It's difficult to review action movies fairly. SWAT was never going to be a classic; this sort of this has been done to death, especially in recent years, and ultimately SWAT struggles to throw in anything new or inventive without looking contrived. See "landing a plane on a bridge" for details.
There's nothing striking about any of the characters which makes it difficult to judge acting; we've seen the clichés before, the team rivalry, the betrayal, the stickler chief, the fat cops, the old pro, etcetera. If anything, perhaps SWAT is guilty of spending too much time on this; we don't really need to know about Colin Farrell's break-up, or see him throw up after a particularly vigorous workout, or Michelle Rodriguez's kids... It just interrupts the action we've been promised from the trailer and unnecessarily extends the viewing time.
The action sequences are SWAT's strongest point. They aren't special, or particularly tense, and I'm not a huge fan of the "jerk the camera everywhere to make the audience feel like they're there" action cameras that helped ruin Resident Evil 2, but that aside, you can't really complain. Things explode, the good guys win...what did you really expect?
When things are blowing up it's alright. Just don't expect too much from a movie that is designed to pass two hours and be forgotten and you'll be just fine.
There's nothing striking about any of the characters which makes it difficult to judge acting; we've seen the clichés before, the team rivalry, the betrayal, the stickler chief, the fat cops, the old pro, etcetera. If anything, perhaps SWAT is guilty of spending too much time on this; we don't really need to know about Colin Farrell's break-up, or see him throw up after a particularly vigorous workout, or Michelle Rodriguez's kids... It just interrupts the action we've been promised from the trailer and unnecessarily extends the viewing time.
The action sequences are SWAT's strongest point. They aren't special, or particularly tense, and I'm not a huge fan of the "jerk the camera everywhere to make the audience feel like they're there" action cameras that helped ruin Resident Evil 2, but that aside, you can't really complain. Things explode, the good guys win...what did you really expect?
When things are blowing up it's alright. Just don't expect too much from a movie that is designed to pass two hours and be forgotten and you'll be just fine.