S.W.A.T.

S.W.A.T.

As soon as the first frame came on the screen, I was instantly bored. Hostages, bank holdup, automatic weapons, ski masks, helicopters, instructions shouted into walkie-talkies, yada yada yada.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is, this movie takes virtually every cliche about these kinds of pictures (hardass but wimpy Captain in the way, young hotshot with something to prove, sneering Eurotrash villain, ragtag team that comes through in a pinch, ad infinitum), spouts every cliche line of dialogue you could have written in your sleep if you’ve ever seen a movie before, and manages by the end to make for a fairly entertaining (if forgettable) ride.

I think the reason it ends up being entertaining is they serve up the mountain of cliches with an absolutely straight face. There’s not a bit of winking at the camera here, and that’s refreshing in a weird way – it’s like a pop culture triple-fake-out. Even its utter predictability made it somehow comfortingly fun (if you can’t spot the traitor in their midst, for example, it’s possible you *may not* have seen a movie before).

It’s no “Air Force One,” but it’s fun while it lasts.