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Gamble doesn't accept being relegated to the gun cage very well and provokes his boss, the bureaucratic and vindictive Captain Thomas Fuller (Larry Poindexter). Gamble is fired, but Street wants to earn his way back onto a S.W.A.T. team; he accepts the demotion. Serendipitous politics comes to his aid. A crisis of civilian confidence causes the LAPD to revamp its approach to S.W.A.T. It's thought that older, more reliably professional training might help, so a pilot program brings Sergeant Dan “Hondo” Harrelson (Samuel L. Jackson) back to his precinct - where Street's been caged for months - to build a special team. He recruits an eclectic group.

David “Deke” Kay (LL Cool J), a tough street cop, Chris Sanchez (Michelle Rodriguez), an even tougher street cop who also happens to be a single mom, T.J. McCabe (Josh Charles), highly capable and competitive with a taste for fine wine and fine women, Michael Boxer (Brian Van Holt), another capable cop who's sister recently dumped Street, and Street, itching to get back into action, are all tapped for the special team. Much of the film follows Harrelson's whipping his recruits into shape, training them hard for their final exam - a hostage rescue simulation aboard a retired jet airliner - and their first mission. They will not have to wait long for the real thing.

A charismatic sociopath, Alex Montel (Olivier Martinez), arrives from France. He's wanted on several international warrants. Interpol would like to get his hands on him, as would the Federal Government for his role in arms dealing. He's come to the States to consolidate his power as head of a multinational criminal enterprise. His viciousness is only exceeded by arrogance. When he's caught quite by accident and then identified, he blatantly offers $100 million through the media to anyone who can break him out. The offer attracts both violent well-armed gangs and the more professional. It falls to S.W.A.T. to escort the fugitive to Federal lockup while in the crosshairs of the brutal and the greedy.

The filmmakers have taken the time to create back-story and interpersonal elements that elevate the film above that of a simple action flick. Despite the telegraphing of a plot twist in the third act, I found the story quite involving. (I did lose my willing suspension of disbelief during the climax, but I confess that it's exclusively because of my ignorance rather than a fault of the writers. A little research revealed that it is possible to do that with a Lear Jet.) The performances are uniformly excellent. Colin Farrell brings his usual instinctive intensity to his character and he once again manages to portray a believable American, leaving his brogue at the door. Samuel L. Jackson is perfectly cast as the squad leader, the hard-as-nails father figure who pulls it all together. Olivier Martinez, seemingly cast against type - we last saw him as the seductive Paul Martel in Unfaithful - is delightfully sinister; charming and dangerous, he projects a confident evil that can only have come from a life of corrupting everyone to his will. Perhaps most significantly, the filmmakers have brought a high level of authenticity to the show, conveying plausible situations, realistic behavior, and interrelationships that the audience should readily accept. This is Johnson's feature film directorial debut, having come from a television drama background that includes such notable shows as The West Wing and NYPD Blue; he's comported himself well.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film's theatrical aspect ratio of 2.40:1 is presented in anamorphic video. This is a typical Columbia/Tristar DVD release. Color accuracy is excellent, shadow detail is outstanding, small object detail is well above average, and fine textures are nicely conveyed. Compression artifacts such as mosquito noise and macro-blocking are not noticeable. And as is typical from this studio for its standard releases, edge halos are visible at high contrast boundaries. There are quite a few supplements on this DVD, and apparently only so many bits were budgeted for the 117-minute long feature. I can't help wonder if Sony will ever abandon its MPEG-2 compression engine in favor of a more benign product.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is superb. The sound effects are wonderfully tactile, with great attack times and minimal audio compression. The sound designer (I'll assume that supervising sound mixer Bill W. Benton deserves much of the credit) did a great job of immersing the listener in the action. During the action pieces, gunfire, helicopters, urban reverberation, assault the viewer from all directions. This is one of those non-EX mixes that decodes perfectly with EX enabled. Specific sounds, like short bursts of fire from a high-powered assault rifle, are anchored solidly between a side surround speaker and the center surround. Smooth visual pans, sometimes beyond 360 degrees, were accompanied by corresponding pans in the audio. Very well done. Exceptionally deep bass will require a fine subwoofer; the audio track is a bit explosive. The score is difficult to assess; most is composed of annoying source tracks, leaving composer Elliot Goldenthal with little to do except provide action cues sans motifs. The dialog remains distortion free throughout, never overwhelmed by the audible fireworks.

