Starring
Colin Farrell, Samuel L. Jackson, Michelle Rodriguez, L Cool J,
Oliver Martinez, Jeremy Renner, Josh Charles, Brian Van Holt, Ken
Davitian, Larry Poindexter. Directed by Clark Johnson. (2003, 117
min).
One
of the fun things about revisiting older films is spotting early
appearances by A-list actors before anybody ever heard of 'em. In
2003's S.W.A.T., for example, there's Jeremy Renner in his
first substantial mainstream role (as one of the primary bad guys).
And isn't that future Oscar winner Octavia Spencer in a
blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene with only one line of dialogue (billed
as 'Neighbor in Alley')?
Elsewhere,
S.W.A.T. is a generically entertaining action flick inspired
by a 1975 cop show with a theme song more memorable than any of its
episodes (and only ran two seasons). But other than that song and a
few characters' names, this film is pretty-much S.W.A.T.
in-name-only, more Jerry Bruckheimer than Robert Hammer (creator of
the original series).
Samuel
L. Jackson and Colin Farrell are Hondo & Street, who lead your
garden-variety elite team of hot-shots tasked to transport notorious
druglord Alexander Montel (Oliver Martinez) into federal custody.
Unfortunately, Montel has publicly offered $100 million to anyone who
can spring him from custody. This brings a slew of scumbags out of the
woodwork, including a disgraced former cop (Renner), who used to be
Farrell's partner.
 |
| Colin and Cool hear the ice cream man. |
Big,
loud and polished to a glistening sheen, S.W.A.T. is as slick
as any other 21st Century action film you'd care to name. But while
it's entertaining in the moment, there's nothing particularly
memorable about it, certainly nothing that evokes nostalgia for the
original show. Since its intended audience probably wasn't even alive
in '75, it's mostly a checklist of modern action tropes. As such,
S.W.A.T. isn't the worst of its kind. It's suitably fast
paced, with perfunctory performances, decent action and a plot just
forgettable enough to seem new again upon repeated viewings.
S.W.A.T.
has recently been resurrected as a new series, which one might
assume is the main reason for the movie's Blu-Ray re-release. But is
it a reboot of the show or the movie? If it's the latter, this might
be the first time a series has piggybacked on nostalgia for a movie
originally made to cash in on another generation's nostalgia.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
2
AUDIO COMMENTARIES by cast & crew
KITTY CONSENSUS:
NOT BAD...LIKE CAT CHOW
No comments:
Post a Comment