The Sweeney
Starring: Ray Winstone, Hayley Atwell, Damien Lewis
Directed By: Nick Love
Reviewed by Danielle Muir
[rating: 3.5/5]
The concept of The Sweeney is a fascinating one. Comprised of a group of hardy police officers who prefer the thrill of the chase than the keyboard, they burst into organized crimes and take-down the perps at the scene by whatever means necessary. Which co-incidentally has seen them recently get into hot water – their use of baseball bats and deadly force coming under scrutiny by the rest of the department. Of course, this isn’t helped by the fact that Jack (Winstone) and Nancy (Atwell) are engaging in adultery whilst Nancy’s pencil-pushing husband investigates the department. Sigh.
The Sweeney is an engaging drama, primarily because it’s well paced, and times of tedium are quickly filled with a moody soundtrack and scenes of action. From the gripping opening sequence where we see the team smash their car through a robbery and beat the assailants, and then figuring out they are in fact the good guys, The Sweeney knows when to talk and when to inject some adrenaline in for good measure. The characters are intriguing and sustain your interests until the plot takes a twist around the middle – Jack is gruff but ultimately will enforce what’s right by whatever means necessary. His relationship with married Nancy is intriguing – albeit occasionally nauseating watching the two in trysts of passion is flat-out bizarre, but has a certain sweetness to it. More interesting than two ridiculously attractive people I suppose. Rapper Plan B (Ben Drew) turns to the acting biz in a role that he pulls off well, primarily because his character’s cockney, rough and stone-faced personality as George Carter is probably similar to his own. Still – he ticks all the boxes and is the most likeable part of the crew, being given the best lines of the bunch. The others in the team don’t really get a look-in as there’s too many people and a plot to plough through, but that’s not a great tragedy.
Whilst The Sweeney is slightly better than average, it never makes an attempt to raise the bar. There are enough events packed into the film to entertain, but nothing more. And it can be a bit self-indulgent. The centerpiece of the film, a foot chase across Trafalgar square, is gratuitous and too long – especially (and I’m not an enabler of violence) none of the shots actually hit their target, and you begin to wonder how they actually made it onto police force with such poor aim.
The Sweeney is definitely worth a look-in for fans of crime/drama, as it’s interesting premise, characters and solid pacing sees it through until the end – however it’s unlikely anyone will call this their favourite film.
