S.W.A.T. (film)
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| S.W.A.T. | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster for S.W.A.T |
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| Directed by | Clark Johnson |
| Produced by | Dan Halsted Chris Lee Neal H. Moritz |
| Written by | Robert Hamner (characters) Ron Mita Jim McClain David Ayer David McKenna |
| Starring | Samuel L. Jackson Colin Farrell Michelle Rodriguez LL Cool J Olivier Martinez |
| Music by | Elliot Goldenthal |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | August 8, 2003 |
| Running time | 117 min. |
| Language | English Spanish French |
| Budget | US$ 80,000,000.00 |
| IMDb profile | |
S.W.A.T. is a 2003 action crime movie and is a take on the television series of the same name.
Contents |
[edit] Cast
[edit] S.W.A.T. Team
- Samuel L. Jackson as Sergeant Second Grade Dan "Hondo" Harrelson. In the beginning of the film, Hondo is an inactive member of S.W.A.T. He is brought back by the Chief of Police to head a new SWAT Element. He is a former Marine MSPF. His new team, fully recruited and assembled by himself, is:
- Colin Farrell as Officer Jim Street. He is originally assigned to S.W.A.T., but after an incident with his partner he is removed from the team and placed in the "gun cage." After Hondo sees how well he can shoot, he is recruited for Hondo's new S.W.A.T. team. He is a former Navy SEAL.
- Michelle Rodriguez as Officer Chris Sánchez. She was a frequent applicant to S.W.A.T, however always turned down due to the captain's sexism. Hondo persuades him to allow her to be on his team. She excels in hand-to-hand combat.
- LL Cool J as Officer Deacon "Deke" Kay. A former Patrol officer, he is also recruited by Hondo.
- Josh Charles as Officer T.J. McCabe. He is a former S.W.A.T. officer who has worked with Hondo before.
- Brian Van Holt as Officer Michael Boxer. He is a S.W.A.T. officer who also has worked with Hondo before. His sister was involved with Street for a period before the events of the film.
[edit] L.A.P.D. Command
- Larry Pointdexter as Captain Thomas Fuller. He is Commander of Metropolitan Division (Home of the LAPD SWAT) D Platoon and disliked by many S.W.A.T. officers.
- Reginald E. Cathey as Lieutenant Greg Velasquez. He is field commander of D Platoon (SWAT) and old friends with Hondo.
- Denis Arndt as Sergeant Howard, head of another S.W.A.T. team.
[edit] Enemies
- Olivier Martinez as Alex Montel. He is an international criminal and his family controls a huge drug empire.
- Jeremy Renner as former Officer Brian Gamble. He is Street's former partner who quits L.A.P.D. after being demoted due to, while violating a direct order not to engage an enemy, shooting a hostage. Gamble later takes advantage of Montel's offer of reward to anyone who can free him by forming a group of other ex-S.W.A.T. members to free him and then escape to Mexico.
[edit] Plot summary
The film begins with a hostage situation in Los Angeles. Officer Jim Street, a hot-shot cop from the Los Angeles Police Department and his S.W.A.T. Team are sent to stop a gang of robbers who have taken over a Bank. His high-tempered partner and close friend Brian Gamble disobeys a direct order from their lieutenant, and accidentally wounds a hostage. Gamble and Street are demoted by the S.W.A.T. captain, Fuller, they have an argument, and Gamble quits. Street is punished, taken off the S.W.A.T. team and sent to work in the "gun cage," where he looks after gear and weapons.
The Chief of Police calls on Sergeant Dan "Hondo" Harrelson to help re-organize the S.W.A.T. division. Harrelson is transferred in, and soon puts together an elite S.W.A.T. force made up of high powered street crime fighters, including himself, Jim Street, Chris Sánchez, Deacon Kay, T.J. McCabe, and Michael Boxer.
Meanwhile, a French drug lord by the name of Alex Montel kills his father and uncle for control of the family's drug empire. L.A.P.D. traffic officers stop Montel for a broken taillight, detain him, and eventually learn he is an international fugitive. As they are transferring him, his minions, dressed as police officers, assault the bus he is on in an attempt to free him. Hondo's S.W.A.T. team foils the assault. As Montel is being brought into the police station in front of a group of reporters and television cameras, he yells to them “I will give $100,000,000.00 to whoever gets me out of here.”
