S.W.A.T. : Unité d'élite

I haven't read the comments of others, so I'm not sure why it's rated so low. This is a pretty decent yarn with some good action and suspense in it. The story is almost believable. A drug dealer is detained by the Police and offers $100 million to anyone who can spring him. The offer is taken up by several people and the Los Angeles Police Department finds itself outgunned. Their only hope is the newly formed SWAT team, headed by Samuel L. Jackson. The whole SWAT thing is new and no one likes it. While, today, many people still don't like the idea of SWAT teams, they are now a part of the law enforcement landscape. It's too "Military" for most people. The film shows the build up and some of the training of the SWAT team, and their duel with the bad guys in the end. It kept my attention and I found it entertaining. And isn't that what the industry is all about? I gave it a 7.

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.

S.W.A.T. (2003) *** Colin Farrell, Samuel L. Jackson, Michelle Rodriguez, LL Cool J, Josh Charles, Jeremy Renner, Brian Van Holt, Olivier Martinez, Reg E. Cathey, Larry Poindexter, Ashley Scott, Denis Arndt, Reed Diamond, Lucinda Jenney. Better than anticipated big-screen adaptation of the 1970s cult classic police drama about the elite Special Weapons and Techniques division of the LAPD skillfully directed by tv veteran Clark Johnson (who cut his chops on 'Homicide: Life on The Street' and 'The Shield) with the focus on an oily French baddie (Martinez) making a routine prison transfer a dicey situation when he proclaims to give $100 M for his release from the cops custody ensuing all sorts of pitfalls and unexpected turns along the way. The screenplay by Ron Mita, Jim McClain and Davids Ayer and McKenna keep things lively but allow the action to occur gradually after each new member is incorporated into the fold, and (finally) Farrell proves his worth as a leading man in a big Hollywood film as the head-strong yet by-the-book disgraced member looking for redemption and Jackson as his no-nonsense leader of the pack. Expertly choreographed action sequences and some needed humor add to the mix of the been-there-done-that histrionics that naturally unfold

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 arrangement of a truce as they all strive for the reward money, was a sloppy piece of film-making.

Despite the good things S.W.A.T. has going for it, it never gets out of that, 'family' gear that it gets into and as a result, feels like a re-hash of that 1986 film Top Gun, only with guns and on the ground instead of jets and in the air. Still, at least you get to hear a couple of Jackson nods to his appearances in Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown, respectively. That in itself, to some, is more than enough of a reason to give S.W.A.T. a go.

'S.W.A.T.' is a movie that does nothing more than deliver. It promises nice action scenes and gives us some. They look pretty good, so I guess in that way I can recommend the movie. The story is, of course, about S.W.A.T., a respected part of the LAPD. We follow a team with leader Hondo (Samuel L. Jackson), Jim Street (Colin Farrell), Sanchez (Michelle Rodriguez), Deke (rapper LL Cool J), Boxer (Brian Van Holt) and T.J. (Josh Charles). They have to deal with a criminal named Alex Montel (Olivier Martinez) who offers 100 million dollars to the people who will help him escape from jail.

The movie opens with Jim Street and his partner Gamble (Jeremy Renner) saving people from bank robbers, but they do that after disobeying an order. Both are punished but Gamble thinks Street has betrayed him so Gamble leaves the fore while Street gets a job out of action. The movie continues six months later, leaving us with the feeling we will hear more from the Gamble-character. We feel correct. These facts, and may be that Street used to date Boxer's sister, are kind of important to know, although every event serves the action or the one-liners that are not that impressive.

Yes, events are implausible, but not in a way they become annoying. For actions fans the movie does exactly what we expect and what we want, entertaining enough. If you are normally not an action fan, only when it is done very good, I should skip 'S.W.A.T.'!