S.W.A.T.
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: August 8, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
45
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
17
Negative:
9
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Film ThreatKevin Carr
One of those guilty pleasures of the summer. It’s also one of those action movies that could have been ruined if Jerry Bruckheimer had taken charge of it. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
As the team leader, Jackson finds exactly the right tone for the role: a sort of playful cockiness that comes from knowing just how good he is. He's clearly having fun, but he never winks at the audience too much or allows his performance to devolve into camp. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Directed by Clark Johnson in an efficient and occasionally exhilarating style that points to the Emmy-winner's TV cop-show pedigree ("Homicide," "The Wire," "NYPD Blue"). Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
One of the best cop thrillers since "Training Day." Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Aware of its own cuteness because the dialogue plays by the rules of meta-entertainment. Read full review
70
Washington PostStephen Hunter
While the movie is stupid, it is -- hooray, and let's put this in all the national ads! -- not appallingly stupid. Read full review
70
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Offers up the kind of pleasures that only a summer movie can...The cast is good-looking, the soundtrack is loud, the plot is stupid. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
The standout in the cast is James Todd Smith, whose acting talent may soon persuade him to shed his adolescent stage name of LL Cool J and concentrate on mainstream film roles. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The strongest parts of the film aren't these money shots, but the buildup to the gunplay. Read full review
60
Dallas ObserverBill Gallo
A thoroughly unremarkable police action movie starring the magnetic Samuel L. Jackson. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
As summer shoot-'em-ups go, this is pretty well executed, with plenty of macho posing and gunfire. Read full review
60
EmpireAlan Morrison
Formula is now the name of the game, although a steady diet of stunts and shootouts ensures that the audience is never bored. Read full review
50
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
It's just one more competent but routine, midlevel ($70 million) late-summer action movie filled with the usual explosions, shootouts and male bonding. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
There is something sneakily gratifying about all this: Not since the days of "Earthquake" have Hollywood producers so indulged their fantasies of trashing the town. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Those who love police overkill, guns, jingoistic race-baiting, guns, macho smugness, and guns will be well served. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
Serviceable, wholly uninspired. Read full review
50
SlateDavid Edelstein
I was all revved up to have a whale of a fascist good time, and S.W.A.T. left me let down and pissed-off. Read full review
50
USA TodayMike Clark
By the time you've given up guessing whether S.W.A.T. wants to be a half-serious action pic or just affably jokey, its storytelling has turned so ludicrously melodramatic that it doesn't matter. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Though the film's second half has some good action moments, it never fulfills the promise of its earliest scenes. Read full review
50
VarietyRobert Koehler
Coming in the wake of the physically astonishing "Bad Boys 2," S.W.A.T. seems square. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Likely won't please fans of the original TV series, but the movie hasn't been made for them. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter Travers
What we have here is a model for the paint-by-numbers, perfectly generic, proudly soulless summer action flick. An original idea would die for lack of oxygen in S.W.A.T. Read full review
50
New York PostMegan Lehmann
S.W.A.T. boasts the kernel of a good idea - but it gets buried in the chaff of half-baked plot threads, partly realized characters and unstructured pandemonium. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Noisy, standard-issue cop actioner. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Actor-turned-director Clark Johnson uses the flashy, up-to-the-minute editing and camera stunts action fans expect, but keeps the mayhem on a recognizably human scale — it's big, but not insanely overblown. Read full review
40
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Mostly standard-issue muddle. Read full review
38
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
S.W.A.T. may be an acronym for Special Weapons and Tactics, but by the end of this routine melodrama, it might as well stand for Standard Whacking and Trashing. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Technically clever but emotionally bankrupt...it's an almost laughably opportunistic movie. Read full review
38
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
A compendium of missed opportunities, uninspired action and clichés so tired, you wish the screenwriters had called 911, too. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Stephen Cole
Lots of buildings and cars explode, but there isn't a spark between any of the characters. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Surely something more original than this could have been mined from the history of North America’s largest and most professional police force. As it is, though, Johnson’s film is just firing blanks. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
SWAT is better than "Gigli," but so is most outpatient surgery. Read full review
20
SalonCharles Taylor
Seems best suited to all the couch-potato swinging dicks who get off watching the police on "Cops" keep the public safe from people in possession of marijuana. Read full review
10
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
A prototypical new-millennium summer movie, S.W.A.T. is no more than an extended trailer for itself. Read full review
10
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Looks like the deformed spawn of a development process gone awry.
More From This Movie

45 Critic Reviews

7.8 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL