The Sweeney (2012)
Certified: 18
Duration: 112 minutes
Directed by: Nick Love
Starring: Ray Winstone, Ben Drew, Damian Lewis, Hayley Atwell, Steven Mackintosh
KRS release

The Sweeney was one of those 1970s series that left its audience glued to the TV screen.

This modern update is still as violent as can be, however, it lacks a sense of cohesion and tension- Johan Galea

It followed the adventures of the Flying Squad, a police team specialising in bringing down cases of armed robbery. The title of The Sweeney is derived from Sweeney Todd, which is Cockney slang for ‘flying squad’.

This modern update is still as violent as can be, however, it lacks a sense of cohesion and tension, making it a very vacuous exercise in machismo, gun fetish and muscle flexing.

Set in a greyish London, Ray Winstone is John Regan, the leader of the Sweeney unit. He is a police officer of decidedly questionable methods: he gets the bad guys by beating their heads, arms his squad with baseball bats and bulldozes over everyone and everything.

At the same time, he lives the high life, going to getaways at a five-star hotel.

At the moment he is involved in a love affair with Nancy (Hayley Atwell), who is married to internal affairs agent Lewis (Steven Mackintosh).

Then there is young George Carter (Ben Drew) who idolises Regan because he had saved him from a life of crime and is now his second-in-command.

Meanwhile, the squad is facing an internal investigation as they try to solve a series of robberies which also include execution-style killings.

The film does have its good points: a shootout in Trafalgar Square which, while not credible, is very well executed.

The Hans Zimmer/Inception-styled sound effects are well administered and are an important element of the film.

The Sweeney, however, suffers from several detractors, not least of which is Winstone who mumbles his way through the movie and whose love affair seems highly implausible.

Under the direction of Nick Love, the film never leaves space for anything else except for overblown seriousness.

The male macho posturing is prevalent even in the film’s quiet moments.

What I enjoyed mostly was the London setting combined with the Hollywood-style shootouts and car chases, which are not normally seen on the big screen.

London itself becomes the film main’s protagonist and distraction to what is an otherwise routine film that has some flashes of brilliance.