Having never seen the old tv show that the movie is based on and seeing the trailer a couple of weeks ago, I came in expecting to watch a fun movie that would rely on real stunts than cgi and blue screens. Did the movie live up to my expectations? Yes it did and then some. That is not to say that the movie did not have any flaws. The movie is entertaining because of the of the action sequences and more importantly, the chemistry between th characters.

The movie starts out with bank robbers, wearing body armors having a shoot out with the cops (sounds familiar ?). The SWAT are deployed and within a couple of minutes the conflict is over. Two of the SWAT members, Jim Street (Colin Farrell) and his partner Brian Gamble (Jeremy Renner) are in trouble by their commanding officer for not following the rules. They save the hostages but one gets shot. This scene is in every cop movie but this one did not feel cliche'd. The director, Clark Johnson handled it very well. Brian is fired and holds a vendetta against Jim for thinking he ratted Brian. Fast forward 6 months later and enters Lt. Dan 'Hondo' Harrelson (Samuel L. Jackson). He's "old school" SWAT and considered a living legend, even though he is not as fast as the young guys anymore. Hondo is assigned to recruit young cops to join the SWAT. The commanding officer tells Hondo that they need young SWAT team members because LAPD is losing popularity among the public. It does not make sense but the scenes with Hondo trying to recruit them is fun to watch. Once the team is formed, which includes Chris Sanchez (Michelle Rodriguez) and David "Deke" Kay (LL Cool J), Street becomes their anchor, the man that holds the team together. The team is assigned to escort a criminal kingpin of somekind, Alex, to a federal prison. Alex, is supposedly a French, so you lose interest in him right away. Not only is he a French but he acts like a robot, trying to be as cool and calm as a bad guy could be, so double negative points for Mr. Frenchie. The catch is that Frenchie offered anybody $100 million dollars to anyone that can free him. The rest of the movie is a cat and mouse chase between the SWAT and the bad guys. Who is the cat, and who is the mouse depends on the who is trying to escape a deadly situation.

The movie is carried by Farrell and Jackson's strong screen presence. Ferrell's character is tough minded and serious. He has one flaw, he lets his emotions get to him. Jackson is his superior, the wise elder who gives him advise. Some of the conversations between the two were interesting and hilarious. Annoying as the supporting cast seemed in the preview, it is totally opposite in the movie. They only made you want to root for the team even more because they really seemed like a team. Even though the plot is absurd, yet a fun one, the tactics that the team used were pretty impressive. No SWAT member in this movie shoots a gun with one hand ala John Woo. The members cover each other's back. They know they have to work as a team or else they will fail. This is why the ending did not live up to the first 3/4 of the movie. In the end it becomes mano y mano and it looses its consistency. There are some scenes that are unintentionally funny, for example a stereotypical "cholo" shooting a rocket launcher. Hopefully they will re-edit it. The stunts and action sequences are real which is a nice change from Matrix Reloaded and X: 2. I will take real action sequences over CGI, any day. There is one CGI shot and it looked really fake, luckily it did not detract from the movie. And no it is not the CGI shot of the SWAT team above a building as the camera pans back that is shown in the trailer. This is a good thing as it keeps the movie consistent.

A fun movie overall. The ending was a disapointment but it could have been worse (X: 2). At least it was still a bit exciting. The chemistry between the cast made this movie. In addition to that there are some cool action sequences. If you're a fan of tactical assault units (SWAT/ Navy Seals/ Deltas), watch this movie without hesitation!