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| Jack Regan and George Carter |
Nick Love’s feature film pedigree to date has not really set
the world on fire, although he has sold a lot of DVD’s, all of which include
alpha males, guns and a great deal of violence. They have included The Football Factory (2004), which is
an adaptation of the novel of the same name written by John King about a group
of working class Chelsea supporter’s who attend games both home and away and
indulge in fights with rival football fans, The
Business (2005) follows the rise and fall of a young villain within a drug
importing setup run by a group of fugitive ex-pat’s on the Costa del Sol on the
Spanish coast line. Following this in
2007 he made Outlaw, which like the
other two movies starred Danny Dyer and involved lots of violence, this one
about a soldier who in 2006 return’s from duty to extract revenge on local
criminals. As you probably gathered his
target audience would normally be young ‘geezers’ who after a good night out
with their mates would bring home a curry and stick on a DVD to round off the
evening.
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| Jack's love interest Nancy Lewis. |
Using the same
formula and a tag line that reads ‘
Act
like a criminal to catch a criminal’ our 43-year-old London director has
made a big screen version of one of the most popular TV series of the seventies
The
Sweeney (2012). Updating it to present day London this guilty pleasure
has lost none of it’s the original excitement and in fact has some extremely
good set piece shootouts. One of Britain’s grittiest actors Ray Winstone takes
on the role of Jack Regan, originally played in four TV series and two feature
films by the late John Thaw, his side kick George Carter has now been given a
back story that includes a criminal record as a young lad who, given a chance
by father figure Regan, has become an important figure in the flying squad.
Taking on the Denis Waterman role is actor, singer and director of
ill Manors
(2012) Ben Drew who fits the role like a glove. Also in major roles are
Homeland star Damian Lewis as Detective
Chief Inspector Frank Haskins, the Sweeney’s boss, Steven Mackintosh is the
internal affair’s officer Ivan Lewis who has a special interest in Regan and
his squad and up and coming star Hayley Atwell, who played Peggy Carter in
Captain
America: The First Avenger (2011), is the ultra tough
Detective
Constable Nancy Lewis, Regan’s love interest and
Ivan Lewis wife!
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| Gun fight in Trafalgar Square. |
In the extra’s that accompany the Blu-Ray Nick Love informed
us that the film has been on the boil for five years, a change of film company
and problems which saw the budget reduced from 8 million down to 2 million held
up the films production. Love assures us that it is a serious and honest attempt
to follow the format of the original but to update it to modern times, which
has allowed him to give the film a contemporary feel hopefully appealing to
both the original and new fans. It also allowed his DOP Simon Dennis some wonderful
shoots of London.
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| The Sweeney have a bit of business to sort out!! |
Tough, gritty, ultra violent, but wonderfully diverting, a
film in which Winstone breath’s fire as the politically incorrect Regan, who
will go to any lengths to catch his villain. (Incidentally Ray Winstone started
his screen career with an appearance in the TV series in 1976). Credit must
also go to the stunt coordinator Tony Lucken without whom the action scenes and
fights, not forgetting the car chases, would not have been so thrilling. Ignore
what the critics say just suspend your disbelief, sit back and be entertained
by a ‘geezers’ film with class.
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| The Ford motor car, such an intrinsic part of the original series. |
