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| S.W.A.T. | 
| Category: Movie
Buy New: $5.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  200 reviews
Sales Rank: 6801
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: Video On Demand
Running Time: 118 minutes
ASIN: B000JPDJUY
Theatrical Release Date: August 7, 2003
Release Date: November 14, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Say-WAT? December 16, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
MT: For a bit of a twist on the usual interview, I've decided to interview SWAT the movie about the movie SWAT.
SWAT: Hi, how are ya?
MT: I'm great. So let's cut to the chase: SWAT the movie is a remake of the 1970s television show. The acronym stands for Special Weapons and Tactics, and it glamorizes the police teams that are brought in when military-style tactics are required for an increasingly violent criminal opposition. I love that kind of military drama, and SWAT has a lot of potential. Bringing the television show into the 21st century seems like a no brainer. So what does the movie have to offer?
SWAT: Well we have a returning tough guy, Sgt. Dan "Hondo" Harrelson (Samuel L. Jackson), who puts together a team of equally tough dudes and dudettes: Jim Street (Colin Farrell), Chris Sanchez (Michelle Rodriguez), Deacon "Deke" Kay (LL Cool J), and some other people that aren't as popular.
MT: I know who's in the movie. What's it about?
SWAT: Oh, right, sorry. It's about how Jim has a falling out with his partner Brian Gamble (Jeremy Renner) and that comes back to haunt him.
MT: I just read the IMDB entry and it says the movie is about an imprisoned drug kingpin offering a huge cash reward for anyone who will spring him out of custody. That sounds cool. So which is it?
SWAT: Oh it's about that too. That's the second part of the movie. The first part is the SWAT training.
MT: The first PART?
SWAT: C'mon, everybody's gotta be trained, right?
MT: But it takes up the first half of the movie?!
SWAT: Well, sure. The tension builds as we watch our rookie team gel. Will Deke run fast enough to catch bad guys? Will Street reconcile his bad boy reputation with his strait-laced boss? Will Sanchez be tough enough to survive SWAT?
MT: Uh, you mean Michelle Rodriguez, who also played tough-as-nails chicks in Resident Evil and Lost? It's not exactly a surprise that she can keep up, since Sanchez is pretty much like every other character Rodriguez plays in other movies. Heck, she was even played the same character in Halo 2. While we're on the subject of actors, what's up with Street? Is he supposed to be American? He doesn't sound like it.
SWAT: ...well. See Colin doesn't really do accents. So, he sort of has this mishmash of tough guy speak and his normal dialect.
MT: Wow. Okay, let's forget the actors for a moment. The tactics and training that took up the first half of the film seem to go out the window when Gamble has an opportunity to take a hostage but instead uses the woman as an anchor by tying a rope to her and jumping off a bridge. That doesn't seem very SWAT-ish to me.
SWAT: ... Did I mention the cool theme song to SWAT? It's really cool. The cast hums it in one scene--*starts humming the song loudly*
MT: Yeah, thanks, SWAT. To sum up...
SWAT: *stars humming the song even louder*
MT: To sum up, SWAT is a movie conflicted about what it wants to be when it grows up. It has a lot of attitude but not a lot of meat. Its central conceit, the idea of a team escorting a bad guy to a destination, is excellent, but not really the kind of thing that you would expect out of SWAT...and it certainly doesn't mimic the training that takes up the first half of the film. All that, and the final fight scene is filmed in near total darkness. Rent the 1970s show if you feel nostalgic. This movie is just riding on its coattails.
 S.W.A.T. [Blu-ray] October 11, 2007
Looks good but I wonder if this was actually shot in HD. It seems like it may be an upscaled version of the original.
"Whelmed" by this Blu-ray disc July 9, 2007
For starters, I will assume that anyone reading this has seen the movie and thus I will not spend time talking about what a fun (if a little bit campy) action flick this is.
Out of the dozen or so Blu-ray movies I've seen so far, this was the least impressive. I'm avoiding using words like "disappointing" because it isn't--the picture quality is amazing. The lossless audio track, however, left something to be desired. It just didn't impress the way tracks from movies like "Pirates of the Caribbean" or "The Patriot" do.
Also--and this could just be old age setting in--but I could swear there's some missing scenes from the theatrical version. The Bonus Features on this disc are impressively packed, with many deleted scenes and other extras. I could be wrong, so I won't count against it in the review, but it seems shorter than it should be.
That said, if you are a Samuel L. Jackson, Michelle Rodriguez or Colin Ferrell fan, this is a great flick to own. It's unfortunate that L.L. didn't have more screen time as his performances are always over-the-top in an entertaining way. My advice? Wait for a good sale on this one and snap it up. It'll make a great addition to your Blu library.
20th Century Movie with 1980 Score !! May 18, 2007
Overall good film... Well acted ,good plot.. but taken aback by the fact that the film's Producers allowed a "1980s made for TV film score" to go with this masterpiece, Bad Judgement, Why ??,
Good Cast-Good Action April 22, 2007
SWAT is a good, not a great action movie. The opening scene is a take on a real life bank robbery, in which the robbers wore body armour and fired fully automatic assualt rifles. This is probably the most intense scene in the film. The rest of the film is pretty much Hollywood fare, with a predictable storyline and character profiles, examples: good cop(s) turn bad, evil drug lord, tough female cop etc. etc. etc. Samuel L. Jackson gives a credible performance as the leader of the SWAT team. Colin Farrell as the hotshot member leaves no memorable screentime. The film attempted to forge a middle ground between reality and super heroism, but remained as neither.
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