S.W.A.T. Starring Collin Farrell, Michelle Rodriguez Directed by Clark Johnson Rated PG-13 for violence, language and sexual references out of Stars, Movie Grade: B-

Theatrical Release: August 8, 2003
Running time: 111 minutes

by Kevin Lang

I'm not a videogame buff, but a few years ago I used to play a videogame called "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six." The game required you to carry out various missions after you chose an elite team of soldiers from a crop of well-qualified recruits. You would map out your way through various missions, and then you would execute your plan by taking the team through to the objective. Usually, the objective was to rescue a hostage, disarm a bomb, or capture a wanted criminal. These scenarios played out inside of buildings, in city streets, and even in a commercial airplane held hostage. Based on the seventy's television series, the film "S.W.A.T." was basically the movie version of this, utilizing nearly the same amount of technical detail and action as the game.

We watched the recognizable young recruits, who included Jim Street (Colin Farrell), Chris Sanchez (Michelle Rodriguez), and David 'Deke' Kay (LL Cool J) train to be S.W.A.T. (Special Weapons and Tactics). They were chosen and led by their mentor, Sgt. Dan 'Hondo' Harrelson (Samuel L. Jackson), who had to put them through various tests before they could become an active S.W.A.T. unit. This took up the first hour of the film, and included gun range time drills, building infiltration tests, and a final airplane hostage rescue that required them to plan their way into an airplane to eliminate live terrorists. This was one of the more entertaining scenes to watch as they fought the fake terrorists with paint guns. It was nice to see "S.W.A.T." develop slowly; taking its time to reach the main story by showing us exactly what it took to be S.W.A.T. Most movies would have jumped right into the action, abandoning this more realistic aspect of the story.

The villain, Alex Montel, played by Olivier Martinez ("Unfaithful," 2002), was enjoyable to watch. He was developed nicely, and had a presence throughout most of the story, even when the team was still in training. I had time to grow to dislike him as he taunted the heroes, particularly Street (Colin Farrell).

Even with its good acting and characters, S.W.A.T. seemed a little too softcore. The storyline, which involved Alex Montel stating that he would pay one hundred million dollars to whoever freed him, could have erupted into much more intense action scenes. Instead, it seemed like the film's PG-13 rating noticeably held it back from ever reaching the level of intensity that it could have.

I wish "S.W.A.T." would have also spent a little more time developing the relationships between the characters, particularly the very lightly touched on romance that seemed to be sparking between Street and Sanchez. This could have been done by taking a brief break in the action as the story built to its extravagant climax, which involved a plane landing on a bridge to help Montel escape.

In the end, "S.W.A.T." was impressive with its attention to detail, enjoyably showing us some of what it takes to be S.W.A.T. However, this education wasn't put to full use, as the movie never seemed to quite capture the same realism when the team was on active duty. I wanted to feel the harrowing hardcore intensity of the real thing. Instead, I had to settle for the edited-for-television PG-13 version. Grow some guts and go for the R-rating. They're not cops, they're S.W.A.T.

"S.W.A.T." Review written August 7, 2003, CTF.

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