The Sweeney

Having never lived in England, I never got to see the television show that inspired this movie, so I can't comment on how faithful this adaptation is to the source material. I will say, however, that there were a few points in the movie when the movie seemed to assume you knew the source material, since these points were vague and not really explained. But before I go on listing this movie's faults, I will mention what I thought was positive about it. The movie looks very good for a budget that was reportedly only around three million pounds. There are a couple of good action sequences. Also, the acting by everyone is pretty good. However, the actors are a bit *too* good at their job, because no character in the movie is likable. The main problem, however, is with the script. The script has the one-two punch of the story not only moving quite slowly, but being extremely familiar, especially if you have seen as many direct-to-DVD movies as I've seen. The movie could have been much worse, but that's no excuse to track down and watch it.

The dialogue was fine and the acting was fine, but I don't believe that an elite police squad, even London police, can be so incompetent.

Is it realistic that a group of police trained in the use of firearms should not actually be any good in shooting those firearms? The action scenes remind me of the old TV show, "The A-Team", where guns are blazing but no one seems to get hurt. Or, rather, it would, except that the bad guys have apparently been paying attention at the firing range. Surely in a real police organization, people who couldn't shoot straight, whose tactics were amateurish, who had no regard for public safety, and who had difficulty with the idea of calling for backup, should not be allowed out on the streets. More than that, I find it incomprehensible that a training program would be allowed to exist that produced such people as the end result.

As fine as the actors are, this movie does no credit to the UK police service.

Another shameless example of cashing in on middle aged people like me wanting to be reminded of the "good ole days", and then this time adding a current pop star to draw the youngsters as well.

Sadly, for all it's style and glam etc, it misses the cold hard mark of the original. Winstone is no longer "hard", especially not when they dress him in trendy gear - he just looks like a mid life crisis bloke (better in a Crombie). Admire his ability to laugh at his ever expanding gut, but he doesn't carry off the tough guy anymore.

Plan B is also laughable - although I recognise that he is obviously trying, but it's not enough. And Damien Lewis is just a caricature that is miscast.

Plus it is too long. I was almost asleep by the "climax".

They do try to introduce humour, but with one notable exception (face in window) it just doesn't work.

And if the shooting accuracy of coppers and ex paras is reflective of real life, then the crims and Afghans have got it made - this lot couldn't hit a barn door with a banjo. And love 2 examples of a goodguy taking cover behind something made of wood, which then gets shot exactly where he is standing, and he's not hit(??????). Remarkable wood these days.

I'd looked forward to this having missed it in the cinema, I was a big fan of the TV series and may have expected much more. It was a terrible disappointment. The action was OK, the script; well let's just say they must have had space left on the envelope. It was mostly dull and unbelievable even in an action movie, were some suspension of reality must be given. Some of the acting was dreadful, at best wooden, the shooting, the proverbial barn door would be safe. I'm a fan of Ray, in this he was miscast and wasted, it might have made an acceptable television pilot I'm now not sure if it was worth the rental, maybe just.3/10

A poor interpretation of a British TV Classic. The Regan and Carter dynamic was central to the success of the original in this it takes a backseat to the tedious affair between Regan and policewoman Nancy who of course did not appear in the original series. Baby faced Ben Drew looks like the singer of an Indie Pop Band and the waddling Ray Winstone is far too fat to take seriously as a maverick cop and the love interest of a woman 25 years his junior. The brilliant Damian Lewis was woefully underutilised as chief inspector Frank Haskins and would have made a far better Regan. John Hodge, co-writer, and Nick Love, who wrote the screenplay, were children when the original series aired so it's no surprise they managed to screw up the remake so spectacularly.