2003 - Action/Adventure - Clark Johnson - English - 12 years and over - Samuel L. Jackson, Michelle Rodriguez, Josh Charles, Colin Farrell, L.L. Cool J. more
Television director/actor Clark Johnson makes an impressive feature-film debut with S.W.A.T. Inspired by the 1970s show of the same name, S.W.A.T. is set in modern day Los Angeles.... more
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extravaganza based on the 1970s TV show of the same name, in which police teams are brought in to take care of extremely dangerous situations. Jackson plays a sergeant brought out of retirement to form a new squad, which includes rebellious Farrell and tough babe Michelle Rodriguez.After a lot of training and head-butting with a smarmy police captain, the squad gets assigned to transfer the head of a European crime cartel (Olivier Martinez) who's declared on television that he'll give $100 million to anyone who gets him out. Every scumbag in Los Angeles descends to claim the money, turning a routine transfer into a bullet-filled gauntlet. Despite some gaps in logic and a generic flavour,S.W.A.T.will satisfy most action-movie junkies. --Bret Fetzer
macho extravaganza based on the 1970s TV show of the same name, in which police teams are brought in to take care of extremely dangerous situations. Jackson plays a sergeant brought out of retirement to form a new squad, which includes rebellious Farrell and tough babe Michelle Rodriguez.After a lot of training and head-butting with a smarmy police captain, the squad gets assigned to transfer the head of a European crime cartel (Olivier Martinez) who's declared on television that he'll give $100 million to anyone who gets him out. Every scumbag in Los Angeles descends to claim the money, turning a routine transfer into a bullet-filled gauntlet. Despite some gaps in logic and a generic flavour,S.W.A.T.will satisfy most action-movie junkies. --Bret FetzerStealthFeaturing the best special effects that money can buy and a screenplay that any six-year-old could follow,Stealthis a pure action thriller that starts fast and never slows down.Moving up fromThe Fast and the FuriousandxXx, director Rob Cohen proves himself as a master of popcorn entertainment for teenagers, turning this derivative military sci-fi action thriller into a dazzling showcase for impressive aerial action sequences, featuring digital effects and highly detailed model work (by James Cameron's Digital Domain effects company, among others) that are so realistic you could swear the movie's high-tech aircraft are absolutely real. The plot serves the effects (it should be the other way around), and it's a cheesy hybrid ofTop Gun,The Right Stuff,FirefoxandBehind Enemy Lines, in which a close-knit trio of Naval Air Force aces (Josh Lucas, Jessica Biel, and Jamie Foxx) pilot state-of-the-art "Talon" fighter-bombers, ready to scramble on orders from their not-entirely trustworthy commander (Sam Shepard). They're teamed up with an ultra-high-tech UCAV (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle) nicknamed "EDI," an artificially intelligent fighter drone that's as erratically dangerous (after its circuitry is damaged by lightning) as it is deadly effective.With a standard third-act rescue mission amidst the threat of global warfare,Stealthis brainless entertainment from start to finish, but the aerial action and epic-scale pyrotechnics ensure that it's never, ever boring. Cohen may be guilty of dumbing down his recycled plots for mass appeal, but there's no denying his skills as an action auteur. Move over, Michael Bay, you've got serious competition.--Jeff ShannonVantage PointVantage Point, which aspires to be a cunningly twisted thriller, comes equipped with plenty of hurtling action, handheld camerawork, what-was-that? editing, and a plot that has multiple, contradictory agendas writhing like a nest of snakes. It's all set within a few blocks of a town square in Spain where a U.S. President is targeted for assassination. Although the movie lasts 90 minutes, the events it depicts are mostly over within fifteen minutes or so--but seen, rewound, and reseen from half a dozen different (you guessed it) vantage points. The first line in the credits reads "Original Film," apparently the name of the production company. "Gimmick Movie" might be more accurate. The opening reel, effectively jolting, affords an initial overview of the events through the eyes, lenses, monitors, and duelling sensibilities of a TV news producer (Sigourney Weaver), her activist-minded reporter (Zoe Saldana) and crew. Everybody’s in Salamanca for the start of an international conference to reaffirm Arab-Western commitment to the fight against terrorism. Terrorism, of course, sees this as an ideal moment to break out. As gunshots and explosions reduce everything to chaos, the clock is reset to zero and we proceed to revisit the scene as experienced by several Secret Service agents (namely Dennis Quaid and Matthew Fox), an American tourist with camcorder (Forest Whitaker), sundry locals--including three who may be caught up in a love triangle or a conspiracy or both--and even the President himself (William Hurt).For a while, this is mildly diverting: that guy, or that gesture, so sinister when glimpsed across the plaza in one run-through, now appears harmless in closeup--or vice versa. But there's no real ambiguity (so stop with the careless comparisons to Kurosawa'sRashomon)--this is a shell game in which the peas aren't worth tracking. Despite decent actors, the