S.W.A.T. (2003)

Though the trailers and commercials made it appear to be a hard-core action movie, the end result is anything but. Aside from the (expected) opening action sequence, the first half of the movie is pretty devoid of anything resembling action! It mainly consists of introducing the characters, bringing them together, getting them to work together blah blah blah. Now, that in itself isn't bad, but what makes it bad here is that EVERYTHING about this has a ring of "I've seen this many times before!" There's NOTHING about these characters or this material that seems fresh or even delivered with some liveliness. While it really can't be called downright terrible, it still has you muttering "Yeah yeah, cut to the chase already."

Though the "chase" isn't any better - in fact, I would say it's more badly done than the bland character development that unfolded for the first hour. For one thing we have a really boring bad guy being dealt with - sure, his "100 me-llion dollars" cry is a promising start, but other than that he is developed just as much as a generic thug. And the action sequences suffer from what hurts many Hollywood action movies these days - jerky camera movement, close-up shots, and quick cutting that makes it hard to get a sense of just what's going on. Even when it's something as simple as two men beating each other up, you can't tell who is who! Instead of watching this, track down the Hong Kong action movie EU STRIKE FORCE (a.k.a. THE BIG BULLET), a sometimes silly but energetic and *fun* movie about a S.W.A.T. team, with much more lively characters.

Fmovies: People may dismiss S.W.A.T. as one of those films that stands there on its own as pure entertainment for the average film going Joe and overall, they'd be right to do so. You don't need me or anyone else to tell you that this film is indeed a bit of light-hearted fun that most people can enjoy but what struck me was that more popular 'fun' films such as Snakes on a Plane and Pirates of the Caribbean didn't do as much for me as S.W.A.T. did and this makes me think that S.W.A.T. is a tad underrated, albeit as a popcorn fest.

The films spends enough time early on hanging around the main character of Jim Street; a disgraced ex-S.W.A.T. member whose partner got them both into a little trouble a few years ago when he made a bit of a botch of a hostage situation. Although Street is played by Colin Farrell whose one of those actors most people have a love/hate relationship with (although it's probably mostly females who fit into the 'love' category) so it's always going to be a little tricky to associate with the fact Farrell is the focus of the film, character wise.

One scrap of 'cred.' the film has is its inclusion of Samuel L. Jackson as the boss of a newly formed S.W.A.T. team following his return to the force although he gets his own way far too easily during the forming of the team, in my opinion. His search takes control after the good opening and what was effective was that genuinely funny humour as well as decent action/chase scenes are both blended in to the search. We're also introduced to the dangers of law enforcement as Michelle Rodriguez's character tells us when she exclaims she was attacked by a guy three times her size and weight wielding several small sharp razor blades.

What makes S.W.A.T. the piece of fun, colloquial film-making it is; is its evidence of light heartedness all the way through. In the UK where I come from, the film was rated as a '12A' which means twelve year olds can see it; as long as there's a parent/guardian with them. The reason for this is its lack of violence and genuine, gritty police action. The chase and action scenes, although impressive, are done in a routine manner with fast talking, joke-style dialogue there to extinguish any threat of profanity or violence for the kids. Also, the music is a cause for concern. I have no idea of the bands nor the songs actually used but it's of that modern day rock/pop stuff that sounds so much like the previous song released in that genre, it's worrying. These songs that pop up at various intervals include montage sequences and the like, keeping the light hearted atmosphere and again, giving the kids something to relate to in the form of music. For me and probably anyone else over the age of 20, it was very disappointing.

The fact the villain of the film is French is awkward enough. I say French but really, he's European and him and his non-American cronies are another disappointing aspect of the film. It's just too typical of an American summer film to do this: including a Eurotrash villain. The fact he actually spends most of the film in custody and has to issue his threats to press camera crews is another thing that detracts from the film. The fact he's in custody and out of harms way as far as violence and challenging the heroes is concerned; means less of a threat to the kids thanks to the 12A tag. With other odd things cropping up such as the fact each gang just happens to try and rescue the baddie at the exact same time with no prior a

Good movie with good acting and action. Must for action fans.

S.W.A.T. fmovies. S.W.A.T. may be the best action film since THE TRANSPORTER...Just ignore the plot holes, leaps of logic, and occasional cold-bloodedness, and enjoy the fast-paced action and macho camaraderie!

Jim Street (Colin Farrell, easily 2003's busiest actor!) is a decorated LAPD S.W.A.T. member, but when his partner, Brian Gamble (Jeremy Renner, looking like a pumped-up Elijah Wood) disregards orders during a bank robbery, and wounds a 'civilian' female, while taking out the leader, the lady sues the city (considering the baddie was about to kill her, the reaction seems a bit illogical!). Dressed down by their boss, Capt. Fuller, Gamble goes ballistic, and quits the force; Street "eats crow", and is demoted to working in the Weapons Cage, cleaning weapons and putting up with verbal abuse from former teammates (who thought he'd 'sold' his partner out...an attitude that seems illogical, as well, as he'd been in their ranks three years, and they SHOULD have known him better! ). He maintains an insane physical regimen, and prays for the day he can return to S.W.A.T.

