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The Sweeney

Play trailer Poster for The Sweeney R 2013 1h 52m Action Crime Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
44% Tomatometer 63 Reviews 44% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
Members (Ray Winstone, Ben Drew, Hayley Atwell) of an elite British police squad use questionable and aggressive methods to nab criminals.
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The Sweeney

The Sweeney

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Critics Consensus

Ray Winstone exudes tough-guy bravado, but this cop thriller otherwise feels thoroughly generic.

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Critics Reviews

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Pete Vonder Haar Village Voice 03/01/2013
[It] feels a lot like an American-made cop movie circa 1990. Go to Full Review
Joe Neumaier New York Daily News 03/01/2013
2/5
Based on a '70s British program, this is a bombastic effort that, while not successful, is still as bracing as a cold pint. Go to Full Review
Tom Long Detroit News 03/01/2013
C-
Maybe it worked in the '70s; it's too worn to work these days. Ray Winstone needs to find better rocks to chew on. Go to Full Review
Eddie Harrison film-authority.com Aug 10
4/5
…by ringing the changes on copshow The Sweeney, Nick Love makes a crime drama compelling in its simplicity...it may just be aimed at selling a few DVD’s out of supermarket bins, but there’s nothing wrong with a little low-brow, high-impact entertainment. Go to Full Review
Jason Best Movie Talk 12/12/2020
3/5
Love stages the action with a panache that belies the film's relatively modest budget and the big-set piece scenes... have an exhilarating energy and punch that British crime movies rarely deliver. Go to Full Review
Nicholas Bell IONCINEMA.com 08/07/2019
Its slight and simplistic narrative can't escape feeling like an overlong episode from your pick of a plethora of past and current like-minded television series. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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John S Aug 25 I found it quite enjoyable to watch, with a good cast. Ray Winstone is his usual tough guy self. See more Blu B Jun 21 Ever seen a Michael Mann film especially Heat? And if you have, than have you ever seen a film directed by Christopher Nolan? Than congratulations you've seen this already. The acting isn't good here. Everyone is super serious and lot so of the supporting cast ends up being wooden, emotionless, and very forgettable. The villian is barely focused on. Winstone is...alright I guess. He's not the most likeable guy but is clearly trying. His young partner is alright but forgettable. The music is super forgettable too and just sounds like every soundtrack you've heard for an actio flick the past 2 decades. The editiing and pacing aren't good either. This has 2 stories and neither are done particulary well. One involving Winstone and the crews personal drama and romance with Atwell which feels distracting more than anything. Second, the actual tracking down the bad guy and his crew story but gets very muddled and hard to follow. This has lots of expose and yet it either gets a bit hard to follow or to boring to follow. Over half this film is just people standing around talking. The ending does bring things together though and it makes sense but it's very messy and boring getting there. Cinematography is alright. It has that dull color saturation look which is alright. The robbery scenes are good. save for the big shootout in the middle which was a clear ripoff of Heat it felt like at times or too simliar. The ending car chase felt to over the top as well. Skip This though. It's boring and hard to follow at it's worst and derivitive at its best. See more Goomba B Jun 8 Another terrific Brit Cops/Gangsters movie with great action sequences See more Darryl F May 9 The script really kills this movie. Stuff just happens without any logic, and then stuff happens to conveniently advance the story. It had all the elements to be a decent movie. It is well shot, well acted, but the story and the script are so weak that you will be asking questions about "How/Why is this happening?" See more Gerard K Mar 9 If you are a fan of the original series you will be very disappointed. I was a fan of the original TV series from the 70's. It was probably the best t.v. cop series I've seen. It was gritty with a sense of realism . Win some, loose some, mistakes, people getting hurt physically hurt, emotionally hurt. with grey areas with a very real human factor.( ll former members of the actual Sweeny said that something that appeared in the series had actually happened ) When the film was announced I was really looking forward to seeing that kind of reality which has pretty much disappeared from films today. I was so disappointed, the film is basically the same as as any us action cop film but set in London ( which is even more unrealistic when you consider the limited access to firearms of U.K police) . Apart from the names and some aspects of personal interactions it is nothing like the series. So as a police action film it might get a 3 outvoted 10 but if you expect it to be anything like the series it is a 1. See more Rio C 07/10/2024 Watch some paint dry , cut your toe nails or count grains of rice that fill a cup Terrible movie Winston and Lewis usually good not in this No likeable characters, predictable plot when there was one. Most cop movies : shows miss the mark for procedure but this is ridiculous beyond words . Seriously find something else to do . See more Read all reviews
The Sweeney

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Movie Info

Synopsis Members (Ray Winstone, Ben Drew, Hayley Atwell) of an elite British police squad use questionable and aggressive methods to nab criminals.
Director
Nick Love
Producer
Allan Niblo, Rupert Preston, James Richardson, Christopher Simon
Screenwriter
John Hodge, Nick Love
Distributor
Entertainment One
Production Co
Embargo Films, Vertigo Films
Rating
R (Violence Throughout|Some Sexual Content|Language Throughout)
Genre
Action, Crime, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 1, 2013, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Jun 16, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$26.3K
Runtime
1h 52m
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