S.w.a.t
07-27-03, 07:53 PM
#26
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Oh yeah, I've come to the conclusion that any movie with LL Cool J loses merit points instantly.
I like Sam Jackson and I don't hate Colin Farrel, but when xXx is used as selling point I become very dubious. I will wait for the reviews or rent it. I like action movies. I just don't like all action movies.
07-30-03, 03:11 AM
#28
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Originally posted by jekbrown
well, if the movie is going to be anything like real hostage rescue ops etc, it wont look anything like a big blockbuster action flick from hollywood. As cool as those are, they have no basis in real life and maybe this SWAT flick is trying to be atleast somewhat realistic (i hope anyway). SWAT guys dont shoot with a gun in each hand, there arent huge fireballs every time something explodes, and swat guys generally arent super flashy or charismatic movie types. In short, a somewhat realistic movie about real swat guys prolly would look made-for-tv-ish, simply because things that might make it more hollywood-ish just arent real.
anyway, we can nitpick more once the movie is actually out... basing an opinion on previews is pretty pointless.
j
well, if the movie is going to be anything like real hostage rescue ops etc, it wont look anything like a big blockbuster action flick from hollywood. As cool as those are, they have no basis in real life and maybe this SWAT flick is trying to be atleast somewhat realistic (i hope anyway). SWAT guys dont shoot with a gun in each hand, there arent huge fireballs every time something explodes, and swat guys generally arent super flashy or charismatic movie types. In short, a somewhat realistic movie about real swat guys prolly would look made-for-tv-ish, simply because things that might make it more hollywood-ish just arent real.
anyway, we can nitpick more once the movie is actually out... basing an opinion on previews is pretty pointless.
j
.Spoiler:
Grade: B
Last edited by matrixrok9; 07-30-03 at 03:15 AM.
07-30-03, 12:13 PM
#29
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Originally posted by matrixrok9
If you're a fan of tactical assault units (SWAT/ Navy Seals/ Deltas), watch this movie without hesitation!
Grade: B
If you're a fan of tactical assault units (SWAT/ Navy Seals/ Deltas), watch this movie without hesitation!
Grade: B
This looks like the apex of J6P that has no idea how the real world works or someone that can suspend all plausability at the door.
And why would SWAT be escorting a Federal prisoner? SWAT is local and you do not cross local/federal lines. Why would you escort someone so dangerous along a weak little chainlink fence next to the press corps? Most courthouses and jail I have seen keep a huge distance from the public and prisoners to avoid trouble.
08-04-03, 03:14 AM
#30
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Originally posted by Cusm
From what I have seen in the trailers, if you know anything about tach teams, you would avoid this like the plague. There are so many glaring inaccuracies it is laughable. "Even Cops dial 911" please, this is the lamest line I have heard.
This looks like the apex of J6P that has no idea how the real world works or someone that can suspend all plausability at the door.
And why would SWAT be escorting a Federal prisoner? SWAT is local and you do not cross local/federal lines. Why would you escort someone so dangerous along a weak little chainlink fence next to the press corps? Most courthouses and jail I have seen keep a huge distance from the public and prisoners to avoid trouble.
From what I have seen in the trailers, if you know anything about tach teams, you would avoid this like the plague. There are so many glaring inaccuracies it is laughable. "Even Cops dial 911" please, this is the lamest line I have heard.
This looks like the apex of J6P that has no idea how the real world works or someone that can suspend all plausability at the door.
And why would SWAT be escorting a Federal prisoner? SWAT is local and you do not cross local/federal lines. Why would you escort someone so dangerous along a weak little chainlink fence next to the press corps? Most courthouses and jail I have seen keep a huge distance from the public and prisoners to avoid trouble.
08-04-03, 11:35 AM
#31
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Originally posted by ipkevin
I love this sort of thing, but I wish it wasn't PG-13. It's a gun movie populated with gangbangers (eat sugar, you motherflipping icehole!) directed by a guy famous for "gritty". And compared to most summer flicks, it's relatively cheap, too. It's too bad they didn't take a chance on a R-rating.
I love this sort of thing, but I wish it wasn't PG-13. It's a gun movie populated with gangbangers (eat sugar, you motherflipping icehole!) directed by a guy famous for "gritty". And compared to most summer flicks, it's relatively cheap, too. It's too bad they didn't take a chance on a R-rating.
08-04-03, 11:45 AM
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the material seems like it should be fundamentally R-rated.. but PG-13 = $$$$, and executives arent about to turn them down. Besides, they know as well as we do that they can really score with a good dvd release that is unrated/directos cut.... prolly on the 3rd release of the film on dvd...
j
j
08-04-03, 11:50 AM
#33
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I'll be seeing this for a reason nobody's mentioned in this thread: Clark Johnson. Many of you probably know him as an actor on "Homicide," but he's paid his dues directing for television, most notably the amazing pilot for "The Shield."