The alternate language is in French, also presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. Subtitles are provided in French and English, for which Closed Captions are also present.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

Columbia/Tristar has put together a nice array of features on this disc. There are two feature-length commentaries. The first is by cast members and the director. Josh Charles, Samuel L. Jackson, Brian Van Holt, Michelle Rodriquez, Jeremy Renner, and LL Cool J, were recorded during their session. Director Clark Johnson was recorded separately. The two recordings were than edited together to make one schizophrenic commentary. The players rarely offer any insightful observations. Instead they fool around, playfully mocking one another and the performances. They enjoyed their session more than I did. Johnson, on the other hand, is quite serious and provides a running monologue of technical details and background information that informs. Despite the participation of so many people, be prepared for some noticeable lulls. More talkative is the second commentary by screenwriters David McKenna and David Ayer, and writers Ron Mita and Jim McClain, who received story credit. While the writers do discuss the origins of the film and the efforts invested in getting it made, the conversations devolve from the feature to discuss many aspects of the writing process and dealing with Hollywood. I enjoyed their chatty and friendly exchanges.

A series of featurettes and shorts take us through many aspects of the making the film. Anatomy of a Shootout (9:05) is a nice overview of the challenges of filming the opening sequence during the bank heist and hostage crisis. For those who don't recognize the situation, it's an enhanced version of the notorious incident in North Hollywood in which two heavily armed men in body armor outgunned the police and caused great harm. Many of the film's shots resemble those seen during the news reports at the time. This featurette is in anamorphic video, but the supplements' presentations are not consistent on the disc.

S.W.A.T. - TV's Original Supercops (6:56) is a promo and featurette for the original television show, which is now offered on DVD. Some of the film's players appear to acknowledge the show. The show's players explain how and why it was pulled from the air after only one season (I am reminded at just how much broadcast standards and content acceptance have changed over the intervening years).

Making of S.W.A.T. (21:38) is the comprehensive making-of featurette - presented in full frame. It must be avoided before watching the feature since it gives away critical plot twists. Initially, the short resembles a fluff piece with the players praising the film and one another, but it eventually settles down and focuses on the production. We learn about the actors' training and the technical consultants who helped make the look and feel of the film and the characters' behaviors as authentic as possible. The short reveals informative details about the shoot and captured my interest. 6th St. Bridge (5:20) is a featurette that describes the film's climax. It's here that I was motivated to do a bit of Web research on the Lear Jet to see if the filmmakers did their homework and discovered that they had. This is a nice discussion of the blending of CGI and practical effects to create a clever sequence that smack's of villainous ingenuity.

Sounds of S.W.A.T. is a collection of shorts that describe the film's sound design and provide detailed demonstration of some of the film's weapons. Select the graphic of ear protection muffs to view a featurette called Sounds of S.W.A.T. (4:37), which describes and demonstrates how gunfire was recorded for the film. It also makes clear why EX decoding worked so well on playback. Select each of several weapons graphics for a description and a demo of that weapon. Featured are: the Kimber (1:14); the AKM (1:31); the MP5 (1:44); and the M4A1 (2:09). Also found in this sound section is the Scene Breakdown in which you can study the sound design for four of the film's sequences. From that feature's menu page you'll find a little audio help icon at the lower right.

The Gag Reel (2:55) is a bit of a disappointment. Just as the players failed to amuse during their contribution to the first commentary, the flubs and horsing around found here generally fall flat. There are eight Deleted Scenes at various levels of interest. Some are extensions of existing scenes; some stand alone. None would have contributed much to the film, and at least one would have subtly changed our perception of a character. They are best left as supplements. Filmographies are provided for Samuel L. Jackson, Colin Farrell, Michelle Rodriguez, and LL Cool J. You'll find trailers for a handful of films either coming to DVD or to theaters: Bad Boys II, TV Action Favorites, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Radio, Underworld, and Big Fish.

The last supplement I found is an easter egg. It's on the second menu screen for Special Features. Maneuver to and select the logo on Samuel L. Jackson's hat and you'll be rewarded with the S.W.A.T. Golf Tournament (7:38). This cute spoof of televised golf has a typically subdued narrator calling the play. The short's editors went out of their way to highlight some of the worst golf taped during the match among the players and crew. Very droll and easily the most amusing extra on the disc.

The 117-minute feature is organized into twenty-eight chapters.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

A Flash applet on the DVD loads a screen of choices that guides the viewer to the Sony Pictures Website, a S.W.A.T. merchandise page, the Sony Pictures DVD page, the opportunity to register for a Sony Pictures newsletter, or the loading of your player to view the film.

Parting Thoughts