History YMMV / SWAT2003

* AccidentalAesop:
** When they first arrest Montel, two characters give contradictory commands. While this doesn't mean that violent resistance is acceptable, it does illustrate how hard it can be to obey the commands of police officers when being arrested.

** Creator/ColinFarrell and Creator/JeremyRenner--who play bitter enemies in this film--went on to play Bulls'''eye''' in ''Film/{{Daredevil}}'' and Hawk'''eye''' in ''Film/TheAvengers2012'', two Creator/MarvelComics characters known for their marksmanship skills. Amusingly, Bullseye actually [[LegacyCharacter became]] Hawkeye in Marvel's ''ComicBook/DarkReign'' storyline.

* FairForItsDay: While there is some ValuesDissonance in Hondo's contempt for the rules and abiding by the blue wall of silence, the film is surprisingly nuanced for a 2003 CowboyCop movie. Street may not cooperate with the investigation into Gamble's recklessness, but the film makes it clear that Gamble deserved punishment for his recklessness and that he should have been disciplined long before that point, with Street showing some regret for covering for Gamble and accepting his demotion. While [=SWAT=] tactics get an ElitesAreMoreGlamorous portrayal, Hondo and his team focus on saving lives rather than ending them throughout the film (even extending this attitude toward a non-career criminal hostage taker). The applicant who Hondo rejects for not using force is subjected to some ridicule from Hondo, but he also demonstrates that non-confrontational policing is sometimes feasible in a BoringButPractical way. Even Fuller, DaChief, is a nuanced and often logical character rather than being portrayed as a strawman just for hating {{Cowboy Cop}}s.

* FairForItsDay: While there is some ValuesDissonance in Hondo's contempt for the rules and abiding by the blue wall of silence, the film is surprisingly nuanced for a 2003 CowboyCop movie. Street may not cooperate with the investigation into Gamble's recklessness, but the film makes it clear that Gamble deserved punishment for his recklessness and that he should have been fired long before that point, with Street showing some regret for covering for Gamble and accepting his demotion. While [=SWAT=] tactics get an ElitesAreMoreGlamorous portrayal, Hondo and his team focus on saving lives rather than ending them throughout the film (even extending this attitude toward a non-career criminal hostage taker). The applicant who Hondo rejects for not using force is subjected to some ridicule from Hondo, but he also demonstrates that non-confrontational policing is sometimes feasible in a BoringButPractical way. Even Fuller, DaChief, is a nuanced and often logical character rather than being portrayed as a strawman just for hating {{Cowboy Cop}}s.

** Tellingly, the villain is a thoroughly despicable French criminal who's repeatedly subjected to [[CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkey anti-French epithets]] stemming from back when the French were still AcceptableTargets because they opposed the invasion of Iraq.

** The portrayal of the [[CowboyCop rough-and-tumble methods]] used by the S.W.A.T. team. Music/LLCoolJ's character bashes a civilian for her "liberal" views after she dares to criticize him for roughing up an African-American perp in South Central (though it's worth noting that four out of the five characters in the scene, Street excepted, are black), and there's a scene where the two main characters mock a S.W.A.T. candidate because he's never had a civilian complaint against him and [[WhatMeasureIsANonBadass prides himself on handling every past situation nonviolently]]. Considering the large-scale controversy and protests against PoliceBrutality and the militarization of police in TheNewTens, which made police reform a hot-button issue, these scenes couldn't possibly pass a test audience a decade later.

** The scene of a bunch of gang-bangers attack a police convoy to try and spring the captive Montel is familiar even to some people who haven't seen the whole movie due to how strategic and well-armed the gangbangers are and how it is a memorable part of the trailer.

** Ten years later, Creator/MichelleRodriguez engages in [[Film/TheFastAndTheFurious another car chase]] to prevent the BigBad's plane from taking off with his hostages.