08-04-03, 03:32 PM
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I miss the older commercials for this movie. For some reason I thought they were hilarious.
Oliver Martinez:"I will give one hundred million dollars to whoever gets me out of here."
Random Dude:"Is this guy for REAL?"
Oliver Martinez:"ONE HUNDRED MIIIIIIIILLLION DOOOOOOOLLLLLAAAAARS!!!!!!!"
Oliver Martinez:"I will give one hundred million dollars to whoever gets me out of here."
Random Dude:"Is this guy for REAL?"
Oliver Martinez:"ONE HUNDRED MIIIIIIIILLLION DOOOOOOOLLLLLAAAAARS!!!!!!!"
08-08-03, 02:04 AM
#39
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I really enjoyed SWAT. It had some decent action, a brisk pacing, and some good performances from it's leads. It's not the best movie in the world, but it's a fun way to spend 2 hours and certainly stands above some of the other crap this summer.
Colin Farrell and Sam Jackson are both in top form here and really drive the movie...if they weren't in it, it wouldn't be half as good. I was frustrated with the PG-13 rating, because there were some moments where some extreme violence and swearing would have added to the excitement of the film, but overall, it's still worth seeing.
Anyone sitting on the fence, I say if you like action flicks, you really should see it. It was highly enjoyable and I think a lot of people will really like this movie.
4 out of 5 stars
MATT
Colin Farrell and Sam Jackson are both in top form here and really drive the movie...if they weren't in it, it wouldn't be half as good. I was frustrated with the PG-13 rating, because there were some moments where some extreme violence and swearing would have added to the excitement of the film, but overall, it's still worth seeing.
Anyone sitting on the fence, I say if you like action flicks, you really should see it. It was highly enjoyable and I think a lot of people will really like this movie.
4 out of 5 stars
MATT
08-08-03, 03:20 AM
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Cheesiest film this year.
Colin, who I really like, was out-acted by the guy from National Lampoon's Senior Trip. And his own eyebrows.
So poorly directed. The use of stock footage/video/different film got very annoying. The beginning looks like 28 Days Later's!
Laugh-a-minute fun overall. Think of it as a comedy, and you'll be straight.
Speaking of 'straight'... this film had more gay undertones than 2 Fast 2 Furious. It was amusing at first, but...
Colin, who I really like, was out-acted by the guy from National Lampoon's Senior Trip. And his own eyebrows.
So poorly directed. The use of stock footage/video/different film got very annoying. The beginning looks like 28 Days Later's!
Laugh-a-minute fun overall. Think of it as a comedy, and you'll be straight.
Speaking of 'straight'... this film had more gay undertones than 2 Fast 2 Furious. It was amusing at first, but...
08-08-03, 01:35 PM
#43
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Originally posted by DonnachaOne
Speaking of 'straight'... this film had more gay undertones than 2 Fast 2 Furious. It was amusing at first, but...
Speaking of 'straight'... this film had more gay undertones than 2 Fast 2 Furious. It was amusing at first, but...
08-08-03, 06:49 PM
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How I long for the 1980s - for this was truly the golden era of the Loud and Dumb Hollywood Action Movie (TM). Die Hard, Predator, The Road Warrior, Rambo, Terminator, Escape from New York, Lethal Weapon - these were classics of the genre that were not only brainless action films, but were reasonably well crafted films. Even the really bad ones like Invasion USA, Running Man or Commando had a certain charm about them despite their truly bad B-Movie nature.
Oh how far we have fallen. For example, todays movie: S.W.A.T.
SWAT is truly a dreadful movie. And I don’t mean bad in that so bad it's good sort of way - but in the "There is no fun to be had here. There is nothing but 2 hours of complete suck." Indeed, Swat has managed to capture on film everything that is wrong with The Big Dumb Action Movie today.
You don’t care one iota about the characters. Ok, we had 5 or 6 of them, so there's not a lot of room for development. But in comparison, Aliens had all that and more, and yet still delivered a solid action film. Instead, here you couldn’t even tell the SWAT team members apart, aside from Shaft and the Mexican woman. I don’t need a detailed thesis on each characters background, but at least give them a sterotype to work with. We didn’t even get that in this movie. Hell - even Sam Jackson, who would be pure movie gold simply reading the phone book for two hours, is boring. It's as if he only showed up to collect his paycheck and kill time until Star Wars III begins filming.