The L.A.P.D. makes plans to transfer Montel into federal custody. They plan to fly him away, but an assailant (later revealed to be Gamble) shoots down the helicopter. The police next send out a large convoy, which is attacked by gang members. It turns out to be a decoy, and Hondo's team has spirited Montel away in two S.U.V.s. However, T.J. has been plotting with Gamble, and the two succeed in taking Montel from the other officers. Hondo and the rest give chase, and there is a final fierce battle, Gamble's group against the S.W.A.T. team. Hondo's team is victorious. T.J. kills himself rather than be captured, and Street kills Gamble in hand to hand fighting. The S.W.A.T. team delivers Montel to prison.
[edit] Box Office totals
- Budget - US$ 80,000,000.00
- Total Domestic Grosses - US$ 116,934,650.00
- Total Overseas Grosses - US$ 90,790,989.00
- Total Worldwide Grosses - US$ 207,725,639.00 [1]
[edit] Trivia
- The tune the S.W.A.T. team sings while they celebrate their success after their test is the theme song for the original S.W.A.T. TV series.
- The S.W.A.T. officers who deliver the secure phone in the bank robbery scene were actual L.A.P.D. S.W.A.T. officers who were on scene as technical advisors. They agreed to put on their uniforms and do the scene "for fun".[citation needed]
- One consideration for a location for the plane escape was closing I-405 Highway to land a Learjet on, but that was "out of their reach," so the filming crew shut down the 6th Street Bridge from 6pm to 5am every night for filming. Because landing a Learjet on the 6th Street Bridge was impractical, CGI effects were used for the plane's approach. The scene with the Learjet taking off was actually filmed, with the aircraft equipped with a V8 engine so it could be driven down the bridge.
- The Italian Job, Hollywood Homicide, and S.W.A.T. were all filmed in downtown Los Angeles at the same time.
- The opening scene was based on an actual 1997 L.A.P.D. shootout. In one shot, a man with a camera is clearly visible, taking footage of the action. The man was actually a cameraman for the film who wandered too far into the shot, but director Clark Johnson did not re-shoot the scene because he decided that since the man looked like an actual news reporter, he contributed to the chaos of the situation.
- The bank in the bank robbery scene was an abandoned building scheduled to be torn down, so the film crew was allowed to film it, tear it apart, and do nearly whatever they wished.
- Director Clark Johnson makes a cameo appearance as Officer Deke's partner, who gets hit with a frying pan as Deke chases down a suspect. Johnson asked to be credited as "Deke's handsome partner." In fact in one of the deleted scenes, to be seen on the DVD, Johnson arrives at the birthday party for Sánchez's daughter and introduces himself that way.
- When the film was shown in Spain, the nationality of main villain Alex Montel was changed from Spanish to French. This was the exception to the version shown in Europe. However, his Spanish passport can still be seen in the Airport scene.
- In the version shown in the Americas, Montel was French. It did not cause any undue change since the surname is common to both countries.
- After the first Montel escape attempt he is arrested while lying on top of Alex Trebek's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Trebek is the voice of the newsman reporting the attempted escape.
- The vehicle used for the S.W.A.T. truck was a refurbished fire engine, which proved difficult to work with due to constant malfunctions during production.
- Rod Perry and Steve Forrest, two stars of the original television series make cameo appearances in the movie. Perry, who played "Deke" Kay in the TV series, plays the father of the same character in the movie. Forrest plays the officer driving the truck at the end of the movie, perhaps in homage to the uncredited role of the S.W.A.T. van driver in the series.
- In the movie the police are clearly identified as L.A.P.D. officers, whereas in the tv series they wear insignia of the fictional WCPD.
- The film features a high level of product placement, especially Dr Pepper.
- Digimon: Digital Monsters appeared in this film, In which one of the S.W.A.T Officers kids was watching the episode Return To Highton View Terrace.
- Actor Paul Walker was set to play Jim Street in the movie, but he wanted to have Colin Farrell play the role.
- Alex Montel's father's knife is the famous Laguiole, Occitania brand. It is shown several times in the film, including various close-ups.
- After the raid on the bus, the police department has a press conference and they claim that the criminals were armed with AK-47s. In reality, the weapons they were using were MP5s. This fact is also wrong, the suspects who raided the LA County Sheriffs Bus were armed with Vz.65 Skorpion machine pistols. This is also incorrect. The fake cop with the car fires a Tec-9 Submachine gun at the SWAT officers and the bald fake cop uses a silenced Beretta 92.
- The Metro Red Line station that played as the 7th St./Metro Center station is actually the Wilshire/Normandie station.
[edit] References
- ^ S.W.A.T. (2003). boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved on April 23, 2006.
