‘S.W.A.T.,’ ‘Castle’ work, and then don’t

Realism sets ‘S.W.A.T.’ apart at times

Clark Johnson has directed several episodes of TV’s best crime

dramas, including “Law and Order,” “NYPD Blue,” “Homicide” and “The

Wire.”

Clark brings the same gritty realism found in these shows to his

big screen effort in “S.W.A.T.,” which sets it apart from the mind

numbing demolition derby at the center of most blockbuster police

thrillers. The cops seem to be real people, not cartoon superheroes.

We see a thoughtful presentation of the actual training that S.W.A.T.

team members must complete. Most of the hostage situations they

encounter could come from today’s headlines, although events turn a

little preposterous by the end.

That said, there’s no doubt this cop/buddy movie has been done

many times before. Their plots are so similar, it’s amazing that any

studio will pay a screenwriter to churn out yet another version of

this same old story.

We have an old grizzled veteran mentoring younger idealistic cops.

They’re hard, they’re mean and they’re the best on the force. Of

course, their boss thinks they’re just cowboys who need to be

disciplined and controlled.

Samuel L. Jackson is excellent as the legendary veteran. Colin

Farrell and Michelle Rodriguez are well cast as the junior members of

the team. They bring some depth and humanity to the characters, but

they all must operate within the narrow confines of the predictable

plot.

Their tough jobs cause problems in their personal lives, bringing

more intense bonding with their S.W.A.T. team members. There are life

and death decisions to be made. There are evil villains who need to

be captured or killed. There are bone-crunching fight scenes. There

are car chases that need to happen accompanied by very loud music.

They do this all in “S.W.A.T.,” and they do it pretty well, if you

like this sort of thing. It’s a money-making big screen version of

the old TV show with big-budget special effects. A competent and

amusing diversion, but only for fans of the genre.

* JOHN DEPKO is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator

for the Orange County public defender’s office.

‘Castle’ rises

and then deflates

On a lovely summer’s day, an eccentric British family consisting

of two girls, one boy, a mother and a father are motoring through the

English countryside when they come across an abandoned castle topped

with a turret -- if not a complete roof. The children love it, of

course, and are delighted when the father agrees to their wish to

claim the castle as their own -- “I Capture the Castle.”

What the children don’t realize is that the father has no other

means to put a roof over their heads. What had been a successful

career as a writer has crumbled under that worst of creative fears:

writer’s block. It isn’t that he can no longer write great books. He

can’t even generate a readable sentence.

Alas, the father’s belief that life in a tumbled down castle will

help him discover his lost gifts for writing proves futile. Years

roll by, the children grow up and the next thing we know, the two

sisters are young ladies, beautiful to look at, if a bit eccentric as

a result of their years of isolation.

Enter the heroes. Two young men driving a handsome roadster appear

at the castle one day. They are immediately charmed by the two lovely

ladies who have been living in their castle. It appears the two

brothers’ family owns just about all the surrounding area. The stage

is set. We have lovely, but impoverished heroines and charming and

wealthy heroes. Both brothers find both sisters appealing.

So far, so good. Up until now, the story and its characters have

been delightfully quirky, charming and fun. At this point, someone

must have felt that the story needed a noble resolution. I felt as

though someone had let all the air out of a beautiful balloon.

In all fairness, I will report that not everyone in the audience

shared my reaction.

* JUNE FENNER, a Costa Mesa resident, is vice president of a

work-force training company.