Sweeney 2

The Flying Squad investigate a series of violent armed bank robberies that lead to a gang of ex-pats operating from Malta. A follow-up to the 1976 first film based off the successful ITV British TV show. This film lacks some of the energy of the first film though would be pleasing for fans (even though it alas does not include the show's classic theme music).

Not nearly as good as the first 'Sweeney' film and a shade below the original T.V series. I'm half Maltese, so I love the locations and scenes in Malta. A fab score by Tony Hatch and the most memorable car stunt of all time, with a Ford Cortina, smashing out of a 1st storey window. Was the first movie I saw at the cinema with a cinema certificate of AA.

"The Sweeney" as a TV series was often a sharp,funny and reasonably authentic hour or so of entertainment.Stretched to a full - length feature and opened out it loses much of its impact and immediacy.The change of media does the concept no favours.It's the same old same old fleshed out with a bit of gritty location filming in some of the seedier parts of our capital city.The only aspect that sets it apart from all it's predecessors is the appearance of the late Mr Denholm Elliot as the bent former guv'nor of Regan's squad who with the ambivalence of most of his ilk still wants to see the bad guys put away. Otherwise it's the usual Mullets at fifty paces stuff. The head villain uses a gold Purdey shotgun.A friend of mine on the real Sweeney once nicked a blagger who stole a Purdey worth £30,000,sawed the barrels down,did one over the pavement bringing him less than a third of the value of the shotgun he had stolen and ended up doing a ten.Jack Regan would have enjoyed that.

I am a huge fan of The Sweeney series and also quite liked the first film. But this one is absolutely awful. First of all, there is virtually no story. The characters that made the TV series so enjoyable are just not there. Secondly, there are huge holes in the plot. Even in the times before luggage was routinely x-rayed, luggage was checked on a random basis, so bringing guns in and out of the country would have been a dangerous thing to do. And why do violent criminals allow petty fraudsters to screw them over bills? Regan and Carter are not at their best. In this film, they come across as louts and particularly Regan as downright Sleazy. The violence is pretty over the top and basically a substitute for a decent story.