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BY TOM MEEK
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Add to the list of ’60s and ’70s TV shows adapted to the screen the police drama S.W.A.T. (Strategic Weapons and Tactics). TV director Clark Johnson and a battery of writers try to remain loyal to the show’s old-school roots — there are plenty of neat gadgets and door-busting maneuvers, The acting is A-list too, but inane plot twists late in the game spoil it. Officer Jim Street (the late Robert Urich in the series, here Hollywood darling-of-the-moment Colin Farrell) is on the department shit list for not following orders, but he gets a second chance (of course) when Lieutenant "Hondo" Harrelson (Samuel L. Jackson) recruits him for an elite unit. Jim, it turns out, used to date one member’s sister, and some maintain that he ratted out his former partner. The unit’s big test is to escort an international drug dealer (Olivier Martinez) into federal custody — no simple task after he offers a $100 million reward for his liberation. Inevitably a gauntlet of well-armed street thugs materializes, and just as inevitably the film turns into a tedious, crash-bang Jerry Bruckheimer–like production. (117 minutes)
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