Another weakness of the characterization: lame-ass one liners. There was nothing notable anywhere in the film. No "Remember when I said I would kill you last? I lied." or "Yippie-kai-yay, Mother F'er". If you’re going to cut Sam Jackson a paycheck, then for gods sakes USE HIM! Don’t squander him like these screenwriters did.
The movie was way, WAY too loud. The hip-hop 'soundtrack' grated on the nerves and generally failed to deliver any mood of the film - when it wasn’t being blatent about what was going on (A song who's main lyric was something about "not enough time" while the SWAT team was running a drill to retake a captured jumbo jet in under 6 minutes. Yeah - real subtle guys. Thanks, I would have never have gotten that.) The explosions were loud, the car wrecks were loud, the plane crashes were loud. It was just too many notes and not enough rests.
And the fight scenes. Oh, lets talk about the fight scenes and gun battles. I hate the under cranked action cam (like the first 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan), where the camera man whips around shaking the camera trying to inject 'excitement' into the shots. Meanwhile they've speed ramped the film to drop every 3rd frame - or so it appears. It's jittery and gives me a headache.
Look - just lock the camera down, give us a wide(er) shot of what the hell is going on and make things exciting from the editing. Give us decent lighting so we can see things - oh, wait! You have to cloak things in darkness because actors cant fight worth a damn. Or the fight coordinator is a ham fisted boob who would be better suited for a Rock-em Sock-em Robots commercial!
Let the action speak for itself and save the fancy camera work for other parts of the movie.
Oh and while I'm on the subject of camera work: Mr Director, whoever had the idea to use bits of footage that looked like it was straight from video - please fire him and make sure that he never works in Hollywood again. Thanks, appreciate it.
One last detail - the uninspired and cliché ridden plot. First, lets get something straight right off the bat. I don’t mind the cookie cutter paint-by-numbers script. Hell, some of Ah-nold's best work in the 80's was straight out of the recycle bin. However, when you match it up with all of the problems I've already gone over, with the art of soulless generic film-making, with the logic and credibility problems plaguing the script, when your movie is not only predictable but DULL to boot - well, it only can only lead to a sucky time at the movies for all.
Given all this, I think I'd rather watch Chuck Norris' magnum opus Missing In Action or Sly Stalone in Cobra before I watch this movie again. Hell even Judge Dread would be an improvement. SWAT was two hours of my life that I will never EVER get back. Please, for the love of god - save yourselves! Whatever you do, don't go!
Thank you and good night.
Oh how far we have fallen. For example, todays movie: S.W.A.T.
SWAT is truly a dreadful movie. And I don’t mean bad in that so bad it's good sort of way - but in the "There is no fun to be had here. There is nothing but 2 hours of complete suck." Indeed, Swat has managed to capture on film everything that is wrong with The Big Dumb Action Movie today.
You don’t care one iota about the characters. Ok, we had 5 or 6 of them, so there's not a lot of room for development. But in comparison, Aliens had all that and more, and yet still delivered a solid action film. Instead, here you couldn’t even tell the SWAT team members apart, aside from Shaft and the Mexican woman. I don’t need a detailed thesis on each characters background, but at least give them a sterotype to work with. We didn’t even get that in this movie. Hell - even Sam Jackson, who would be pure movie gold simply reading the phone book for two hours, is boring. It's as if he only showed up to collect his paycheck and kill time until Star Wars III begins filming.
Another weakness of the characterization: lame-ass one liners. There was nothing notable anywhere in the film. No "Remember when I said I would kill you last? I lied." or "Yippie-kai-yay, Mother F'er". If you’re going to cut Sam Jackson a paycheck, then for gods sakes USE HIM! Don’t squander him like these screenwriters did.
The movie was way, WAY too loud. The hip-hop 'soundtrack' grated on the nerves and generally failed to deliver any mood of the film - when it wasn’t being blatent about what was going on (A song who's main lyric was something about "not enough time" while the SWAT team was running a drill to retake a captured jumbo jet in under 6 minutes. Yeah - real subtle guys. Thanks, I would have never have gotten that.) The explosions were loud, the car wrecks were loud, the plane crashes were loud. It was just too many notes and not enough rests.
And the fight scenes. Oh, lets talk about the fight scenes and gun battles. I hate the under cranked action cam (like the first 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan), where the camera man whips around shaking the camera trying to inject 'excitement' into the shots. Meanwhile they've speed ramped the film to drop every 3rd frame - or so it appears. It's jittery and gives me a headache.
Look - just lock the camera down, give us a wide(er) shot of what the hell is going on and make things exciting from the editing. Give us decent lighting so we can see things - oh, wait! You have to cloak things in darkness because actors cant fight worth a damn. Or the fight coordinator is a ham fisted boob who would be better suited for a Rock-em Sock-em Robots commercial!
