Critic Reviews
S.W.A.T. (2003) Rank 2 Reviews
Expert Review Summary
based on (326) reviews
Click on the numbers to the right of the graph to see reviews of that rating
Reviews by Score:
Chicago Tribune
"S.W.A.T." is a cop thriller for moviegoing masochists. It's a big, near-incoherent action thriller best suited for audiences who don't mind being pummeled into submission. Technically clever but emotionally bankrupt, based on the short-lived 1975-76 TV ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Chicago Tribune
El Criticon (Antonio Méndez Casanova)
This is Lancashire (--)
Chicago Reader (J.R. Jones)
As summer shoot-'em-ups go, this is pretty well executed, with plenty of macho posing and gunfire. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Chicago Reader (J.R. Jones)
Dallas Observer (Bill Gallo)
A thoroughly unremarkable police action movie starring the magnetic Samuel L. Jackson. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Dallas Observer (Bill Gallo)
Jam! Movies (Jane Stevenson)
You'll probably leave the theatre singing that theme song. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Jam! Movies (Jane Stevenson)
Jam! Movies (Louis B. Hobson)
S.W.A.T. delivers some of the best thrills and excitement of the summer. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Jam! Movies (Louis B. Hobson)
Empire (Alan Morrison)
Formula is now the name of the game, although a steady diet of stunts and shootouts ensures that the audience is never bored. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Empire (Alan Morrison)
Moviehole (--)
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (Jack Garner)
[Jackson and Farrell] manage to keep us interested with pure charisma. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (Jack Garner)
DVDTalk.com (Megan Denny)
S.W.A.T. has the feeling of a TV cop show injected with blockbuster-style action. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at DVDTalk.com (Megan Denny)
ShowBIZ Data (--)
Empire Magazine (--)
Film Values/Family Values (H. Arthur Taussig)
cinEncanto (Pablo del Moral)
MovieMaze (Martin Buchholz)
artechock (Rudolf Inderst)
Boxoffice Magazine
Boxoffice Magazine
Reeling Reviews (Robin and Laura Clifford)
FromTheBalcony (Bill Clark)
Watching the wheels come off of S.W.A.T. is quite a sight. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at FromTheBalcony (Bill Clark)
Seattle Times (Moira MacDonald)
As summer popcorn movies go, you could do worse than S.W.A.T. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Seattle Times (Moira MacDonald)
San Jose Mercury News (Glenn Lovell)
S.W.A.T. proves something of a throwback entertainment in this summer of digital-effects duds. The story couldn't be more cliched or conservative. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at San Jose Mercury News (Glenn Lovell)
Movie Parables (Michael Elliott)
The kind of highly charged and explosive entertainment that summer moviegoers have come to expect. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Movie Parables (Michael Elliott)
Detroit Free Press (Terry Lawson)
One of those generic cop-slash-war movies of the Jerry Bruckheimer school -- where men are men and so are the women, where the hardware is fetishized. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Detroit Free Press (Terry Lawson)
Sun Publications (Chicago, IL) (Josh Larsen)
By the end, you'll think they have already made `Bad Boys III.' ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Sun Publications (Chicago, IL) (Josh Larsen)
Denver Post (Lisa Kennedy)
Strictly standard issue. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Denver Post (Lisa Kennedy)
Oscar Guy (Wesley Lovell)
SWAT is a pale replica of the 1970s cop adventure show with only some of the panache and only slightly better acting. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Oscar Guy (Wesley Lovell)
Palo Alto Weekly (Tyler Hanley)
The so-so summer movie syndrome continues with this poorly written but finely cast action-thriller based on yet another long-buried television series. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Palo Alto Weekly (Tyler Hanley)
Fantastica Daily (Mervius)
The filmmakers think that the audience cares about this as an 'origin' picture, in the way Hollywood always treats comic book super-hero adaptations. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Fantastica Daily (Mervius)
KBTV-NBC (Beaumont, TX) (Danny Minton)
This movie ain’t worth didly s.w.a.t. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at KBTV-NBC (Beaumont, TX) (Danny Minton)
Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas) (Jonathan R. Perry)
... Dumb, lazy, predictable and usually preposterous. Occasionally it’s fun, but that’s no excuse. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas) (Jonathan R. Perry)
Zertinet Movies (Steven Snyder)
CineMe (Daniel Meyer)
Christian Science Monitor (--)
The fresh cast breathes some life into the proceedings, and it looks good on screen, but the formulaic plot gets less and less believable as it goes along. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Christian Science Monitor (--)
Los Angeles Daily News (Glenn Whipp)
S.W.A.T the movie is two hours long, but doesn't contain enough interesting material to fill a one-hour episode of the short-lived television series. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Los Angeles Daily News (Glenn Whipp)
Arizona Daily Star (Phil Villarreal)
We want a little more, get a little less, and keep thinking to ourselves that we should have known better. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Arizona Daily Star (Phil Villarreal)
Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)
What we have here is a model for the paint-by -numbers, perfectly generic, proudly soulless summer action flick. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)
Newsday (Jan Stuart)
A throbbing dose of high-testosterone schlock in which logic, credibility and characterization also are dispensable in the name of that all-consuming end: keeping things moving. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Newsday (Jan Stuart)
