S.W.A.T.: Firefight (Video 2011)

Expert S.W.A.T. leader Paul Cutler goes to Detroit on a special assignment to train and certify the city's S.W.A.T. team. After a hostage is killed during an assignment, the victim's ... See full summary »

Director:

Benny Boom

Writers:

Reed Steiner (screenplay), Reed Steiner (story),

Stars:

Gabriel Macht, Robert Patrick, Carly Pope

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gabriel Macht	...	Paul Cutler
Robert Patrick	...	Walter Hatch
Carly Pope	...	Kim Byers
Giancarlo Esposito	...	Inspector Hollander
Kristanna Loken	...	Rose Walker
Matt Bushell	...	Danny Stockton
Nicholas Gonzalez	...	Justin Kellogg
Micah A. Hauptman	...	Richard Mundy
Shannon Kane	...	Lori Barton
Gino Anthony Pesi	...	Wayne Wolport
Kevin Phillips	...	Kyle Watters
Dennis North	...	Captain Simon
Brad Bukauskas	...	Slater Harrington
Yuri Sardarov	...	Bulgarian Man / Mr. Krav
Darcy Leutzinger	...	Mike / L.A. SWAT

Storyline

Expert S.W.A.T. leader Paul Cutler goes to Detroit on a special assignment to train and certify the city's S.W.A.T. team. After a hostage is killed during an assignment, the victim's boyfriend, a highly specialized government agent, decides to take revenge on Cutler and his team.

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Plot Keywords:

hostage | revenge | swat team | tough cop | training | 

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 March 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

S.W.A.T. - Firefight

Filming Locations:

Detroit, Michigan, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$8,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Stage 6 Films, RCR Media Group, Original Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Robert Patrick and Kristanna Loken both played evil terminators in Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (respectively).

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Goofs

When Sgt Cutler and the team are in the bar and playing the boxing game, after Kellog takes his turn and Cutler takes Kellogs gun he takes the clip out and he cycles the slide, when the bullet hits the floor you can hear that the cartridge was empty (no bullet or powder).

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Connections

Referenced in Bad Movie Beatdown: Half Past Dead 2 (2011)

User Reviews

Worth a watch, but nothing more

This movie I will describe like a coin - it has two sides.

The first side is the acting - on the contrary from most of the other reviewers, I found the acting very good. The characters are believable and the actors seem suited for their respective roles. I must admit that I watched this movie mainly because of the actors. I'm a big fan of Robert Patrick, hold respect for Gabriel Macht and it was nice to see Kristana Loken even in a minor role, which she played in style. The strong side of this movie are the actors and the characters - I like movies, that make me sympathize with characters, one way or another, in a positive or negative note. If you evaluate the actors' performance based on the first SWAT movie with Collin Farrel and Samuel Jackson, you might be a little disappointed, but if you watch it as a stand-alone, you might like it.

Now for the things I didn't like. The flip-side of this coin maybe some of you won't describe as something bad, but I personally am getting a little tired of a trend in recent action movies - sloppy endings. Some may say "this is an action movie, just watch the action and don't think too much for the ending!" But I like endings that make me smile and think to myself "yes, that was good!". In this particular movie, the ending is not only sloppy, but it just one more word - short. I fully agree with some other reviews that point out that maybe due to time restrictions the movie was cut short, but unfortunately the part that suffers the most is the ending. There are a few scenes throughout the movie that are just seen so many times and maybe if they were cut in order to add up a few minutes to the ending, the movie would have been better.

One other thing is the pace. The story unfolds pretty quickly, but the actual pace of the on-screen events is a little slow. Not that I find the latter as a flaw, but it kind of builds your thrill, I personally was expecting a grand finale that would blow me away. I like it very much when the good and the bad guy talk to each other, before the final showdown. Like De Niro and Pacino in "Heat". Maybe I'm too much of a yin-yang person, but I just would like to see something more of a clash of the titans endings in movies (literally, not like the movie by the same name). It doesn't matter if it is a happy ending or not, the thing that matters is HOW it is presented to us viewers. It may sound a little harsh, but I really felt robbed by this ending.

And something else - I really feel Robert Patrick's character (he is the bad guy) was presented too shallow. He has too little screen time to convince the audience he really is the bad guy, which is a big flaw of the script in my opinion. Patrick is a very, very, very underrated actor, especially when he plays bad guys and this movie does't utilize his talent whatsoever.

Don't get me wrong, this movie is worth a watch, if you like that genre (police, SWAT team action movies, hostages, tactics), you will enjoy it. But it just isn't something you will remember. If you're looking for something unusual, something that spans out of the box, of the cliché, you may be a little disappointed like I was. This is just an ordinary movie. It could have been great movie, but in my humble opinion it isn't.

6/10 - because good acting is never enough to save a poor story or a poor movie as a whole.