The Sweeper

1996 "Either you in or in their way."
5.1| 1h30m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 25 June 1996 Released
Producted By: PM Entertainment Group
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

A young cop, haunted by the murder of his entire family years earlier, is recruited by a shadowy organization to hunt down criminals who are beyond the reach of the law.

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Director

Joseph Merhi

Production Companies

PM Entertainment Group

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The Sweeper Audience Reviews

Karry Best movie of this year hands down!
ThiefHott Too much of everything
Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
Leofwine_draca THE SWEEPER is another solidly enjoyable action flick from PM Entertainment, made at the height of their powers when they were churning out one action-packed bit of spectacle after another. This one has a great opening car chase involving supporting actor Jeff Fahey, before the plot moves on to maverick cop C. Thomas Howell (virtually unrecognisable behind long hair and a beard) and his efforts to get revenge on the gangsters behind his father's death. The plot is nothing special here, but there are a couple of familiar faces in the supporting cast (Ed Lauter, Fulton Perry) and the action comes thick and fast, with all of the hand-to-hand combat, shoot-outs, vehicle chases, explosions, and big, slow motion crashes that PM used to shoot so well.
zardoz-13 C. Thomas Howell plays a combustible, trigger-happy, Los Angeles cop in the "Lethal Weapon" mode in Joseph Merhi's formulaic but above-average crime thriller "The Sweeper" with Ed Lauter. Merhi's fast-moving, 101-minute epic evokes memories of the "Dirty Harry" sequel "Magnum Force." In other words, when the legal system fails to serve the public, a secret organization called Justice Incorporated steps in to resolve the situation with extreme prejudice. The action opens with an exciting prologue that traces our protagonist's back story. Mark Goddard's father was a police sergeant (Jeff Fahkey), and he was a good cop until a hit squad strike at his home and killed him. One of the killers terrorizes Mark rather than kill him. Indeed, the assailant thrusts a revolver into Mark's hands and urges him to shoot him in the head, but Mark cannot bring himself to commit murder. Years later, our hero works for the LAPD like his dad. The mystery about who killed his parents haunts our hero's every waking minute. Goddard's team has been getting sloppy. One of them is stabbed by a suspect who preys on ATM users. Our fearless but pugnacious hero chases the knife-wielding maniac atop a high building where they battle it out. Eventually, Mark loops a length of cable around the assailant's neck and plunges with him into the air some twenty feet or more above the ground. Of course, the guy dies by strangulation. Later, when he arrests a child pornographer, Mark loses his cool when the suspect gives him the benefit of his smart lip, and a public brawl ensues. Mark is the bane of the force and his boss alerts Internal Affairs about him because he is fed up with Mark. The action scenes are competently done, and the performances are strong, with C. Thomas Howell showing his tougher side. One of the best scenes has our hero pursuing an assailant down the highway with the villain knocking huge metal chemical bottles off a flatbed truck and shooting slugs in them so they explode in front of our tenacious hero as he swerves behind him. Our hero manages to field one bottle on the hood of his car, smash the villain from the behind so that the bottle bounces through the back window of his car, and then he shoots the bottle and blows the bad guy to kingdom come!
HaemovoreRex 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.
DigitalRevenantX7 The Story: Mark Goddard is a police officer with a history of killing suspects. After scoring his 9th kill, Mark is recruited into Justice Incorporated, a top-secret police fraternity dedicated to killing criminals. When Mark discovers that JI is responsible for the death of his family, he decides to get his revenge.The Sweeper is another of the films created by PM Entertainment, a prolific studio of direct-to-video action films. It is directed by Joseph Merhi, who directed "The Glass Jungle", "Repo Jake" & Riot. It is also produced by Richard Pepin, director of a whole slew of sci-fi / action hybrids such as Cyber Tracker, Cybertracker 2, T-Force, The Silencers & Dark Breed. The Sweeper exists only to throw up a series of exciting action set-pieces, with a chase across roof-tops, a car chase with exploding air-tanks, various massive shootouts with high bodycounts & a climactic fight aboard a bi-plane. The plot is on the slim side, concerning a secret police organization with the purpose of killing criminals & the standard revenge plot. C. Thomas Howell plays his part of the conflicted hero quite well.