The Sweeney

Name: The Sweeney
Genre: Action, Drama, Crime
Released: March 1, 2013
Duration: 112 min
Rating: 48

2013

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 19 Ratings

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5.9

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5.9	Your Score
5.9	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 19 Ratings

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The Sweeney

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Movie Details & Credits

E1 Entertainment | Release Date: March 1, 2013 | R

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]

Director: Nick Love

Genre(s): Action, Drama, Crime

Rating: R

Runtime: 112 min

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Critic Reviews

McClatchy-Tribune News Service Roger Moore

Feb 26, 2013

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. Read full review

Kenneth Turan

Feb 28, 2013

Don't look for The Sweeney to win any awards. It's not going to, not even close. But that doesn't stop it from being a briskly involving British crime entertainment of the old school. You've seen the type, and more than once, but the genre still has enough juice to take us for a ride. Read full review

Jeannette Catsoulis

Feb 28, 2013

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. Read full review

Omer M. Mozaffar

Feb 27, 2013

Somewhere in the laundry list of clichés, there is a movie here that we have already seen and forgotten. Read full review

Sam Adams

Feb 27, 2013

From its lone-wolf mythology to the high, pealing guitar wails in its score, The Sweeney plays like a forgotten ’80s action movie recently discovered in a dusty vault. A treat, perhaps, for those who prefer their cop thrillers pre-meta, but tiresomely plodding for everyone else. Read full review

Pete Vonder Haar

Mar 1, 2013

The Sweeney—a new British police drama—feels a lot like an American-made cop movie circa 1990. Read full review

Chris Cabin

Feb 27, 2013

Clichés abound, even in the look of the film, which toggles between post-Ritchie crime-violence burlesque and sleek, Nolanesque faux-grandeur. Read full review

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User Reviews

Tokyochuchu

Sep 1, 2014

"Ee's a slaaag!" That pretty much sums up The Sweeney; amusing but dumb. This is modern London crime fare (albeit with a heart stuck in the 70s) that seems to be under the impression that it's actually Michal Mann's Heat. It isn't.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

StevenF

Apr 10, 2013

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 basedThe 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

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Spanky

May 27, 2013

This is a British movie version of the American TV series The Shield. At times it hits the right notes, but mostly it just one contrived moment after another.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

foxgrove

Mar 4, 2013

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 atOffensive 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

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Thegodfatherson

Mar 10, 2013

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.

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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