- 89,934
- Rule 12
- GTP_Famine
Caught this on DVD today.
S.W.A.T. Summary: Meh.
All the actors in the film work well off each other - although the "bad guys" are telegraphed somewhat (I won't reveal who they are, so that the "surprise" isn't ruined - but it's not much of a "surprise" anyway). The main bad guy (not the French terrorist, the other one) is let down a little by the fact he was in Angel as a third-rate vampire - not his fault, but I couldn't shake off the image - and looks as if puberty just hit. He's 33 though, apparently... Perhaps the characters are a little formulaic though - angered ex-S.W.A.T. guy, by-the-book police captain who's a complete dick, gnarled old hand, Hispanic woman hardnut (think of Vasquez in Aliens) and "Colin Farrell" (becoming a character in himself).
Some of the screenplay is a bit ropey - like would anyone have forgotten who the guy in the gun cage (where the weapons/etc. are checked in and out, and cleaned in the meantime) was in just six months off the S.W.A.T. duty list? This invalidates the whole bit where Hondo bets the best S.W.A.T. guy that Street can beat him on the shooting course - "But he's just the guy in the gun cage!". Still it's a reasonable sequence.
Thankfully, for a decent-budget, high-profile-cast film about an armed rapid-response police unit, the bodycount is kept to a minimum and there's really no blood and gore at all. The 12 rating it was given in the UK is just about justified. Don't confuse it with being a tame, action-free movie though.
I DO like the part-amateur-cinematography effect though - some sequences are shot as-if through bystanders' video cameras, which gives it a whole sort-of documentary-esque feel. There's almost always some tension in the proceedings - although in the bus sequence specifically it seems as if some of the team are bulletproof. Oh, and the Learjet took only 400 yards to land, yet was on the "runway" for takeoff for well over a minute...
Overall it's a watchable film. The time passes okay - you'll laugh occasionally at some of the banter too. Not a classic, but not a cunning Hollywood torture either.
S.W.A.T. Summary: Meh.
All the actors in the film work well off each other - although the "bad guys" are telegraphed somewhat (I won't reveal who they are, so that the "surprise" isn't ruined - but it's not much of a "surprise" anyway). The main bad guy (not the French terrorist, the other one) is let down a little by the fact he was in Angel as a third-rate vampire - not his fault, but I couldn't shake off the image - and looks as if puberty just hit. He's 33 though, apparently... Perhaps the characters are a little formulaic though - angered ex-S.W.A.T. guy, by-the-book police captain who's a complete dick, gnarled old hand, Hispanic woman hardnut (think of Vasquez in Aliens) and "Colin Farrell" (becoming a character in himself).
Some of the screenplay is a bit ropey - like would anyone have forgotten who the guy in the gun cage (where the weapons/etc. are checked in and out, and cleaned in the meantime) was in just six months off the S.W.A.T. duty list? This invalidates the whole bit where Hondo bets the best S.W.A.T. guy that Street can beat him on the shooting course - "But he's just the guy in the gun cage!". Still it's a reasonable sequence.
Thankfully, for a decent-budget, high-profile-cast film about an armed rapid-response police unit, the bodycount is kept to a minimum and there's really no blood and gore at all. The 12 rating it was given in the UK is just about justified. Don't confuse it with being a tame, action-free movie though.
I DO like the part-amateur-cinematography effect though - some sequences are shot as-if through bystanders' video cameras, which gives it a whole sort-of documentary-esque feel. There's almost always some tension in the proceedings - although in the bus sequence specifically it seems as if some of the team are bulletproof. Oh, and the Learjet took only 400 yards to land, yet was on the "runway" for takeoff for well over a minute...
Overall it's a watchable film. The time passes okay - you'll laugh occasionally at some of the banter too. Not a classic, but not a cunning Hollywood torture either.
