Sick Product of a Sick System

Sadly Over-hyped

Must See Movie...

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Ever since he was a young boy, there was no question that Mark Goddard (Howell) would become a good cop like his father Dale (Fahey). When bad guys gun down his whole family, it traumatizes him, but he grows up to become a police officer anyway - but naturally his unfortunate past has given him a chip on his shoulder and a proclivity towards violence. Sure, the recipients of said violence are criminal scum, and this allows him entry into a super-secret fraternity of criminal-killers called J.I. or "Justice Incorporated". If you have nine kills to your credit, you are allowed entry. Even though the naturally suspicious Goddard is wary, he reluctantly joins because the leader, Molls (Lauter) is persuasive, his associate Rachel (Dalton) is seductive, and he gets to go on off-the-books missions and kill as many bad guys as he wants and still get paid. But the awesomeness of this setup quickly wears thin as Molls hides a sinister secret. All Goddard wants to do is see his son, and reconnect with his estranged wife Melissa (Gunn)...but will he get the chance before all his incredibly dangerous doings get to him first? This is an excellent movie. God bless PM, they've done it again. This ranks right up there with Zero Tolerance (1994) and Last Man Standing (1996) with the best of the PM's. C. Thomas Howell is great as the troubled cop on the edge, and while other actors in this situation would have relied on simply having a goatee, sunglasses, necklaces and a leather vest, not to mention an awesome House of Pain baseball cap (all of which he has because he's a badass, duh), Howell actually adds a lot of care and subtlety to his role. You can see his rage issues and suspicions without him saying anything. It really is CTH at his best. Very under-appreciated.Speaking of things that are under-appreciated, this movie is packed with killer and hugely enjoyable stunts and action setpieces in the true PM tradition. It takes tons of work and skill to pull these things off, but they go by in such a flash, people tend not to think about all the talent, artistry and labor that goes into them. You've got to admit, PM brings it, and brings it hard, and you CAN'T not love it.There's plenty of familiar faces on show as well, besides the aforementioned CTH, Dalton, Gunn and Lauter, there's also John Ryan of American Cyborg: Steel Warrior (1993) fame as the head of the "Concrete Lion" gang, PM mainstay Kathrin Middleton, the legendary Felton Perry, and lastly Max Slade, who famously was one of the 3 Ninjas (1992). Of the supporting cast, we saved the best for last: Jeff Fahey. Perhaps the only flaw in this movie is that we would have liked to see more Fahey. His role is small. But it's important and fits the plot, we understand.PM understands that stunts aren't worth jack if you don't have characters that you care about that are in danger. Thanks to some above average acting and writing, they can now marry that to their top-notch stuntwork. PM puts in actual effort and it pays off in dividends.We wholeheartedly recommend The Sweeper! For more action insanity, please visit: www.comeuppancereviews.com

The very sadly missed PM Entertainment......Without a doubt, they consistently delivered some of the best and most OTT action sequences ever filmed and for proof one need look no further than this testosterone oozing, car exploding, crazy stunt filled effort starring C Thomas Howell as a bad ass cop with a proclivity to kill the bad guys. Yes, you did indeed read that last part correctly, C Thomas Howell does indeed (against all odds!) make for a great action star in this typically exhilarating action offering brought to us by the consistently superb Joseph Merhi.Howell's no nonsense approach to law enforcement stems from a childhood trauma wherein he witnessed his entire family murdered and was himself left for dead by a sadistic team of hit men. Back to the present and now a highly loose cannon, our hero's habitual excessive use of force finds him in constant hot water from his superiors and has inevitably cost him his marriage. Matters take a strange turn one day however when he is initiated into a clandestine organisation calling themselves Justice Incorporated, a sanctioned group of law enforcers who operate a zero tolerance policy above the usual constraints of the law system. Yes, it's shades of the Dirty Harry outing, Magnum Force here. All seems to be going well for a while with the bad guys getting their just deserts.......that is until our hero discovers that the organisation sanctioned the execution of his family years previously...... Revenge is now on the cards.Well, if you can overlook the highly derivative storyline and a particularly rushed conclusion then you'll find much to enjoy in this little gem, not least of all the absolutely incredible action sequences and stunt work on display throughout. Most notable is the introduction which features an absolutely crazy car chase down a pier in which literally scores of people are getting run over left right and center(!!!!) Truly an incredibly staged scene. Also of amazing note include a truly scary looking roof top dive wherein our hero simultaneously manages to hang a bad guy(!) and a particularly explosive and thrilling freeway chase that would surely make even Michael Bay jealous. Add to this a whole load of bloody shoot outs and fights and a sadly somewhat out of place but nonetheless exciting grand finale with our hero dangling perilously off of a bi-plane(!) (with the stuntman scarily close to the propeller throughout!) and you have a wondrously entertaining one hundred or so minutes.Simply tremendous stuff......it's such a true shame that PM Entertainment are no longer making films these days.

