Review of The Sweeney (2012) by Dawn N — 21 Sep 2012
"You slaaaag!".
If you are expecting those words to be shouted by Regan in this reboot of the 1970s TV show, then you won't be disappointed. This film is a Daily Mail nightmare, with violence, language and lots of guns throughout. The story is quite irrelevant as you follow the in your face tactics of London's Flying Squad. As in the TV show, the main two characters are of course Jack Regan and George Carter (Ray Winstone and Ben Drew). Also as in the TV show there are a lot of car chases and questionable tactics.
The film uses London as a backdrop very well, and a stand out scene is a gun fight in Trafalgar Square. I could probably have done with seeing less of Winstone's 'love' scenes, and the film does slow down in the final 40 minutes or so.
One quick note on the films score - it is probably the most intrusive I have heard, and really doesn't fit with the type of film that The Sweeney is. It is almost as if the composer (Lorne Balf) thought he was scoring some self important insurance advert. It really should have been taken down a notch.
A good plus point is that I got to catch the new trailer for Skyfall - it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up!
The Sweeney is a good enough film, but you should probably leave your brain at the door.
This review of The Sweeney (2012) was written by Dawn N on 21 Sep 2012.
The Sweeney has generally received mixed reviews.
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