S.W.A.T. (2003) * * *

Directed by:  Clark Johnson

Starring:  Colin Farrell, Samuel L. Jackson, Michelle Rodriguez, Jeremy Renner, Josh Charles, LL Cool J, Olivier Martinez, Brian Van Holt

Based on the 1970's TV series, S.W.A.T. (acronym for Special Weapons and Tactics) takes its time getting to the main event, which involves a smug drug dealer Alex Montel (Martinez) who offers $100 million to anyone who can help spring him from jail.    Before then, we meet the S.W.A.T. team led by Lt. Hondo Harrelson (Jackson), who chooses a group of skilled, ragtag cops to work on his team.    One of them is Jim Street (Farrell), who had a falling out with his former partner Brian Gamble (Renner), after they respond to a botched bank robbery.    Those not expecting a payoff here is watching the wrong movie.

Harrelson goes to bat for Street, and soon after passing their tests to officially become S.W.A.T., they find themselves escorting Montel to federal prison.   Their job isn't easy because Montel made his offer on live TV and there are plenty willing to take him up on the offer.    There are the requisite shootouts, chases, and fistfights, but they are handled with slick professionalism and grounded in reality.    When these cops are punched or attacked, they bleed.    And no one makes cars or helicopters do things that violate the laws of physics.

The S.W.A.T. actors are having a ball here.    Director Clark Johnson knows how to move the action along, but there are nice glimpses of the team's personal lives as well, told in broad strokes.   The team isn't just a group of grunts, but real people doing a job most wouldn't dare try.    The villains' motives are simple enough:   They want the money and justice be damned for the drug dealer.   We are talking $100 million here.    How they can trust Montel to deliver on his promise is something they need to work out for themselves.     To them, living abroad and constantly looking over their shoulder for the rest of their natural lives is worth the money.   One of the conspirators has second thoughts, and it leads to an interesting dynamic as he battles his conscience.

S.W.A.T. does what it intends to do with style and humor.    The characters are realistically drawn and the actors pull it off convincingly.    Some movies just want to provide an honest day's entertainment for the buck, just like S.W.A.T.