geekmalone S.W.A.T. was so crappy that I was certain that it was Jerry Bruckheimer movie. It wasn't! I can't insult it any worse than accusing it of being from Jerry, so I'll stop now.

Robert J. Maxwell Have you ever seen Errol Flynn's war-time epic "Desperate Journey"? Flynn and a handful of downed Allied fliers make their way across German and escape through Holland, losing some men but having a laff riot all the way.This urban adventure follows a S.W.A.T. team through its training program and subsequent duels with the underworld, with international terrorists, and with traitors in the ranks but they have a what-the-hell attitude that saves them from gloom.In it's structure, it's really old. Experienced senior sergeant Samuel L. Jackson is brought in to create and shape up a bunch of misfits. Jackson plays it cool though. He's not Georgie Patton kicking butt in North Africa. He's not R. Lee Ermey. He's Samuel L. (for Laidback) Johnson. He laughs along with the boys and promotes their organization at headquarters run by the usual hostile pencil pusher.I don't think I'll describe the plot, which is intricate and sometimes meandering. (I don't know what Colin Farrel's estranged wife is doing in it.) There are some exciting scenes in the L.A. metro underground tunnels and some drainage pipes. I was half expecting them to discover the nest of a giant queen ant and her eggs, but no -- just some bad guys. There are the usual shoot outs, explosions, fireballs, and the deconstruction of multiple cars. I give it extra points because the camera doesn't wobble drunkenly within scenes.If you want distraction, this is it.

inspectors71 I was irritated with 2003's SWAT, a modernized, big-budget version of the gasping-for-air-it-was-so-stupidly-unintentionally-funny ABC series of 40 years ago. Eight bazillion thugs, pugs, and mugs spill out into the streets to collect a reward put up by a cartel-type to get him out of the clutches of the LAPD. It's like the excremental Predator II, with the streets taken over by zombies in doo-rags.Then, Director Clark Johnson gets it under control. Control being defined as holding on to the steering wheel of a tightly-plotted SWAT van of clichés. At no time did I believe anything I was seeing, but damned if I didn't get pulled into this nonsense, much the way I loved the old series. I actually felt a little goose-bumpy at times, kind of chilled from the excitement.Is there anything wrong in enjoying a stupid shootemup like SWAT? I don't think so, if the movie's heart is in the right place, the Dollar Tree philosophy isn't too thick, and the narrative throws out some surprises I didn't see coming.I saw SWAT on TNT some weeks ago, and even with the occasional gout of blood or F-cracker being eliminated, it still seemed to come to the small screen intact. If I can forgive the network hacks hacking out the icky stuff, I get a double whammy of good value--mindless entertainment, all in the comfort of my own home. Shoot, I just had to wait ten years to see it.So, if you haven't seen this professionally produced cinematic equivalent to a 10 piece box of Chicken McNuggets, look for it the next time it's on the tube.It's worth the empty calories.

salmon62 This story is so far out that it overshadows the acting of Sam Jackson. People, as much as the producers brag about technical accuracy and how the cast "trained with actual SWAT officers", the terribly written screenplay asks anyone over 11 to make a huge leap of faith to believe the plot.Things like this don't happen! And Police Departments like this don't behave this way! We see several scenes of the tightly-knit , newly formed five -person team working hard, then partying off-duty, then apparently driving home to sleep it off and await another day. The stereotyping is very bad.Example? An international terrorist financier makes a plea for help in escaping and within 2 hours several diverse gang groups devise highly-technical rescue strategies and attempts bringing the LAPD to its knees! These gang homies apparently have the ability to hire people to pose as City workers, homeless people, and others to devise their rescue plans against large protection entourages with complex counter-surveillance routing through the streets of Los Angeles.So, a five-person SWAT team is given complete autonomy to conduct transportation, rescue, and investigation of said terrorist, while Federal authorities, the people traditionally tasked with such incredible operations, show up in the very end to observe!Hundreds of people are hurt in a several seemingly mass casualty shootings and car wrecks, yet very few actually die despite carnage from the streets of Baghdad! A rescue of the terrorist is attempted by one of the SWAT team members who apparently believes that he can orchestrate a rescue and fly the terrorist out of the country, and that the terrorist will pay him millions of dollars. A chase involving the LA Metro system and a sewer chase stretch even a little -leaguer's capacity to believe. Add to that the macho, phony images, and "Jerry Bruckheimer-style" back stories for the cast, and well, SWAT goes waaaaay over the top!