this is on top of Hannibal and Face's antics.
  • Gambit Roulette: Many of Hannibal's plans rely on precise timing and chance, and they are all vulnerable to someone taking out a grenade launcher.
  • Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Hannibal loves a fine cigar. He's able to calculate how much tetrodotoxin to put in his favorite Cuban to render him unconscious long enough to feign death and escape, with Ludicrous Precision.
  • Hidden Depths:
    • Face, The Casanova 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.
  • High-Altitude Battle: 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.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: 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.
  • How's Your British Accent?: Murdock briefly puts on a South African accent. Sharlto Copley is actually from South Africa.
  • Icy Blue Eyes: Pike (Brian Bloom), whose icy blue eyes serve his creepy jerkass character well.
  • I Hate Past Me: 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.
  • Important Haircut: Played with. While in prison, B.A. let his hair grow out to distance himself from his past. When broken out of prison 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.
  • Insignia Rip-Off Ritual: When the A-Team is sentenced for undertaking an operation that since Gen. Morrison is pretending to be dead, nobody can confirm wasn't a wildcat job.
  • Inspector Javert: Captain 1st Lieutenant Sosa. She's the only sane woman in the entire government.
  • Ironic Fear: 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.
  • It Always Rains at Funerals: Morrison's funeral is suitably wet.
  • It Has Been an Honor: 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!"
  • Juggling Loaded Guns: 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 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.
  • Just Plane Wrong:
    • 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 Rule of Murdock.
    • The fight scene with the 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.
  • Karma Houdini: Only potentially with Lynch. The second Lynch basically apologizes for the first's inadequacy, and it's sort of hinted at that he's going away permanently.
  • Knuckle Tattoos: B.A. has the words "Pity" and "Fool" tattooed on his knuckles.
  • Large Ham: Liam Neeson gets in a few moments of this, as does B.A. Murdock, of course, lives this trope.
  • Ladykiller in Love: 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."
  • Legacy Character: The CIA agent is only referred to as "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 Mythology Gag, the Army Colonel chasing the A Team in the original series was named Lynch.
  • Living Legend: 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.
  • Luxury Prison Suite: Face's cell in the military prison, due to his... 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 bulletproof facemasks.
  • The Man Behind the Man: It looks like Pike is the Big Bad, except he's The Dragon to Morrison, and both of them, combined, are arguably The Dragon for Lynch.
  • Marquee Alter Ego: Sort of. When the team disguises themselves to get through seaport security, Hannibal is disguised as, basically, Liam Neeson.
  • Mathematician's Answer:
    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: Forward!
  • Meaningful Echo: "I love it when a plan comes together."
  • Meaningful Name: All four of the main characters' nicknames.
    • Hannibal Smith: Named after Hannibal Barca, the Carthaginian general who invaded the Roman Republic by taking an army with War Elephants 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 brilliant, daring, unconventional, beloved by his men, and very capable of consistently 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 The Casanova, 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.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • B.A.'s knuckle tats of "PITY" and "FOOL".
    • B.A.'s black van that gets crushed.
    • Hannibal's use of a select-fire Ruger Mini-14 with folding stock while 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. Fittingly, Lynch ends up being after the A-Team towards the end of the film.
    • At the end, Lynch is replaced by another agent using the same codename, which might be a reference to the many Suspiciously Similar Substitutes 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.
  • Never Hurt an Innocent: 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.
  • No Endor Holocaust: 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.
  • Noodle Incident: 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 Desert Storm, while Morrison knew another one in 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 
      • 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 Mythology Gag.
  • Not Quite Dead: General Morrison, who suffers Character Death.
  • Obstructive Bureaucrat: 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.
  • Off on a Technicality: 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."
  • Oh, Crap!: General Tuco in the opening scene when he realizes that he's over American soil.
    • Face and Hannibal when they realize that B.A. and Murdock accidentally switched passports at the customs desk.
    • Agent Lynch, when he is addressed by his real name.
  • Omniglot:
    Face: "You speak Swahili?!"
    Murdock: "You don't?"
