I’m sure that many of you who read these reviews get the idea that I am a huge fan of seventies TV. And if you have that impression you would be absolutely correct. During that period I was headed into my teens, and though I really did spend a lot of time outdoors, there were still certain shows I made sure I was home for. Sitting high in the top ten position of police shows for me was “S.W.A.T.” Initially a spin-off of another one of my favorite shows, “The Rookies,” “S.W.A.T.” featured an elite team of police officers trained to handle the assignments deemed too dangerous for the average cop. Headed up by Lt. Dan “Hondo” Harrelson (Steve Forrest), these were the guys to root for week after week. Also in the lineup were Sgt. “Deacon” Kay (Rod Perry), Officer Dominic Luca (Mark Shera), Officer T.J McCabe (James Coleman), and Officer Jim Street (the then little known Robert Urich). “S.W.A.T.” was unlike any other show at the time. It was inspired by the real life exploits of crime control teams that came into being during the civil disturbances of the sixties.

Their guerilla-like tactics were often considered extreme and often raised the ire of civil liberties groups. This was reflected in the series, which was often quite a bit more intense and violent than most other shows of the time. Granted, by today’s standards of television it is a bit tame, but it raised the bar on the level of acceptable TV violence in the seventies. This, I believe might have been part of the reason it only lasted into a second season. Some people just found it too violent.

“S.W.A.T.” was a great show, and I was really sorry to see it end. I loved the characters and the action. While my friends were playing cops and robbers, I was always the guy who thought it would be cool to repel down the side of the house to catch the bad guy. When I grew up I wanted to be a member of a S.W.A.T. team.

Now we’re way past the seventies and the series is gone… but not forgotten. 2003 delivered it back into the minds of fans with the release of the first season on DVD, as well as a big budget theatrical remake. I wrote about the first season release earlier this year and am back to write about the DVD release of the movie. I was prepared to be disappointed by the movie, but only because most new movies made from old TV shows are by and large… bad. This new version of “S.W.A.T.” was quite the surprise, however.

The film stars Samuel L. Jackson (Hondo), Colin Farrell (Street), LL Cool J (Deke), Josh Charles (T.J.), and Michelle Rodriguez (Chris Sanchez) as the members of the elite force that are sent in ‘…when the cops need cops…’ The big-screen version of “S.W.A.T.” introduces us to each member of the team as they are brought on board (and in a couple of cases, back on board) by the recently re-assigned Hondo. We follow them through their training exercises as they prepare to meet the real bad guys head on. The main ‘baddie’ they end up crossing paths with is Alex Montel, played by Olivier Martinez, a cold-blooded killer visiting our country. When he is caught and eventually transferred to a higher security facility, it becomes the responsibility of the “S.W.A.T.” team to get him there. The catch… Montel has publicly offered $100,000,000 to anyone who can free him.

“S.W.A.T.” ended up being quite a bit better than I had expected. The story was pretty good, though occasionally predictable, and the cinematography sharp. The shoot-outs and action sequences look and sound great, and the all the actors are charismatic enough to keep us glued to the tube. “S.W.A.T.” moved along a quick pace, opening with a terrifically filmed bank hold-up gone wrong, slowing just long enough to meet each character and discover their strengths and weaknesses. The film did rely heavily on a strong soundtrack to help move things along. Almost every piece of music got my head nodding to the opening beats, all the way up through the first of the end credit songs, which was the only really awful music in the film. It attempted to integrate the original TV theme music into it, and failed horribly.

I liked the film well enough to only make note of one small personal nit I had with it. I wish they had taken the concept of the original series and run it with a new set of characters. This won’t matter to casual moviegoers unfamiliar with the series, but those of us who grew up watching it will find the characterizations off. I had a hard time seeing Sam Jackson as Hondo, when I knew it really should have been Steve Forrest. Even this little nit would have been forgiven, but the movie included a plot device that was used similarly in the remake of “Mission Impossible”, with a character doing something ‘out of character.’

Aside from this, once I got over the using of the original characters, I fell right into the movie and enjoyed every bit of it. After seeing it, I got to check out some of the DVD features that Sony / Columbia Tristar added to the disc. There are two separate commentaries, the first by director Clark Johnson and a few members of the cast, followed by the second which included the screenwriters and technical consultant. This was one of those rare occasions where both commentaries are pretty interesting, but I got more out of the latter.

There are several featurettes, one of which focuses on the big action sequence that takes place on the 6th street bridge. The scene is broken down into its basic elements and some of the ‘how the did it’ is actually quite surprising. We are also given an opportunity to get a closer look at the opening bank robbery sequence and find out just what it takes to set up such an elaborate shoot-out. “The Making of S.W.A.T.” is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a fairly lengthy look at the coming together of the film, and features several short interview snippets with the cast and crew. One of the features looked as though it was going to be a commercial for the TV series DVD release, but ended up being a fairly good retrospective of the original series. It is full of scenes from the series, and includes interviews with some of the original cast. There is even a (way too short) gag reel that shows us just how badly even Hollywood’s best actors mess up. Look for Colin Farrell’s big ‘exercise’ scene. It’s priceless.

If you generally stay from big-screen TV show remakes, you might still want to consider giving this one a try. It is much, much better than I thought it would be. There are several nods to the original series, and you’ll even find the theme popping up in the most unusual of places.


Directed by: Clark Johnson
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Colin Farrell, Michelle Rodriguez, LL Cool J, Brian Van Holt, Jeremy Renner, Josh Charles, Olivier Martinez
Extras: Gag Reel, Deleted Scenes, Two Full-Length Commentaries (Director & Cast, Screenwriters & Technical Consultant) Four Featurettes – 6th Street Bridge, Anatomy of Shootout, S.W.A.T. TV’s Original Super Cops, The Making of S.W.A.T., Experience the Sound and Fury of S.W.A.T., Gag Reel, Filmographies
Specifications: Widescreen (2.40:1), Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Studio: Sony / Columbia Tristar
Release Date: 12/30/2003
Region 1
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Violence, Language and Sexual References
Website

We'll give S.W.A.T. a B.