As the latest in a series of 70s television shows to be turned
into a movie,
”
S.W.A.T,
”
currently playing at Premiere Cinemas, is better than mosty of
its predecesors.
The one-hour and 51-minute release from Columbia picturesis a
solid action-adventure movie.
As the latest in a series of 70s television shows to be turned into a movie, “S.W.A.T,” currently playing at Premiere Cinemas, is better than mosty of its predecesors.
The one-hour and 51-minute release from Columbia picturesis a solid action-adventure movie.
It is not the best film you will ever see, but director Clark Johnson does a good job of weaving together a plot that is fairly well developed, at least enough to keep the story flowing between shootouts and car chases.
As an avid fan of the original television show featuring a young Robert Urich and Steve Forrest.
What makes this movie work as well as it does is the instant chemistry between the primary group of actors, Colin Farrell, Samuel L. Jackson, LLCool J, Michelle Martinez. They seem to play well off of one another.
Filmmakers also make a good choice in not trying to remake the television series, although Johnson throws a bone to older television viewers like myself who remember the TV show by naming Jackson’s character Hondo Harrelson, the name of the S.W.A.T team leader from the TV show. If you pay close attention you’ll see acameo in the movie by Forrester, the original Hondo.
There is quite a bit of violence and graphic language in this movie that is probably too much for young childrenor for the more sensitive viewer.
Horse trainer Tom Smith, brought to life with an excellent performance by Chris Cooper, is an old cowboy who is becoming as obsolete as the horses he loves in the world of rapidly shrinking wide, open plains that are being gobbled up by barbed wire, locomotives and roads.
Oversized jockey John ‘Red” Pollard , Tobey Maguire, a young man who is torn from his impoverished family during the Depression and lives a hard life as a part-time jockey, part-time boxer who loves racing horses but who is blind in one eye.
They’re all beaten, but somehow, when the four come together they create a magic that is unmistakable. Even though the outcome of the film and many of the races is already known, and at times a touch melodramatic, Seabiscuit lifts audience’s spirit so much so that people were actually clapping and cheering in the theater. The film does have some graphic scenes and language.
