The Sweeney (2012 film) Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 47% score based on 60 reviews, with an average rating of 5/10. The site's consensus states: "Ray Winstone exudes tough-guy bravado, but this cop thriller otherwise feels thoroughly generic." "The New York Times" wrote, "Marred by an overbearing musical score and an undercooked plot (by the director, Nick Love, and John Hodge), “The Sweeney” nevertheless looks a lot classier than its characters. Simon Dennis’s photography is glossy and crisp, and a lengthy foot chase — making excellent use of the National Gallery — is inventively choreographed." Metacritic reports a 48 out of 100 rating
The Sweeney was specifically written for John Thaw, who was by this time a friend of Ian Kennedy Martin, with whom he'd worked on the TV drama series "Redcap" in the 1960s. From the very beginning the show was seen as having series potential. After "Regan" scored highly in the ratings, work began on the development of the series proper. Ian Kennedy Martin's idea was for the series to be mainly studio-based, with more dialogue and less action, but producer Ted Childs disagreed, and in consequence Ian Kennedy Martin parted company with the project. Childs produced it on film, not videotape, so