Zap2it.com (Vanessa Sibbald)
"S.W.A.T." is exactly what it promises to be; a fun summer movie that doesn't leave you shaking your head in regret afterwards. Besides, a man in uniform is always a good thing, right? ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Zap2it.com (Vanessa Sibbald)
Kalamazoo Gazette (James Sanford)
Neither dull nor particularly exciting ...no one is likely to hold this film up as his or her shining moment when it's time to put together a career retrospective. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Kalamazoo Gazette (James Sanford)
South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Jack Zink)
A straightforward yet interesting yarn. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Jack Zink)
Hartford Courant (--)
eFilmCritic.com (Erik Childress)
A game of "Cops & Robbers" offers far more excitement. Until ITS eventual big-screen appearance. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at eFilmCritic.com (Erik Childress)
ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
S.W.A.T. bears less of a resemblance to the 1975 TV series from which it derives its title (and the name of its principal characters) than it does to every other 2003 action film. With its rapid cuts (sometimes around one-hundred per minute) and emphasis ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
Boston Globe
If the Hollywood studios had actively conspired to concoct a rebuttal to charges of left-wing media bias, they couldn't have come up with a more grindingly slick answer than ''S.W.A.T.,'' the latest remake of an unmissed 1970s TV show to hit the big ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Boston Globe
ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
S.W.A.T. likely won't please fans of the original TV series, but the movie hasn't been made for them. It will probably satisfy its target audience, although, as with most disposable entertainment of this sort, all it offers is a brief ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
New York Post (Megan Lehmann)
CineMe (Daniel Meyer)
Mark Reviews Movies (Mark Dujsik)
Review by Mark Dujsik
"Where
were your tactics?"
So the cliché police captain
chews out a hotshot member of S.W.A.T. named—I kid you not—Gamble after he
wounds a hostage during a bank robbery. He
also unknowingly asks a question that ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Mark Reviews Movies (Mark Dujsik)
Natural Born Viewers (Andrew Mackay)
"S.W.A.T ain't no country I ever heard of. Do they speak English in S.W.A.T.? Say S.W.A.T. again mother f**ker, I dare you, I double dare you!"
Okay, okay, so Samuel L. Jackson didn't really say that in the film, but I lost count of how many ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Natural Born Viewers (Andrew Mackay)
Frankie Paiva
Guillotine (screens Friday, August 8 at the Dryden Theatre), which was rereleased in 2002 with 12 additional minutes of delicious chopsocky action, doesn't waste much time on a story. It takes place in 1730 China, where the Ching Dynasty has just ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Frankie Paiva
The Movie Insider (Gareth Von Kallenbach)
Despite the lack of character development, S.W.A.T. works—it moves at a nice pace and contains a blend of action and comedy without being over the top. In this summer filled with over hyped misfires, S.W.A.T. is an entertaining film that is ready to ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at The Movie Insider (Gareth Von Kallenbach)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
It's just one more competent but routine, midlevel ($70 million) late-summer action movie filled with the usual explosions, shootouts and male bonding. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Boston Herald (James Verniere)
Slate (David Edelstein)
I was all revved up to have a whale of a fascist good time, and S.W.A.T. left me let down and pissed-off. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Slate (David Edelstein)
DVD Talk (Francis Rizzo III)
DVD Talk (John Sinnott)
Reel.com
Although S.W.A.T. is being marketed primarily as the big-screen version of the television series, it is also one of several films that depict the LAPD. These range from the cartoonish extremes of S.W.A.T. and the Lethal Weapon (1987) series to the more ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Reel.com
Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)
What we have here is a model for the paint-by-numbers, perfectly generic, proudly soulless summer action flick. An original idea would die for lack of oxygen in S.W.A.T., which means it will probably do boffo business. In an era when movies have become ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)
Parent Previews
While S.W.A.T. offers an edge-of-your-seat storyline, it?s the constant barrage of automatic gunfire, brutal fistfights, fireball explosions, and spilled blood that push the good graces of a PG-13 rating. In addition to the physical ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Parent Previews
The Hollywood Reporter (Kirk Honeycutt)
Noisy, standard-issue cop actioner. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at The Hollywood Reporter (Kirk Honeycutt)
Kansas City Star (Robert W. Butler)
S.W.A.T. is exciting but utterly devoid of meaning. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Kansas City Star (Robert W. Butler)
LA Weekly (Scott Foundas)
Serviceable, wholly uninspired. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at LA Weekly (Scott Foundas)
Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)
What we have here is a model for the paint-by-numbers, perfectly generic, proudly soulless summer action flick. An original idea would die for lack of oxygen in S.W.A.T. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)
Variety (Robert Koehler)
Coming in the wake of the physically astonishing "Bad Boys 2," S.W.A.T. seems square. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Variety (Robert Koehler)
TV Guide (Maitland McDonagh)
