X
- 2013
- R
- Entertainment One
- 1 h 52 m
- 2013
- R
- Entertainment One
- 1 h 52 m
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]
Directed By: Nick Love
Written By: John Hodge, Ian Kennedy Martin, Nick Love
- 2013
- R
- Entertainment One
- 1 h 52 m
- 2013
- R
- Entertainment One
- 1 h 52 m
The Sweeney
48
5.7
Where to Watch
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]
Directed By: Nick Love
Written By: John Hodge, Ian Kennedy Martin, Nick Love
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 11 Critic Reviews
48
18% Positive
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
64% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
18% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 11 Critic Reviews
48
18% Positive
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
64% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
18% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
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.
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.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 20 User Ratings
5.7
30% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
55% Mixed
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
15% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 20 User Ratings
5.7
30% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
55% Mixed
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
15% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
"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.
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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.
Somewhere in the laundry list of clichés, there is a movie here that we have already seen and forgotten.
The Sweeney—a new British police drama—feels a lot like an American-made cop movie circa 1990.
Fans of the gritty, era-defining precinct drama will bristle at how the program's realism has been replaced by a generic Tinseltown U.K. slickness. But regardless of whether you’re a longtime devotee or not, you’ll be left saying, “This is The Sweeney? I’ve been rooked.”
Clichés abound, even in the look of the film, which toggles between post-Ritchie crime-violence burlesque and sleek, Nolanesque faux-grandeur.
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 **** its credibility, save for Ray Winstone and a few little moments from Ben Drew.
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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.
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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.
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Production Company
Vertigo Films,
Embargo Films,
Exponential Films
Release Date Mar 1, 2013
Duration 1 h 52 m
Rating R
Tagline Act like a criminal to catch a criminal
Awards
Irina Palm d'Or
• 2 Nominations
British Independent Film Awards
• 1 Nomination
Golden Trailer Awards
• 1 Nomination
