I have to admit that it was the casting of Samuel L Jackson, Michelle Rodriguez, and LL Cool J which mostly led me into the theatre to see a matinee of S.W.A.T., but I had passed a tolerable hour and a half while in there.

Miss Rodriguez gave her typical "whatchoo lookin' at? you wanna get yer ass kicked by a girl?" sneering performace, which she does so well (I can't wait to see her star in her own action flick). Samuel L Jackson played pretty much the same character from xXx, and LL Cool J played the black guy who wasn't Samuel L Jackson. Oh yeah, it also had that one slutty dude that's in all the movies these days.

Apparently the film portayed realistic Special Weapons and Tactics weapons and ummmm.... tactics. It was indeed an interesting break from the current crop of slo-mo dives in which everyone seems to aim totally 100% accurately while flying upside-down through the air. Seeing folks actually use a weapon properly and efficiently, while spouting department-approved field-use cliches makes one realize just how effective actual highly-trained police units are, as opposed to the typical cannon fodder you see in films.

It was also heart-warming to see all the ethnic steroetypes of Los Angeles work together to free the french drug lord who offers $100 million to the people who bust him out of police custody. That the gangs could throw aside their differences and come together in a multi-cultural assault on the LAPD using the rocket-propelled grenades and M-16s that all gangmembers can apparently get ahold of with a few day's notice, all on the promise that some crazed drug lord said on the TV that they could have a big chunk of money. Oh no wait, that's total bullshit, but it wouldn't have been much of a movie otherwise.

Of course, the real threat to the evil frenchman's (they constantly remind us in the film of how french the dude is, with such classic lines as "Let's get this frog in the bird.". Sign of the times I suppose.) custody comes from real, professional ex-SWAT members, but the sequence with the gangsters running around shooting all crazy-like makes the ex-SWAT members assault seem more tactical, I suppose.

Does france even have drug lords? Maybe they got tired of using Colombian/Cuban ones.

So, of course the underdogs defy everyone's expectations and come out on top. A helicopter, a few cars, and an airplane get blown up in the process. Thankfully, the film leaves the relationship between the lead and the tough girl completely platonic. S.W.A.T. is no more and no less than another throwaway action film. If you dig such things, you'll probably not regret seeing it.