Let the action speak for itself and save the fancy camera work for other parts of the movie.
Oh and while I'm on the subject of camera work: Mr Director, whoever had the idea to use bits of footage that looked like it was straight from video - please fire him and make sure that he never works in Hollywood again. Thanks, appreciate it.
One last detail - the uninspired and cliché ridden plot. First, lets get something straight right off the bat. I don’t mind the cookie cutter paint-by-numbers script. Hell, some of Ah-nold's best work in the 80's was straight out of the recycle bin. However, when you match it up with all of the problems I've already gone over, with the art of soulless generic film-making, with the logic and credibility problems plaguing the script, when your movie is not only predictable but DULL to boot - well, it only can only lead to a sucky time at the movies for all.
Given all this, I think I'd rather watch Chuck Norris' magnum opus Missing In Action or Sly Stalone in Cobra before I watch this movie again. Hell even Judge Dread would be an improvement. SWAT was two hours of my life that I will never EVER get back. Please, for the love of god - save yourselves! Whatever you do, don't go!
Thank you and good night.
08-08-03, 07:08 PM
#46
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I dont want to be mean or anything but I think it would be nice if people called Arnold by his real name instead of ah'nold because it is actually quite annoying while I'm trying to read your post and maybe other people are the same way, no?. Or am I just a weird person?. I don't know.
Anyways, I will be seeing this tomorrow. Even tho I haven't seen S.W.A.T. yet, I bet it will be alot of fun but it wont carry the realistic things that S.W.A.T. do.
Anyways, I will be seeing this tomorrow. Even tho I haven't seen S.W.A.T. yet, I bet it will be alot of fun but it wont carry the realistic things that S.W.A.T. do.
08-08-03, 08:13 PM
#47
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Originally posted by bahist17
My thoughts exactly - my anticipation for this dropped a few notches when I saw the rating. I wonder what they edited out of this one (like Daredevil). Hopefully it's still good.
My thoughts exactly - my anticipation for this dropped a few notches when I saw the rating. I wonder what they edited out of this one (like Daredevil). Hopefully it's still good.
Spoiler:
Last edited by matrixrok9; 08-08-03 at 08:29 PM.
08-08-03, 08:39 PM
#48
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This movie wasn't dreadful. Dreadful was Bad Boys II. [If you want to compare "mindless" popcorn flicks.]
I'll agree with El-Kabong that this seemed to be a "jukebox" movie, but I was glad to hear some tunes I knew as opposed to the generic nu-metal that seems to populate today's flicks [though that song at the end had to GO].
I enjoyed the cast. I enjoyed the "premise" of the flick [though, the US vs. THEM aspect could've been played up a lil more]. I also enjoyed Reed Diamond's appearance. Playing a cop the complete opposite of Mike Kellerman had me in stitches. [I was the only one]
Oh....and I enjoyed Michelle Rodriguez in a wifebeater.
All told, I would've appreciated an orchestral score, some of the cuts that matrixrok9 talked about put back in & a LONG nude scene featuring Michelle Rodriguez. So, i'd have to give this movie a C+. Though, matrixrok9's version sounds like it would've gotten a solid B. [Except for the lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng tunnel scene.]
I'll agree with El-Kabong that this seemed to be a "jukebox" movie, but I was glad to hear some tunes I knew as opposed to the generic nu-metal that seems to populate today's flicks [though that song at the end had to GO].
I enjoyed the cast. I enjoyed the "premise" of the flick [though, the US vs. THEM aspect could've been played up a lil more]. I also enjoyed Reed Diamond's appearance. Playing a cop the complete opposite of Mike Kellerman had me in stitches. [I was the only one]
Oh....and I enjoyed Michelle Rodriguez in a wifebeater.
All told, I would've appreciated an orchestral score, some of the cuts that matrixrok9 talked about put back in & a LONG nude scene featuring Michelle Rodriguez. So, i'd have to give this movie a C+. Though, matrixrok9's version sounds like it would've gotten a solid B. [Except for the lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng tunnel scene.
]
08-08-03, 09:10 PM
#49
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Originally posted by matrixrok9
Saw the movie for the 2nd time today, 1st one was a test screening. I was disappointed with the final version. It's still good but not as entertaining as the first cut. Here is a list of what was changed.
Saw the movie for the 2nd time today, 1st one was a test screening. I was disappointed with the final version. It's still good but not as entertaining as the first cut. Here is a list of what was changed.
08-09-03, 06:28 AM
#50
DVD Talk Legend
Originally posted by matrixrok9
Here is a list of what was changed. Spoilers ahead [/spoiler]
Here is a list of what was changed. Spoilers ahead [/spoiler]