The Sweeney
The Sweeney Image
See the trailer
Metascore
48 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 11 Critics What's this?

User Score
5.3 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 7 Ratings

Your Score
0 out of 10
Rate this:
  • Summary: Armed and dangerous, the Sweeney Flying Squad are old school cops led by legendary detective Jack Regan. With a bank heist in progress and his old enemy making a reappearance on the London crime scene, Regan will do whatever it takes to get the job done. [eOne]

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 11
  3. Negative: 2 out of 11
  1. Movie Nation
    Reviewed by: Roger Moore
    Feb 26, 2013
    75
    A down-and-dirty genre picture that manages a couple of decent plot twists, a couple of passable car chases and two epic shoot-outs.
  2. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Jeannette Catsoulis
    Feb 28, 2013
    60
    Simon Dennis’s photography is glossy and crisp, and a lengthy foot chase — making excellent use of the National Gallery — is inventively choreographed. And if the villains are little more than fireplugs in balaclavas, the violence they provoke is satisfyingly vicious.
  3. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    Feb 28, 2013
    50
    I don’t know how many sex scenes featuring Winstone and Atwell you can handle, but the movie breaches my limit, which is a firm zero.
  4. The Playlist
    Reviewed by: Gabe Toro
    Mar 4, 2013
    25
    Up until the very very end (which uncorks a CLASSIC cop cliché that seemed long dead by now), The Sweeney is straight dumb procedural, no chaser.

See all 11 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 3
  3. Negative: 2 out of 3
  1. StevenF
    5
    The Sweeney delivers a flawed and often messy action flick that will sit well for some pretty decent action scenes but is ultimately a very forgetful movie that cancels itself out on several occasions.
    Ray Winstone puts in a decent performance as Jack Regan, he has created a character based on what people want him to be, hard man yet loveable, gritty yet friendly to the right people.
    Based on the TV show, we open with Jack and his gang of misfits interrupting an armed robbery, this is where we are introduced to George Carter, played by rapper Plan B (Ben Drew) in his acting debut.
    As the film progresses we learn that Jack is holding many secrets close to his chest, his affair with a co-worker who is married to the new man observing the Sweeney, or his tokens of gold bars to the man tipping him off about the robberies which his team try to foil.
    Jack long suspects that its a previous enemy who has committed the ultimate robbery, also killing an innocent worker in the process, Jack doesn't, however, have enough evidence to support his theory.
    Its clear from the opening heist that The Sweeney trades story and depth for style and often grim character development.
    Ben Drew is simply alright in his debut, at times it was quite difficult to understand what he was saying, and his overall take on George Carter may have been better suited to Tom Hardy.
    The other supporting characters are easily forgotten, with next to no development and one dimensional personalities. This is very much a Ray Winstone film, but he simply cannot carry the film on his own.
    A particularly decent shootout was a good point in the film, taking place in Trafalgar Square and stretching across the parks, but unfortunately a very boring and seen-it-all-before car park sequence just sort of nullified everything that had happened previously.
    The Sweeney unfortunately seems like an attempt to combine the best British films into one, but simply doesn't succeed in doing so, with a messy story and a sub-plot involving the observing of the group felt lie something that should have been in a sequel, not in a remake trying to find its feet.
    Ultimately, The Sweeney did have big ideas, but its lifeless supporting cast and pointless attempts at telling a gritty story have shattered its credibility, save for Ray Winstone and a few little moments from Ben Drew.    … Expand
  2. Thegodfatherson
    0
    If you think this is a feel good british gangster movie, don't ebven bother to watch it. The Sweeney is a underbelly kicked in the butt feeling movie. Other than Nick Love.… Expand
  3. foxgrove
    0
    Offensive on every level. There has to be something wrong with a film that makes you want the villains to be victorious and the so called good guys to be viciously killed. Ray Winston playing himself is more reprehensible than usual and I didn't think that could be possible. Film making at its nadir and British cinema to be ashamed of. The TV series from which this moronic mess springs from should sue. A socially irresponsible piece of crap that Shames everyone involved.… Expand

Trailers

Current Movie Releases

Full List »
  1. Star Trek Into Darkness
    User Score 8.0
  2. The Great Gatsby
    User Score 7.7
  3. Evil Dead (2013)
    User Score 7.6
  4. The Croods
    User Score 7.4
  5. 42
    User Score 7.3
  6. Oblivion
    User Score 7.1
  7. Iron Man 3
    User Score 6.6
  8. Pain & Gain
    User Score 6.5
  9. Olympus Has Fallen
    User Score 6.4
  10. G.I. Joe: Retaliation
    User Score 5.5
  11. The Host
    User Score 4.6
  12. Scary Movie 5
    User Score 2.6
  13. Tyler Perry's Temptation
    User Score 2.0
All Current Movies »