The Sweeney (2012)

Director: Nick Love

Writers: John Hodge, Nick Love, Ian Kennedy Martin

Composer: Lorne Balfe

Starring: Ray Winstone, Ben Drew, Hayley Atwell, Steven Mackintosh, Paul Anderson, Alan Ford, Damian Lewis, Caronline chikezie, Allen Leech, Ronnie Fox, Michael Wildman, Steven Waddington

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Act like a criminal to catch a criminal

Plot: Armed and dangerous, the Sweeney Flying Squad are old school crime fighters enforcing the law. Led by legendary detective Jack Regan and his loyal partner, they have their own unique way of operating and always get results. With a bank heist in progress and his old enemy making a reappearance on the London crime scene, Regan will do whatever it takes to get the job done, even defying orders from his no-nonsense boss.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

Ugh.  I've seen an episode or two of the original 70s UK TV series and the two 70s theatrical films and I'm a huge fan of Ray Winstone so I was ready for a great & gritty action crime picture that was going to kick me square in the nuts.  It was close, only it was the numbing of my ass.  What's a few inches, right?   I don't have much good to say about this except Alan "Bricktop in SNATCH (2000)" Ford has an all too small role.  He should be in everything.  Winstone's gravely voice is mostly far too whisper quiet or yelling and he's fucking moody as shit and angry all the time. The look of the film is heavily color graded in blue and it's highly stylized and slick.  Their office is artistically modern and loaded with tech.  All of this goes against what made the near-40 year old show so good.  With the TV series, the relationship between Jack and his partner/friend, George, was fantastic.  Their bond felt genuine.  And what's more, they did it with a sense of humor, just one more thing missing from this 2012 film.  I doubt it did well enough at the box office to warrant a sequel and for that, I'm glad.  If you're going to remake a property, find out what made the original work so well and strive to keep that element alive.  Don't throw it all out and make something that doesn't even resemble it save for a couple of character names.  You might as well name it something else. Hopefully this will get folks to find the TV series and give it a go but this picture is so bad and off-putting that it might keep them from even considering it...and that, my chums, is the real crime here.  You've just been nicked.