Six months pass, and the unit's reputation is on the skids, so veteran warhorse 'Hondo' Harrelson (Samuel L. Jackson, looking sexier and more dangerous than ever!) is called in, to put together an elite team inside of S.W.A.T., sort of a 'baddest of the bad' crew, to take on worst case scenarios (how this would help the performance of the REST of the unit, who knows?) He picks Josh Charles and Brian Van Holt from S.W.A.T., LL Cool J, a street cop with an 'attitude', Michelle Rodriguez, as a female cop with even MORE of an attitude...and Jim Street, with whom he bonds like a long-lost brother, despite threats from Capt. Fuller. There is GREAT chemistry between Jackson and Farrell, and their scenes together are film highlights!

After 'DIRTY DOZEN'-like training scenes, and embarrassing the egotistical Fuller by ace-ing his terrorist hijacking training scenario ("Best time ever, right?" Hondo razzes the Captain, as the last 'terrorist' is taken down), the new unit is given a choice assignment...moving a youthful international crime kingpin (played by UNFAITHFUL's Olivier Martinez) to a holding facility. Unfortunately, in front of television cameras, Martinez offers $100 million to anyone who can spring him...and virtually EVERY hood in L.A. decides to take a shot at the money. Then the fun REALLY begins, as the film becomes one long action sequence!

While the subsequent 'surprises' are predictable, and the climax, a Lear Jet landing on a bridge, is impossible (the winds alone would have cracked up the small aircraft against the narrow confines of the span), the pacing is so fast and furious that you accept the leap of logic of the sequence, and the subsequent fight between Street and...well, watch the movie!

While I'm not sure S.W.A.T. will encourage tourism to L.A. (which is pictured as so crime-ridden that it makes New York City look like an Amish village!), the film IS fun, in a violent sort of way, and seeing the star of the original series, Steve Forrest, in a brief cameo, was a pleasure! Now, if I can just get that darned theme song out of my head...

As cop movies go, this one isn't bad at all. It gives some nice background information about the characters without overdoing it, and the plot is satisfying if not awfully surprising. My main quibble is that hottie girl-jock Michelle Rodriguez didn't get enough screen time. It's nice to see she made the SWAT team, though, and we can always hope she'll have a bigger part in the sequels. On the other hand, Colin Farrel, who evidently has a modest following among female moviegoers, gets plenty of screen time. Something for everybody.

On the way to this movie we got stuck in traffic, and for a few minutes it looked as if we might arrive late. My son joked, "Oh, nothing exciting ever happens at the beginning of these movies anyway." As it happens, we got there just as the movie started, and I had to laugh at how appropriate my son's comment was. "SWAT" immediately jumps right into a ferocious action sequence, like a good action movie only in spades. Don't be late.

Thrown into a desk job when his partner Gamble disobeys orders and shoots a hostage, Jim Street bides his time waited beside being demeaned on a daily basis. When the commissioner brings in old school SWAT leader hondo to put together a young outfit, Street is offered to chance to retrain with the select team and is soon back on duty. Meanwhile a man is pulled over by a black and white for a broken rear light, but is found to be a drug baron. SWAT are sent to escort the man to a secure prison but, as they take him into a holding centre he announces that whoever breaks him out of jail will get $100 million dollars. SWAT soon have much to content with and must ensure that Montel does not escape.

In a summer crammed with more sequels than ever, I was drawn to go and see SWAT simply because it offered some hope by not being a sequel to a past film (I didn't know at the time it was a TV conversion). Unfortunately, while not lifting it's formula from a predecessor, it essentially lifts itself from many other films and lacks anything that really makes it stand out. The central premise (the `$100 meellion dollar' bit) is interesting but only leads to a big long action scene that acts as the film's second act. Prior to this we are given the usual training stuff which, while not new, is still enjoyable.

It's weakness is that it is suffering from too much testosterone and therefore has to much of the men banging heads with each other and comparing size! The second half is enjoyable as it is just noisy action all the way, but it suffers from being too overblown. A scene where several different street gangs attack a police convoy is an example of this but happily the rest is not as bad as this and is actually quite good. My main complaint was that this second act felt like it should have been the main body of the film and that the training etc was just the introduction. However the second act seemed very short and I came away with the feeling that this was made with a sequel in mind from day one - just like MIB felt like it was made to get to MIIB!

That said it is still fun to watch, albeit unoriginal and clichéd fun. The overblown, all-destroying action probably doesn't do justice to the actual precise and tactical work that SWAT units do and it did make me wonder why someone didn't just take the `$100 meellion dollar' idea and put it in a normal cop film setting but hey-ho.

The cast is really good on paper but hardly make much of a splash in reality. Farrell continues to land on his feet with yet another starring role. His American accent hasn't gotten any better but he is still watchable with his tough guy charisma (would be nice to see him build on this rather than relying on it though). Jackson is slumming it a bit and doesn't really lift the film by his presence. He is no stranger to action movies but he doesn't manage to do much here other than add a face to the mix. Smith (LL Cool J, now starting to use his real name in credits) is OK but again doesn't do much special; I found it amusing that both Jackson and LL had actually made Deep Blue Sea more enjoyable by their performances but neither did it here. Rodriguez is not allowed to show she can act at any point, but she is easy on the eye and is good enough. Martinez's villain is OK but it was never clear where he was from despite the fact he had a French accent - have I missed something, was he a French drug lord? If anything his role marks a sad day for English actors everywhere, fr