characters might as well be holograms (although poor Forest Whitaker is saddled with "motivation" of surpassing sappiness), and the casting telegraphs several twists: one redoubtable good guy practically gives a wink-wink, nudge-nudge that he's really bad, etc. The movie declines to specify which nutjob philosophy the terrorists espouse, and their numbers are multi-ethnic. There's also a laborious suggestion that they have bloodthirsty, reactionary counterparts among the President's inner circle, which perhaps qualifies as redeeming socio-political comment and prompts a meaningless declaration of deep meaning from the Prez. The whole megilleh finally comes down to an extended car chase through impassably claustrophobic streets that would mark a lurch into unintentional self-parody--if only that point hadn't been passed a couple of rewinds earlier.--Richard T. Jameson
macho extravaganza based on the 1970s TV show of the same name, in which police teams are brought in to take care of extremely dangerous situations. Jackson plays a sergeant brought out of retirement to form a new squad, which includes rebellious Farrell and tough babe Michelle Rodriguez.After a lot of training and head-butting with a smarmy police captain, the squad gets assigned to transfer the head of a European crime cartel (Olivier Martinez) who's declared on television that he'll give $100 million to anyone who gets him out. Every scumbag in Los Angeles descends to claim the money, turning a routine transfer into a bullet-filled gauntlet. Despite some gaps in logic and a generic flavour,S.W.A.T.will satisfy most action-movie junkies. --Bret FetzerStealthFeaturing the best special effects that money can buy and a screenplay that any six-year-old could follow,Stealthis a pure action thriller that starts fast and never slows down.Moving up fromThe Fast and the FuriousandxXx, director Rob Cohen proves himself as a master of popcorn entertainment for teenagers, turning this derivative military sci-fi action thriller into a dazzling showcase for impressive aerial action sequences, featuring digital effects and highly detailed model work (by James Cameron's Digital Domain effects company, among others) that are so realistic you could swear the movie's high-tech aircraft are absolutely real. The plot serves the effects (it should be the other way around), and it's a cheesy hybrid ofTop Gun,The Right Stuff,FirefoxandBehind Enemy Lines, in which a close-knit trio of Naval Air Force aces (Josh Lucas, Jessica Biel, and Jamie Foxx) pilot state-of-the-art "Talon" fighter-bombers, ready to scramble on orders from their not-entirely trustworthy commander (Sam Shepard). They're teamed up with an ultra-high-tech UCAV (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle) nicknamed "EDI," an artificially intelligent fighter drone that's as erratically dangerous (after its circuitry is damaged by lightning) as it is deadly effective.With a standard third-act rescue mission amidst the threat of global warfare,Stealthis brainless entertainment from start to finish, but the aerial action and epic-scale pyrotechnics ensure that it's never, ever boring. Cohen may be guilty of dumbing down his recycled plots for mass appeal, but there's no denying his skills as an action auteur. Move over, Michael Bay, you've got serious competition.--Jeff ShannonVantage PointVantage Point, which aspires to be a cunningly twisted thriller, comes equipped with plenty of hurtling action, handheld camerawork, what-was-that? editing, and a plot that has multiple, contradictory agendas writhing like a nest of snakes. It's all set within a few blocks of a town square in Spain where a U.S. President is targeted for assassination. Although the movie lasts 90 minutes, the events it depicts are mostly over within fifteen minutes or so--but seen, rewound, and reseen from half a dozen different (you guessed it) vantage points. The first line in the credits reads "Original Film," apparently the name of the production company. "Gimmick Movie" might be more accurate. The opening reel, effectively jolting, affords an initial overview of the events through the eyes, lenses, monitors, and duelling sensibilities of a TV news producer (Sigourney Weaver), her activist-minded reporter (Zoe Saldana) and crew. Everybody’s in Salamanca for the start of an international conference to reaffirm Arab-Western commitment to the fight against terrorism. Terrorism, of course, sees this as an ideal moment to break out. As gunshots and explosions reduce everything to chaos, the clock is reset to zero and we proceed to revisit the scene as experienced by several Secret Service agents (namely Dennis Quaid and Matthew Fox), an American tourist with camcorder (Forest Whitaker), sundry locals--including three who may be caught up in a love triangle or a conspiracy or both--and even the President himself (William Hurt).For a while, this is mildly diverting: that guy, or that gesture, so sinister when glimpsed across the plaza in one run-through, now appears harmless in closeup--or vice versa. But there's no real ambiguity (so stop with the careless comparisons to Kurosawa'sRashomon)--this is a shell game in which the peas aren't worth tracking. Despite decent actors, the characters might as well be holograms (although poor Forest Whitaker is saddled with "motivation" of surpassing sappiness), and the casting telegraphs several twists: one redoubtable good guy practically gives a wink-wink, nudge-nudge that he's really bad, etc. The movie declines to specify which nutjob philosophy the terrorists espouse, and their numbers are multi-ethnic. There's also a laborious suggestion that they have bloodthirsty, reactionary counterparts among the President's inner circle, which perhaps qualifies as redeeming socio-political comment and prompts a meaningless declaration of deep meaning from the Prez. The whole megilleh finally comes down to an extended car chase through impassably claustrophobic streets that would mark a lurch into unintentional self-parody--if only that point hadn't been passed a couple of rewinds earlier.--Richard T. Jameson
