6.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
In the vein of the brutal heist drama Reservoir Dogs, the modern crime thriller A History of Violence, and the classic western High Plains Drifter, SWELTER is a violent story of greed and retribution.
Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Alfred Molina, Lennie James, Josh Henderson, Grant BowlerAction | 100% |
Thriller | 66% |
Drama | 15% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 2.0
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 1.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
Though he’s still very much alive and kicking, the ghost of Quentin Tarantino wafts through Swelter like a spectral entity desperately trying to attract attention to itself. A convoluted heist? Natch. Nonlinear narrative techniques? Of course. Scraggly haired thieves prone to flights of rhetorical fancy? Say no more. Perhaps surprisingly, this international co-production is nowhere near as bad as might be feared, but it’s also so relentlessly derivative that it’s hard to really work up much affection for it, either. Ten years after a spectacular theft of several millions of dollars from a Las Vegas Casino (did Steve Wynn pay a product placement fee to have Rio so prominently featured?), the “old gang” is getting back together to try to track down whatever happened to the money. In a series of brief flashbacks and subtitles meant to quickly get the viewer up to speed, the heist as well as its aftermath are shown in a montage of shootouts, purloined cash, and, ultimately, booking photos. Virtually all of the thieves were in fact caught, though one of them was badly injured and evidently disappeared. When some of the incarcerated bad guys bust out of stir, a long simmering stew of interrelationships is heated to the boiling point in the middle of a Nevada town called Baker, which is, as one subtitle eloquently sums it up, “in the middle of f***ing nowhere”.
Swelter is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. There's precious little information about this film online (it evidently has never even screened theatrically in at least the United States, though it also doesn't appear to be a direct to video title), though it looks like this has been shot digitally. Whatever the dramatic ineptitudes of the film, from a visual standpoint, it's often quite bracing, with an incredibly sharp and well detailed image that makes the most of a dusty, kind of sienna brown and yellow southwestern ambience. Fine detail is excellent throughout (see screenshot 17 for a good example). Contrast is generally consistent, though appears to have been boosted in some outdoor scenes, leading to slight blooming and a subsequent loss of detail and sharpness. Colors are generally accurate looking and nicely saturated, though as with many films of this ilk, there have been various color grading issues appended to the image in post.
Is the Muscles from Brussels big stuff in France? Swelter offers the somewhat unusual combination of English and French audio (in both DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0) on this release. The mixes are virtually identical save for the voice work. There's quite a bit of "oomph" right off the bat on the 5.1 track, with excellent LFE and good directionality with regard to a glut of sound effects. Things are quite impressive here even in quieter scenes, like the introductory moments with Bishop's quasi-daughter, when she's on a riverbank with her boyfriend and ambient environmental sounds nicely dot the surrounds. Dialogue is always cleanly presented, and the eruptions of things like gunfire and explosions are nicely vivid and authentic sounding.
- Jean-Claude Van Damme, Stillman
- Keith Parmer, Writer-Director
- Grant Bowler, Cole
- Josh Henderson, Boyd
- Lennie James, Bishop and Alfred Molina, Doc
Jean-Claude Van Damme seems to be the marquee name here, but this film belongs pretty much to James and Molina, albeit for different reasons. Even these fine actors can't completely overcome a really labored and illogical script, though. Parmer has talent, as is evidenced by his brisk pace and (occasionally off putting) camera angles, but he needs to get a bitter handle on narrative structure and providing enough information for the audience to not just understand what's going on, but to actually care. Swelter works in fits and starts, but is ultimately kind of a non-starter, though the technical merits here are outstanding for those interested in the film.
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