Actor-turned-director Clark Johnson uses the flashy, up-to-the-minute editing and camera stunts action fans expect, but keeps the mayhem on a recognizably human scale — it's big, but not insanely overblown. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at TV Guide (Maitland McDonagh)
Los Angeles Times (Kenneth Turan)
Though the film's second half has some good action moments, it never fulfills the promise of its earliest scenes. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Los Angeles Times (Kenneth Turan)
USA Today (Mike Clark)
By the time you've given up guessing whether S.W.A.T. wants to be a half-serious action pic or just affably jokey, its storytelling has turned so ludicrously melodramatic that it doesn't matter. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at USA Today (Mike Clark)
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) (John Beifuss)
Irony is not dead: 'S.W.A.T,' we are informed during the opening credits, is an 'Original Film.' That's the name of one of the production companies responsible for this regurgitation of the ABC series... ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) (John Beifuss)
Boston Globe (Ty Burr)
Those who love police overkill, guns, jingoistic race-baiting, guns, macho smugness, and guns will be well served. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Boston Globe (Ty Burr)
Toronto Star (Peter Howell)
S.W.A.T. has blockbuster ambitions, but it develops characters and plot at a leisurely pace better suited to the small screen than the big one. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Toronto Star (Peter Howell)
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) (Ken Hanke)
I think J Lo said it best only last week -- 'It's turkey time.' ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) (Ken Hanke)
Providence Journal (Michael Janusonis)
Empire Movies (Brendan Cullin)
The New York Times (Elvis Mitchell)
Mostly standard-issue muddle. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at The New York Times (Elvis Mitchell)
New York Times (Elvis Mitchell)
S.W.A.T. is mostly standard-issue muddle. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at New York Times (Elvis Mitchell)
Arizona Republic (Bill Muller)
It's every police movie you've ever seen wrapped into one, done so stiffly that the characters are barely able to bend at the waist to collect their hundreds of spent shell casings. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Arizona Republic (Bill Muller)
eye WEEKLY (Adam Nayman)
A sleek but vacant exercise in cop movie clichés. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at eye WEEKLY (Adam Nayman)
eFilmCritic.com (Brian Mckay)
I didn't pay nine bucks for this in the theater. I know which movies are worth paying for, and which barely merit an absent-minded dumping to the bottom of my NetFlix queue. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at eFilmCritic.com (Brian Mckay)
TV Guide's Movie Guide (Maitland McDonagh)
It's big, but not insanely overblown. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at TV Guide's Movie Guide (Maitland McDonagh)
Movieseer.com (Joel Quenby)
It's not boring but you may forget it before you leave the theater. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Movieseer.com (Joel Quenby)
eFilmCritic.com (Scott Weinberg)
The plot is an overstuffed and undercooked collection of cop conventions all wrapped around a frankly boring tale of one sneering and villainous Frenchman. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at eFilmCritic.com (Scott Weinberg)
Baltimore Sun (Michael Sragow)
S.W.A.T. may be an acronym for Special Weapons and Tactics, but by the end of this routine melodrama, it might as well stand for Standard Whacking and Trashing. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Baltimore Sun (Michael Sragow)
Miami Herald (Rene Rodriguez)
A compendium of missed opportunities, uninspired action and clichés so tired, you wish the screenwriters had called 911, too. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Miami Herald (Rene Rodriguez)
Chicago Tribune (Michael Wilmington)
Technically clever but emotionally bankrupt...it's an almost laughably opportunistic movie. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Chicago Tribune (Michael Wilmington)
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) (Stephen Cole)
Lots of buildings and cars explode, but there isn't a spark between any of the characters. ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at The Globe and Mail (Toronto) (Stephen Cole)
Austin Chronicle (Marc Savlov)
The original ABC television show S.W.A.T., which ran for little over a year back in 1975-76, wasn’t what you would call one of Aaron Spelling’s greatest hits, unless of course you were a Robert Urich fan who didn’t get enough of the actor in Killdozer ...read the complete S.W.A.T. movie review at Austin Chronicle (Marc Savlov)
User Reviews
by Walter King on May 08, 2009
Seen it at the movies and on television....finally own it on dvd. ...
by Olde American on February 06, 2009
Great movie, Colin Farrell and Samuel L. Jackson are two bad ...
by M. Battaglia on July 19, 2008
I saw this on a "normal" dvd. Then I decided to see it on BLU RAY. It looks great. Has some good action. ...
by Michael G. Fuller... on February 17, 2008
I never saw this movie in theaters, but after watching it on TV i had to buy it, it has a lot of fun scenes and is generally good. ...
by J. Huan "NCHUAN" on December 21, 2007
This is a great action movie that you want to have. Great picture, great story, Great discount price ($10) and very good movie you want to add into your blu-ray collection. ...
by Rose Jones "Lynn" on February 12, 2005
When I saw this I didn't know what I was watching until I saw who was in it. I never thought I would like a movie like this. But this movie had me at the edge me my seat the whole time and I was like what is going to happen? I can't believe how good this ...
by Jason Butz "chief... on December 31, 2004
This is a great action movie. This is not one of those cheesey Steven Segal, or Shaun Clad Van Dam or what ever movies! This very good. ...
SWAT to me is a great film. it combines all of the great things that films should ...
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