  • One-Man Army: Downplayed, but Pike alone proves to be more of a threat to the whole team then Lynch does with his entire CIA killsquad.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: After the discovery of 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.
  • Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping:
    • Sharlto Copley 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."
  • Origins Episode: The Action Prologue shows how the team was first formed, and the main plot shows how they became the vigilantes they were in the original series.
  • Outside-Context Problem: 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.
  • Outside Ride
  • Pre-Mortem One-Liner: 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, handsome? 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."
  • Product Placement: 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. Fridge Brilliance concerning the cars: They're in Germany!
    • Utterly lampooned in the 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.
  • Prison Changes People: During his stint in prison B.A. Baracus took a vow of nonviolence. By the movie's end, however, he had discarded it.
  • Psychopathic Man Child: 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 Shout-Out below).
    Agent Daly: Zulu 1, Zulu 1, this is Broadsword. You are clear to engage.
    Lynch: Broadsword, did you come up with that? That's awesome. 'Broadsword.' 'Broadsword.'
  • Putting the Band Back Together: 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.
  • Quote-to-Quote Combat: Hannibal to B.A. in an attempt to get The Big Guy'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: 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 
  • Radar Is Useless: An air battle takes place between the A-Team in a stolen C-130 and two Reaper drones (which is 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.
  • Reckless Gun Usage: 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 Affably Evil moment, begins walking the agent through how to load and prepare his gun for use. Then the agent starts fiddling with a Hollywood Silencer, 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 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 I Just Shot Marvin in the Face moment.
    Pike: You've handled a gun like that before? And you're still alive? That's amazing to me.
  • Recoil Boost: 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.
  • Re-Cut: The DVD version adds 19 minutes of footage, some F-bombs and reintegrates The Stinger into the plot.
  • Recycled Soundtrack: A Silva Screen Records cover version of the show's theme is heard when the van drives through a projection screen.
  • Refuge in Audacity:
  • Reluctant Warrior: B.A. becomes one for a short time.
  • Remake Cameo: Cameos of Dirk Benedict and Dwight Schultz (Face and Murdock in the original series) served as The Stinger in the theatrical version, however the Extended Cut placed them into the film.
  • The Reveal:
    • The Arab assisting Pike is actually General Morrison. Cue the Mass "Oh, Crap!" 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... Murdock's piloting.
  • Run for the Border: A clever inversion of this trope. 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 made after Face botched the previous one by getting caught in bed with Tuco's wife.
  • Running Over the Plot: At the beginning, Baracus almost runs over Hannibal, which appears to have come out of nowhere from Baracus's view.
  • Sanity Slippage: Inverted. Murdock thinks he might have gone sane as a result of Face's plan.
  • Scars are Forever: B.A. sports a scar on his right arm from where Hannibal shot him when they first met. It might have healed better if Murdock hadn't stitched it up with a lightning bolt stitch pattern.
  • Setting Update: 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".
  • Shared Identity: 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.
  • Shoot the Rope: 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.
  • Shout-Out:
    • Murdock smears half of his face with blue paint and references Braveheart.
    • While looking at AC-130 camera footage, Lynch exclaims "It's just like 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 Broadsword.
    • 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 Star Trek: The Next Generation. 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 Rush Hour 2 nine years earlier. In that movie, the engraving plates went missing during the Iranian Revolution, and eventually made their way to a Hong Kong Triad through the black market. In this one, the Iraqis stole the plates during the Iran–Iraq War.
  • Shown Their Work: 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 tanknote "), 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.
  • Sinister Surveillance
  • Sky Heist: 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.
  • Slap-Slap-Kiss: Face and a French journalist. Plus an even-more-amusing Slap-Slap-Almost Kiss with Sosa, involving a Groin Attack, eye-gouge, and Face only narrowly avoiding getting shot.
  • Sleight of Tongue: 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 french kissing earlier.
  • Smoking Is Cool: Hannibal loves his cigars.
  • Smug Snake: Lynch, oh so much.
    • Pike is just a tad bit on the slithery smug side, as well.
  • Soft Glass: Averted. When Fast-Roping, 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.
