May 1, 2023
Sweeney 2 (1978)
"Hold it right there, squire. You're privileged to be looking down the barrels of a gold-plated sawn-off Purdy shotgun. Now as a bank manager, you'll appreciate that any man capable of cutting a gun like that in half wouldn't think twice about cutting you in half."
#sweeney 2#the sweeney#british cinema#1978#blood tw#troy kennedy martin#ian kennedy martin#tom clegg#john thaw#dennis waterman#denholm elliott#ken hutchison#anna gaël#anna nygh#lewis fiander#derrick o'connor#john flanagan#james warrior#john lyons#brian hall#george innes#roddy mcmillan#i think I'm probably in a minority here‚ but i actually think i prefer this (rushed‚ budget challenged) sequel to the og Sweeney movie.#that film took the natural step of going bigger than the series: a high stakes conspiracy thriller plot‚ bigger stunts‚ more sex and bloody#violence; this film instead takes a more naturalistic case‚ the kind of job that the series did so well‚ and just pushes into it a little#deeper and a lot darker (and admittedly still with greater sex and violence). the result is a glum crime thriller which perfectly matches#the melancholy trajectory the series had headed in towards its conclusion (as the real Flying Squad became embroiled in one of the biggest#and most shocking corruption scandals ever to hit uk policing). grim‚ moody and undeniably flawed in places but quite a gutsy move#to go introspective and even semi analytical in their final big screen fling. middle act is lighter and looser but start and ending this is#punchy and gripping and nailbiting stuff (except the very final scene‚ a misjudged bit of levity which undercuts the heavier scene before)
