You cant go into a film like S.W.A.T. with anything resembling high expectations; but you can go in expecting to be entertained - and this film doesn't even deliver on that implied promise. Sure, it has all the explosive action sequences you will have come to expect from this sort of tosh, but because the characters and script are so lame; it takes all the fun out of them. Roughly half of the dialogue in this flick is made up of smart-ass quips delivered in the typical 'cool' aggressive way, and it makes it very hard to take seriously down to the fact that people simply don't talk to each other like this in real life. I realise that this is 'just a film', but being unrealistic makes it hard to connect with. The story is typical of this sort of film, and it sees a rich jailbird offering loads of money to whoever can spring him from jail. It's lucky, then, that S.W.A.T. are on hand to save the day! (groan). The film handles it's plot badly, however, as it takes ages to get into it and most of the early stages of the film are taken up by boring training and recruitment scenes, which are filled out by more rubbish dialogue.
The cast is marginally impressive, with Colin Farrell in the lead, and being supported by LL Cool J, Michelle Rodriguez and Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson is, of course, the standout as he's the best actor on the cast list; but he really needs to start reviewing the material he's going to be working with. There's no doubt that he can carry a bad movie like this; but his talents would be better off elsewhere. Colin Farrell is overrated, annoying and never convinces as the hardman he's trying to portray. The action sequences are thick and fast once they finally kick off, but again it's the dialogue and the characters that spoil it. Adding to that is the predictability of this film and all of it's counterparts. The fact that you know it's going to be a Hollywood style 'happy' ending really spoils the proceedings. Especially when most people will be hoping that our heroes will end up biting the bullet, due to the fact that they're all underwritten, boring and never say anything isn't a quip. On the whole, this film is garbage and I don't recommend it. If you're easy to please or just like films that don't require any input from the viewer, however, you may find something here.
The cast is marginally impressive, with Colin Farrell in the lead, and being supported by LL Cool J, Michelle Rodriguez and Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson is, of course, the standout as he's the best actor on the cast list; but he really needs to start reviewing the material he's going to be working with. There's no doubt that he can carry a bad movie like this; but his talents would be better off elsewhere. Colin Farrell is overrated, annoying and never convinces as the hardman he's trying to portray. The action sequences are thick and fast once they finally kick off, but again it's the dialogue and the characters that spoil it. Adding to that is the predictability of this film and all of it's counterparts. The fact that you know it's going to be a Hollywood style 'happy' ending really spoils the proceedings. Especially when most people will be hoping that our heroes will end up biting the bullet, due to the fact that they're all underwritten, boring and never say anything isn't a quip. On the whole, this film is garbage and I don't recommend it. If you're easy to please or just like films that don't require any input from the viewer, however, you may find something here.