  • Soft Water: 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...oh what the hell, they're the A-Team!
  • Spanner in the Works: Face wasn't expecting Pike to have a SMAW on him. Turns out to have been invoked by Lynch and Pike.
    • Pike wasn't expected to get his neck cracked.
    • Hannibal wasn't expecting Lynch's double-cross.
  • Spies Are Despicable:
    • Lynch is a less than competent Psychopathic Manchild 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.
  • Starter Villain: General Javier Tuco.
  • Stuff Blowing Up: The climax has a LOT of this, to the point of wondering if Michael Bay may have been consulted for the scenario.
  • Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: Sosa eventually turns into this by the end of the film.
  • Talkative Loon: Murdock, of course.
  • Tank Goodness: 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.
  • Team Chef: 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 antifreeze. What disqualifies him from Lethal Chef 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.
  • Tearing Through the Movie Screen: 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.
  • Technical Pacifist: 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.
    • Comes back when he kills Pike with a piledriver.
  • Tempting Fate: "Don't worry! Turbulence has never brought down a plane." Cue Reapers. "They bring down planes all the time."
  • 10-Minute Retirement: B.A., who swears off killing. Until the final battle
  • The Mountains of Illinois: There are no mountains near Frankfurt, Germany.
    • There is, however, the Taunus low mountain range just a bit north of Frankfurt.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Murdock of all people gives one to Morrison when the team finds out he betrayed them:
    "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."
  • The Teaser: 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 Origins Episode.
    • 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.
  • Themed Tattoos: Everyone in the team is an Army Ranger and they use their Ranger tattoos as a sign of comraderie.
  • There Is No Kill Like Overkill: "Overkill is underrated", indeed.
  • Those Two Guys: Sosa's aides.
  • "Too Young to Die" Lamentation: B.A. yells "I'm too young to die!" as the freefalling tank he's in gets buttoned down by the rest of the team in preparation to try to "fly" it via Recoil Boost.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Baracus has his coconut curry with toast points, as prepared by Murdock.
  • Trailers Always Spoil: 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.
  • Tranquil Fury: Morrison pulls off an epic moment when Sosa barges into his tent demanding he tell her the whereabouts of the A-Team.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.
  • Tricked into Another Jurisdiction: 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.
  • True Companions: Pretty obvious, but the A-Team themselves. A beta example may be Sosa's team and Lynch's detachment.
  • Trust Password: In the prologue, Hannibal recites the Ranger Creed to B.A. to get him to help.
  • 20 Minutes into the Future: Implicit from things like the "crime they didn't commit" occurring during the final US withdrawal from Iraq.
  • Universal Driver's License: Murdock can fly anything with wings or a rotor.
  • Unfolding Plan Montage: 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 A-Team Montages of the team gathering equipment.
  • Unspoken Plan Guarantee: 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 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.
  • Unwanted Assistance: 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.)
  • Viewers Are Goldfish: The movie repeatedly shows the audience flashbacks of things that happened just earlier.
  • Violence is the Only Option: Subverted in the passport scene, where both Murdock and B. A. are able to talk themselves out of a sticky situation.
  • Vomit Discretion Shot: 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*
  • Watch the Paint Job:
    • Very early on, B.A.'s GMC is wrecked by a Air Conditioning block dropped by Murdock.
    • And earlier, getting shot by Hannibal doesn't annoy him. His blood staining the seats from getting shot annoys him..
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: 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?
  • Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: At two different points, Pike has B.A. and Face in his gunsights, but takes too much time gloating before actually trying to shoot.
    • 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.
  • Wretched Hive: Sadr City, where the initial mission to retrieve the engraving plates takes place, is described as such by Morrison.note 
    Morrison: Saddam Hussein was a certifiable madman. But even he wasn't crazy enough to go into that place more than once in thirty years.
  • Wrongful Accusation Insurance: Notably Averted. At the end 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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When a Plan Comes Together

The team is being carted back to prison after saving the day when Face reveals (using Hannibal's iconic line)that Sosa used their kiss goodbye to slip him the firing pin from her gun so he can pick the locks to their cuffs.

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