When the movie begins, our four favorite military men aren't together yet. Hannibal (Liam Neeson) is working with Face (Bradley Cooper), but they are separated and haven't met B.A. ('Rampage' Jackson) or Murdock (Sharlto Copley). The way the guys get together is a bit of a stretch...but try to look past that part. Once the Fab Four have been united, things take off.
Eight years later, the boys are in Iraq doing their thing. Hannibal gets them unofficially assigned to a mission retrieving a set of lost/stolen plates for a US Mint printing press. Of course, just as they were completing their mission, things go haywire. The plates are, once again, stolen and their commanding officer is killed. The team gets the blame and the four of them are carted off to four different prisons. If you've watched the TV series, you know that they have to break out of prison and try to clear their names.
While I know that the movie needs to set up the back story, it seems to take forever to do so. Luckily, you don't really realize how much time has passed setting everything up. It's not until the boys are tossed in jail that you go "Wow. We're only THIS far into the storyline?" The action is amazing and it keeps you going from scene to scene. The main downfall of the movie is Jessica Biel's characters. I understand that the writers felt they needed to add a female character in order to keep the movie "gender friendly." However, that's just not the basis of the series. It's OK to skip adding female characters JUST to have a chick in the group. She was completely unnecessary and I felt that she brought down the movie just a little. But not enough to skip seeing the movie entirely. If you get a chance to see this in theaters, jump at the chance. I think that the action deserves the big screen.