S.W.A.T. (2003)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Clark Johnson

Writers (WGA):

Robert Hamner (characters)
Ron Mita (story) ...

Release Date:

8 August 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime

Tagline:

Even cops dial 911

Plot:

An imprisoned drug kingpin offers a huge cash reward to anyone that can break him out of police custody and only the LAPD's Special Weapons and Tactics team can prevent it.

Plot Keywords:

SWAT Team | Police | Bank Robbery | Hostage | Train

Awards:

4 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Samuel L. Jackson	...	Sgt. Dan 'Hondo' Harrelson
Colin Farrell	...	Jim Street
Michelle Rodriguez	...	Chris Sanchez
LL Cool J	...	Deacon 'Deke' Kay (as James Todd Smith aka LL Cool J)
Josh Charles	...	T.J. McCabe
Jeremy Renner	...	Brian Gamble
Brian Van Holt	...	Michael Boxer
Olivier Martinez	...	Alex Montel
Reg E. Cathey	...	Lt. Greg Velasquez (as Reginald E. Cathey)
Larry Poindexter	...	Capt. Thomas Fuller
Page Kennedy	...	Travis
Domenick Lombardozzi	...	GQ
James DuMont	...	Gus
Denis Arndt	...	Sgt. Howard
Lindsey Ginter	...	Agent Hauser

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence, language and sexual references.

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Switzerland:16 (canton of Zurich) | Malaysia:18SG | Iceland:12 (original rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | India:A (cinema release) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Finland:K-15 | Germany:16 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:15 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:16 (canton of the Grisons) | UK:12A | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Ambassador Hotel - 3400 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

EASTER EGG: On the DVD go to the second page of the Special Features, select "6th street bridge" press right twice and down twice. This will highlight Samuel L Jacksons's cap. Press Ok or equivalent and you will be taken to the SWAT team and crew playing golf.

Goofs:

Factual errors: An L.A. Times front page is featured, with a police corruption story in the first two columns under the "COLUMN ONE" header. In reality, "COLUMN ONE" stories are always exactly one column wide, and are features/human interest, not hard news.

Quotes:

Hondo: Street, you have a driver's license?
Street: Got a library card.
Hondo: Good enough. So get your uniform on. You're driving me around today.

Movie Connections:

Features "S.W.A.T." (1975)

Soundtrack:

Give Your Life a Break

S.W.A.T. Good-bye

Nothing much original and too predictable. The S.W.A.T. was apparently designed from a movie formula and the twists and turns were projected way ahead of time. Not a terrible movie, but not that much interesting either. No character development, except the usual cliches, no real depth to relationships, just scenes just for the sake of scenes (picked up probably from some other movie outline. I found the trailers before the movie more involving, more action oriented. Just didn't seem like an intelligent, innovative movie - it just uses the S.W.A.T. premise and makes it into the same police action I've seen before. Even "The Negotiator" had more dramatic energy and tension. Four out of ten stars.