"The Sweeper" was shown recently on Showtime. Not having seen it before, we decided to take a chance that paid off well. That said, the film is by no mean a great one, but the director, Joseph Merhi, did wonders as far as filming some of the most amazing sequences of the genre.The story is nothing new. A secret organization recruits young cop, Mark, to join their forces. He has been selected after killing bad guys in the line of duty. Deep down inside, he is always looking to revenge the death of his parents.The opening scene of "The Sweeper" offers a car and motorcycle chase down a pier in Los Angeles that keeps us wondering how was it achieved. The next thrilling sequence involves the grown up Mark, now an undercover cop, pursuing a mugger who has stabbed one of his partners into a nearby building. How was Mr. Merhi and his crew able to shoot that chase on the roof of a high rise in downtown L.A, is beyond comprehension. The whole thing feels real.The same goes for another car chase on a busy highway in which gas tanks are sent into the road and then ignited by the bad guy Mark is pursuing when he fires at them. The last montage involves a small plane that lands on the highway and Mark manages to hold to a wheel.As an action movie, "The Sweeper", offers a lot to the viewer that sticks with it to the end. Joseph Merhi did the impossible to bring these images to the screen.

I was quite skeptical when I picked this up off of the shelf at the video store. This film (about which I have heard nothing before) was probably a direct-to-video release from a no name movie director and producer with a lead actor who isn't that well know. I have seen my share of cheesy low budget action movies before and they can be quite entertaining for how dumb they are. Take some Steven Seagal movies recently: they are embarrassingly bad but if you want to watch a crappy movie and get a laugh they are great.I approached this movie with that very attitude only to be totally surprised by the all out action scenes and some remarkably awesome car chases. From the intro to the final scene this movie just rolls along with shootouts, chases, and of course, obligatory B-movie sex. What's more is that the action is better than most big-budget, star-laden productions, because the action here is just action, not so much obvious choreography, but s**t blowing up! Cars flipping over! One pistol in each hand and too much ammo! Guys flying back with bloody squibs bursting! Of course the action was, in fact, choreographed, but that factor is much less in your face then say... a Jerry Bruckheimer movie. Bad Boys 2 had a $130 million budget, 2 big stars, other known actors, a big director, and probably Hollywoods current most powerful, money-loaded producer (who has, in fact, made some good films), but that all didn't stop Bad Boys 2 from being a glamorous over done mess. An example from the other end of the spectrum would be Alone in the Dark. That film didn't have an astronomical budget ($20 million) but it was still to glammy and the effects seemed to be there just to show them off. And, in the end, the film was generally hated and now owns a very special spot on the IMDb bottom 100.The Sweeper is not like that in anyway and, as far as mainstream action films go, it is more like Ronin. Though I must say Ronin is better than The Sweeper, as the story aspect in it is much better. Here the story is pretty much an excuse for all action, but if you want to watch an action film, will you really complain? Entertainment doesn't have to be story perfect. And both Ronin and The Sweeper spare the viewer the "big and overdone" aspect that Jerry Bruckheimer and his good friend Michael Bay love to specialize in. Also, ironically, Ronin didn't fare that well at the US box office despite having respectable actors and good director, because people just want fun and glam too much. I guess truly good action films are like heavy metal: everyone knows they exist, but other forms of the same thing dominate the charts. And both have their own loyal audience. 8/10 Rated R: violence and profanity