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COLUMBIA

MOVIE INFO

Director:
Clark Johnson
Cast:
Samuel L. Jackson, Colin Farrell, Michelle Rodriguez, Jeremy Renner
Writing Credits:
David Ayer, David McKenna

Synopsis:
An imprisoned drug kingpin offers a huge cash reward to anyone that can break him out of police custody and only the LAPD's Special Weapons and Tactics team can prevent it.

Box Office:
Budget
$80 million.
Opening Weekend
$37.062 million on 3202 screens.
Domestic Gross
$116.643 million.

MPAA:
Rated PG-13.

DISC DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Audio:
English PCM 5.1
English Dolby 5.1
French Dolby 5.1
Subtitles:
English
French
Spanish
Portuguese
Chinese
Korean
Thai
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
English
French

Runtime: 117 min.
Price: $14.98
Release Date: 9/19/2006

Bonus:
• Deleted Scenes
• Trailers


PURCHASE @ AMAZON.COM

EQUIPMENT
-LG OLED65C6P 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart OLED TV
-Marantz SR7010 9.2 Channel Full 4K Ultra HD AV Surround Receiver;
-Panasonic DMP-BD60K Blu-Ray Player
-Chane A2.4 Speakers
-SVS SB12-NSD 12" 400-watt Sealed Box Subwoofer.


RELATED REVIEWS


SWAT [Blu-Ray] (2003)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (August 1, 2017)

Loosely based on the 1970s TV series, 2003’s SWAT quickly establishes the SWAT (“Special Weapons and Tactics”) team as the guys the regular cops call when they need help. As they handle a bank hostage situation, Jim Street (Colin Farrell) and his partner Brian Gamble (Jeremy Renner) get demoted from SWAT.

Gamble quits the force, but Street decides to stay, much to the irritation of his buddy, who accuses the loose cannon of cutting a deal to keep his job. Their friendship ends angrily as the psychotic Gamble thinks Street betrayed him.

Matters then jump ahead six months, where we see that Street clearly didn’t cut a deal, as he now remains stuck in a menial gun cage assignment. Sergeant Dan “Hondo” Harrelson (Samuel L. Jackson) encounters Street there as he returns to SWAT from another job.

The chief wants folks like him to bring back “old school” honor to SWAT to restore some luster to the LAPD’s soiled reputation. Hondo gets the call to find a few new pups for the SWAT squad that he’ll command.

On the way to prison, crime lord Alex Montel (Olivier Martinez) declares that he’ll give $100 million to anyone who busts him out of jail. With so much money out there for a jailbreak, clearly some baddies will attempt to snare Montel, which means the SWATties have their work cut out for them.

If you hope to find anything original or interesting about SWAT, you’ll have your work cut out for you as well. I suppose it could have been more tedious and one-dimensional, but I find that hard to imagine.

Better adapted TV dramas like The Fugitive and Charlie’s Angels did something different and creative with the source material. SWAT, on the other hand, feels like eight million other cop action flicks.

I think director Clark Johnson watched too many Michael Bay flicks, for the latter’s influence pervades SWAT. Unfortunately, it’s the uninspired Bay of Bad Boys who inspires SWAT, not the more entertaining Bay of The Rock or Armageddon. Johnson tosses out scads of different techniques in the hope that some of them will fake us out and make us believe he knows what he’s doing.

This doesn’t happen. Instead, the mélange of cinematographic formats – along with the requisite quick-cutting and excessive camera movement – just feels desperate. The various elements distract and make the material have less impact than it otherwise might have enjoyed.

That’s quite an accomplishment given the tedium of this flick. Almost no parts of SWAT work. The first half of the movie sets up the characters and organizes the team.

While that sounds good in theory, especially since so many movies totally eschew exposition in favor of slam-bang action, the characters remain so thin and one-dimensional that all these elements simply bore us. The team could come together in less than half the time and offer the same level of clarity, so the movie really plods in its first hour.

If SWAT employed an intriguing plot, I could forgive this slowness, but unfortunately, the story seems pretty dull. The parts with Montel don’t kick into gear until past the flick’s halfway point, and that’s really much too long.

The tale lacks much intrigue, especially since most parts could be viewed from a mile away, so bits that are supposed to come as a surprise are insanely predictable and telegraphed. The second half of the film feels like little more than a compendium of random violence.

At least SWAT employs a fairly good cast, though you’d not know that from their work here. Almost all involved seem to view this as a paycheck movie, so don’t look for any inspiration or excitement from them.

The only moderately pleasant surprise came from Martinez. I’d previously seen him as “the other man” in Unfaithful. Given his semi-wimpy presence in that flick, I didn’t expect to buy him as a credible villain. One-dimensional he may remain, at least Martinez infuses Montel with some decent menace.

Check out SWAT for some of the most blatant product placement ever filmed. We don’t simply see Sony products in the background or on shelves - characters carry huge Sony boxes right in front of the camera!

Other brands get massive – and obvious – play as well. All of this makes SWAT feel less like a movie and more like a marketing opportunity.

Frankly, I think that’s all SWAT is. The movie doesn’t seem to have any real reason to exist other than to capitalize on an old property and launch a new franchise. Poorly formed and executed in almost every way, this sucker comes as a definite disappointment.


The Disc Grades: Picture C+/ Audio B+/ Bonus D+

SWAT appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.40:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. A release from the format’s early days, SWAT showed its age.

Sharpness was usually fine. Some softness interfered with wider shots, but the image mostly came across as fairly tight.

No issues connected to jagged edges or moiré effects occurred, but I noticed light edge haloes. I also thought the image betrayed a “digital” impression, with some noise reduction and artifacts. A few small specks cropped up but source flaws remained minor.

Given the Michael Bay influence seen in SWAT, it came as no surprise that it featured a stylized palette. It opted for a strong teal and orange bent that seemed acceptable – the colors could be a bit heavy but they usually seemed fine.

Blacks were fairly dark – a little too dark at times – while shadows seemed fine. This was a watchable image but it could use a remaster.

On the positive side, the Uncompressed PCM 5.1 mix offered a very active affair. From the opening hostage drama and all its gunfire through the movie’s other action sequences, the flick used all five channels on a very frequent basis. Lots of effects elements popped up from the sides and rears to create an aggressive track.

Audio quality appeared solid. Speech occasionally got a little buried under all the effects, but the lines consistently sounded natural and distinctive. Music was bright and dynamic, with clean highs and good range.

Effects were reproduced nicely as well. They always seemed clear and accurate, and they showed terrific bass when appropriate. Low-end came across as tight and bold. Overall, the soundtrack seemed satisfying.

How did the Blu-ray compare to the original DVD release? Audio showed more heft, while visuals seemed tighter. Even with some drawbacks, the Blu-ray worked better than the DVD.

Though the DVD came with a slew of extras, the Blu-ray drops almost all of them. Carried over from the DVD, we get eight deleted scenes. These last between 19 seconds and one minute, 57 seconds for a total of seven minutes, 42 seconds of footage.

As usually occurs with action flicks, the character moments get the boot, and that’s what we find here. None of them seem crucial – or interesting, for that matter.

Previews offers ads for Stealth, Underworld: Evolution and xXx. No trailer for SWAT appears here.

A generic action flick, SWAT brings virtually nothing new to the genre. Had it at least followed its clichés and predictable material in a satisfying way, I’d have enjoyed it, but it seems dull and never does anything to entice the viewer’s interest. The Blu-ray offers acceptable picture as well as excellent audio and some deleted scenes. This is a dated Blu-ray and a forgettable movie.

To rate this film visit the review of SWAT

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