Reviewed by: Greg C
S.W.A.T. is a movie full of talented actors and potentially great concepts, and although there are some scenes in which the action and the actors shine, the entire film feels like a bundle of missed chances and neutered results.
The film centers (sort of) around Colin Farrel's character, whose last name is Street and apparently doesn't posses a first name, because we all know of course that cops only call each other by their last name. This is one cliché I'm tired of, frankly. I come from a cop family, I've been on patrol with my father, and let me tell you: they do not refer to everyone by their last name, unless it's a superior and they only know their last name. But oh well. It's been used in so many movies that I guess I shouldn't be bothered by it.
Anyway, Street is a top SWAT person, one of the team's best shooters, except he's of course a bit of a rebel toward authority, and during a bank heist/hostage situation Street and his partner, Gamble (another instance of the character's name serving as the only piece of description we get), disobey a direct order and take out the robbers, but not before Gamble accidentally shoots a hostage in the shoulder. In the ensuing media circus, the captain tries to fire both Street and Gamble, but their squad leader sticks up for them and instead the captain demotes them to working the gun cage. This doesn't sit well with Gamble, who instead quits and becomes an overly emotional and temperamental bastard within the span of three minutes. It didn't make much sense with the character we had just been introduced to, but the film needs a villain, I guess. Oh, don't act like I just gave something away, the trailers have been pointing this out for months.
Six months pass by, Farrel is working the gun cage, handing out weapons and vests to cops who actually go out and catch bad guys. Farrel is trying to take the job in stride, but the script wants us to believe he's got the itch to get back onto SWAT. Enter Samuel L. Jackson, playing a guy named Hondo but is really Samuel L. Jackson in a uniform. Jackson plays a cross between his Shaft and his character from Loaded Weapon, laying on the patented Sam Jackson bad-ass mojo but offering precious little more than that. Still, his "cool" act is always fun to watch and he's easy on the eyes and ears. He's a veteran SWAT leader, called in from retirement to put together a new team of SWAT that will help improve the LAPD's public image. This is the reason they give for forming the team, but this plot point is never mentioned or heard of again, and for all intents and purposes these could have just been a regular round up for SWAT school. This "media image" crap is simply an easy way for the writers to offer a simple, oft-heard excuse for forming the group, I guess to try and emphasize that the people on this team are going to be the best of the best (which is sort of moot because that's what SWAT is anyway.) But I digress. So Jackson makes the rounds, offering the position to cops LL Cool J, Michelle Rodriguez, and two other guys whose last names in the movie are Boxer and TJ (he's the only one with possibility of a first name, although what it is we never know.) All the actors are in fine form, with Cool J being his normal bad ass self and Rodriguez playing her role from "Girlfight" except with guns instead of boxing gloves. Finally, Jackson asks Farrel if he's interested in another shot at SWAT.
After a rather interesting and intriguing training sequence, we move onto the supposed "main plot" that the trailers indicated: International fugitive gets caught, and offers "Won Hundreed Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeelion Dollars!" to whomever busts him out of prison. From what the trailers showed this as is that this prompts pretty much every thug and gang member in LA to start a sort of citywide war with the LAPD, and that could have been a potentially great action movie, with a very good setup. But instead, the gang war takes up a grand total of one scene in the movie. Seriously, the gangs go through all this planning of using semis, automatic weapons and rocket launchers to take out the police convoy transporting Mr. Fugitive, only when they discover it's a decoy, they just give up. Honestly, this was pretty inane on the writer's part, taking what could have been a tense auctioneer and instead discarding the interesting premise in favor of the "good cop vs. bad cop" plot line. Disappointing, to say the least.
That's the main problem with SWAT: it's entertaining for the most part, but it's also frustrating, because the movie's stars, action and premise show so much more potential than what we are given. Instead of taking on a challenging movie that would establish itself as one of the best action movies of the year, it constantly takes the easy way out. It's a fun ride, to be sure, and the performances are solid. But the movie is the prime example of wasted potential, and it's a shame because the movie is really screaming to be allowed an "R" rating to give room to actually show that gang war, but instead it feels as though at the last minute Columbia decided they wanted a PG-13 no-brainer that would fill more seats opening weekend. It's a shame, because there is a lot to like about SWAT. Just not enough to offer anything more than weak praise as a fun popcorn flick.
Rated PG-13 for language and violence.
Special thanks to Movie - Vault