2005 - Action/Adventure - Doug Liman - English - 15 years and over - Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Vince Vaughn, Adam Brody, Kerry Washington, Keith David, Chris Weitz
Production Year: 2003 - Action/Adventure - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring:Tom Welling, Kristin Kreuk, Michael Rosenbaum, Sam Jones III, Allison Mack, Eric Johnson, Annette O'Toole, John Glover, John Schneider
Production Year: 2003 - Action/Adventure - Director: Mark Steven Johnson - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Jon Favreau, Colin Farrell, Michael Clarke Duncan, Jennifer Garner, Ben Affleck
2003 - Action/Adventure - Stephen Norrington, Mark Steven Johnson - English - 15 years and over - Stuart Townsend, Shane West, Jason Flemyng, Richard Roxburgh, Colin Farrell, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Michael Clarke Duncan, Sean Connery, Peta Wilson
Television director/actor Clark Johnson makes an impressive feature-film debut with S.W.A.T. Inspired by the 1970s show of the same name, S.W.A.T. is set in modern day Los Angeles. Recently demoted officer Jim Street (Colin Farrell) gets a chance to redeem himself when aging veteran Hondo (Samuel L. Jackson) is put in control of a new team. Joining Jim are Deke Kay (LL Cool J), Michael Boxer (Brian Van Holt), T.J. McCabe (Josh Charles), and Chris Sanchez (Michelle Rodriguez), all outcasts in their own right. But after an intense training period, the team is ready to hit the streets. Their first big assignment involves one of the world's most dangerous criminals, Alex Montel (Olivier Martinez), who makes an on-camera declaration that he'll give $100 million to whoever breaks him out of jail. Pretty soon, everyone's trying to get a piece of the action, including Jim's former partner, Brian Gamble (Jeremy Renner), who uses his own S.W.A.T. team experience to plot the escape of a lifetime. It's up to Hondo and Jim to outsmart the bad guys and make sure that Alex is safely transported to a federal penitentiary. S.W.A.T. is an entertaining adventure made all the more engaging because of the way Johnson concerns himself equally with the quality of the film's drama and its action.
Advantages: Great action scenes, Colin Farrell, Samuel.L.Jackson Disadvantages: a predicable storyline
...If you like action movies, you'll like S.W.A.T.This film was hugely entertaining, very sexy and some of the lines made me laugh. This means that all-in-all I would recommend you go and see it.
I think the formula for this film works well. The actors were perfectly cast for the story and for each other.
I loved Jackson and Farrell's characters! They played off each other well, they had all the good lines too.
The story no-matter how predictable, is still an entertaing one. After a failed seige in a bank and a wounded hostage who sues S.W.A.T. for millions Farrell and his partner are told they can either leave the force or go back to regular policework. His partner,chooses to leave but Farrell stays and earns his right to become S.W.A.T again. Next, a murderer offers $100 million to whoever breaks him out of jail and S.W.A.T...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful
Advantages: Action-packed on the edge of the seat stuff Disadvantages: if you don't like loud noise this isn't for you
...CERTIFIED 12 Columbia Pictures
Produced by Neal H Moritz }
Dan Halsted } The Fast and the Furious, xXx
Chris Lee }
Directed by Clark Hohnson
Starring:-
Samuel L Jackson (Pulp Fiction)
Colin Farrell (Phone Booth, Minority Report)
Michelle Rodriguez (The Fast and the Furious, currenlty LOST)
LL Cool J (Deep Blue Sea)
Oliver Martinez
Brian Van Holt
Jeremy Renner
Josh Charles
Special Features:- 2 Commentaries from the Cast and Director
8 Deleted Scenes
The making of S.W.A.T
Blooper Real
Filmographies
Theatrical Trailer
S.W.A.T...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: the opening sequence Disadvantages: no other good action sequences
...I am a fan of big dumb action movies. I can watch Seagal, Van Damme, and even Hulk Hogan blowing things up or shooting and kicking people, but I didn’t enjoy this at all. Based on the short lived American TV show ‘S.W.A.T.’ (1975), this film is directed by Clark Johnson, better known for directing TV shows.
Sgt. Dan 'Hondo' Harrelson (Samuel L. Jackson) trains five young gung-ho Police officers to form a crack S.W.A.T. unit (including Colin Farrell as Jim Street). Their job is to ensure recently captured drug-lord Alex Montel (Oliver Martinez) remains in federal custody. Unfortunately, whilst being transported to prison, he offers $100 million to any group of lowlifes willing to break him out.
The acting all round is nothing special; it is the sort of role Samuel L. Jackson could do standing on his head. Asleep. The only thing...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
helpful 16.06.2004
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