What do you get when you assemble an amateur director and writers? S.W.A.T.: Under Siege
Sure this is a C-list, low production independent film, but it could have been much better, at least in a few areas. It seemed this was more of a failed low budget TV show production.
The story: done thousands of times - this being one of the worst The directing: amateur hour (and a half - run time). I have seen worse, but this film needed strong directing to get over all the other humps, and it wasn't there. The score: terrible. So bad in fact I noticed it every single time, and it did nothing to the scene but annoy me. Was it me, or did they try to get some of the original SWAT TV show jingle in there? The acting: atrocious - every single actor. Partial blame to the director, screenplay and casting director (see below). The editing: was there any? Where there was (fight scenes), it was too soon or too late. And for the first time, I will review two categories I've never reviewed before... casting & action choreography.
Casting: There was not even one actor that fit their character, especially the SWAT team. Since when are there that many women on any one SWAT team? Adrianne Palicki was the worst in her role, the most unconvincing, especially as the sexy (why?) Captain (fail). And Michael Jai White did not belong in this film, I could not stand that fake overly-deep voice he was trying to pull off.
Action Choreography (fight and gun-fight scenes ): the worst I have ever seen. Add to the fact the amateur directing and really bad editing, all the fight scenes were way too long and very fake and unconvincing. Michael Jai White is getting too old and out of shape for these type of films... he's no Jackie Chan, that's for sure. The girl cat-fight was the worst.
I expected more and got much less. Thank God it was only 1:29 min long. Don't waste your time with this unless you're really bored. Rating this film on its merits of a C-grade indie film, it's still only a 3/10.
