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  • Having seen the trailer, I gave this film a shot. In the beginning, I wasn't disappointed. The first few scenes were quite good, obviously imitating the cool atmosphere of films by Tarantino and Rodriguez. This lasted only for the first 10 minutes though.

    The rest of the film dragged on to include family drama, ridiculous array of stand-offs and completely illogical character decisions. The actors could have probably managed a more believable performance, since the cast was decent, but they had nothing to work with. The initially cool and skilled outlaws break down into randomly psychotic, calm, honourable, greedy, sadistic or thoughtful, at the drop of a hat, from one scene to another.

    I cannot recommend this film. It is a forgettable mess, which after the first few scenes, didn't even seem to try to be anything else.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    here is my advice to all the big actors who care only about money not their careers to do a low level project once this stamps gets on you it never goes off take Steven Seagal for example a great action hero of our times is doing straight to home video films since last decade,Christian Slater also joined the list now what was Alfred Molina and Jean Claude Van Damme doing here was out of my head these two are the most amazing actors ever appeared on big screen even if they did this for friendship to the director Kieth Palmer or whatever they need to be extremely careful in future.

    the plot:the story is a rehash of old revenge,betrayal & good vs evil films,whats just happens here is that few guys escape from a prison to find one man who escaped with the cash after the robbery they go to a town where a tough sheriff looks for bad guys.

    the rest of the film is usual nice people getting in crossfire along with a damsel in distress it gets boring in a few minutes to be honest here people expect too much from the cast not the story in these type of mix genre films i thought JCVD would do some high octane action but i was disappointed he got wasted here.

    Overall watch Swelter 2014 at your own risk there are some funny moments available but that is not worth the money my rating is 3/10.
  • bob-rutzel-125 September 2014
    10-years ago five pulled off a robbery. Four got caught and went to prison. The 5th got away with the $10-million. Now the Four have completed their sentences and go after that 5th person. The twist is that the 5th person cannot remember where he put the money. Of course, the Four don't believe him.

    John-Claude Van Damme is the top name in here, but he doesn't have much to do, actually hardly anything. His name is here to draw us in. I bit. This story is really about Bishop (Lennie James) who is now the Sheriff in Butler a town outside Las Vegas, Nevada. He is that 5th person, and we are led to believe he really doesn't know where he hid the $10-million. We know he is the 5th man because we see him in flashbacks as part of that robbery years ago.

    This takes too long to become interesting. No one really stands out. Bishop comes the closest, but we see that Cole (Grant Bowler) appears to be the leader of the Four, but he fizzles too quickly until the last 10-minutes. The main guy was supposed to be Stillman (Van Damme) but he just sat around and didn't say much at all. He wasn't "the guy."

    I think the main problem with this movie is that too much screen time was spread around too evenly and we were at a loss to decide who to key in on. See? But, we still went with Bishop as the main guy. There should have been some cat and mouse stuff between the Four and Bishop. This was like a short story made into a full length novel and there really was no place to go. The plot was a very simple one and there wasn't much material for a full length movie. See?

    The script needed work and no one took the time to make it right. The acting all around is good with the supporting cast including Josh Henderson and Alfred Molina, but the last 10-minutes is all the movie you needed to see. Everything before that was slow and boring with quickie scenes that sometimes seemed to be unrelated to the main job of getting to Bishop. It all took too long.

    Oh, you will find out where Bishop hid the money.

    And, another thing: when you see a movie with a goofy title as Swelter, stay away. (3/10)

    Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Yes.
  • This is the worst film I have seen this year.

    The plot makes no sense whatsoever. The characters are stupid - I mean really stupid - and the script is somewhere between rubbish and turgid.

    The director clearly wanted to make a Tarantino style western/gangster movie but could not direct or write a script get anywhere near this.

    One of those films where you realise half an hour in that you have another hour of this to go but you might as well as you are already in it..and then an hour later you realise you made a bad decision an hour earlier.

    I have to write more apparently to publish my review...so now the film is annoying me more by making me type more about it. This should definitely be near the top of your avoid list.
  • The good: The cinematography is really nice (except for a view hiccups).

    The bad: Jean-Claude Van Damme does not so bad as usual (isn't much in the movie)

    The ugly: Characters and story The whole movie doesn't make any sense - not even a little bit. I don't wanna spoil for the brave that sit trough the movie - but its bad, really bad.

    In this movie you will see characters (yes I mean plural) that have no soul, are cliché, unbelievable and really stupid.

    And if I say stupid I really mean it - almost nobody of the main characters would live that long if they where like this forever (but the movie didn't mention a chemical plant accident where everybody got insane - so ...)

    For me it's always surprising to see that really bad scipts are getting money (and we talk about millions) - where clearly no money can't be made. OK yes Tarantino or Robert Rodriguez could make this film work (but hey they would cast the right actors and give them some crazy lines to work with)
  • Back in the day, a movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme was an action flick with lots of martial arts. He was the good guy in it. And it actually starred Van Damme.

    More recently, Van Damme has made some movies with him as a flawed protagonist, and then several more as the main bad guy.

    This movie is a decent Drama/Suspense film, with Van Damme as a secondary character, and a tries-to-be-good bad guy. He is just above the "character actor" role, probably in my mind only because he is JCVD.

    The bad guys here go looking for the guy who barely escaped and still has the money, after some hold-up years ago where everyone else goes to prison to stew and fester about their revenge. There are enough variations on this basic idea to keep the viewer interested. Lennie James does a good job as the town Sheriff, easy going, hard to ruffle, and who you somehow know you just don't want to mess with. There is actually a little action here and there, but it is realistic (no martial arts) and serves mostly to add to the suspense.

    With no JCVD, this would be a movie worth a watch. An interesting plot, with good acting, and nice cinematography. Seeing JCVD do his "actual acting" thing is also fairly enjoyable. He manages to entertain with his french (Belgian) accent and a simmering manner that seems to add depth even to a character that has little.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    Although this movie is a modern crime saga, it often plays like a slow-paced old time Western. It's loaded with violence, as you'd expect from a film in this genre, and has some ridiculous plot coincidences and elements, but there was enough intrigue here for me that I wanted to see how it would all play out.

    Ten years before, as some of the movie is told in flashbacks, 5 cohorts in crime attempt a heist at a Las Vegas casino. Four were captured, but one escaped being wounded and apparently with $10 million. Now, two of the gang members have served their time, one has escaped, and the three are about to pull off a brazen daytime prison break for the fourth from the prison chapel, where 7 guards will be killed.

    Their plan is to find out where their former cohort is and get their share of the $10 million, and they don't care how many cops or civilians they have to kill to get what they want. Of these four gang members one is Stillman, ably portrayed by Jean-Claude Van Damme, but don't expect his role to be the charismatic leader like in the past, as his role is fairly low key here. The other three are solid in their roles with Grant Bowler, as Cole, standing out in my mind.

    They get a lead that the fifth member Pike, now named Bishop, and well played by Lennie James, is in the God forsaken desert town of Baker, Nevada. He's now the Sheriff in Baker, but they soon find out he has amnesia, and except for slices of dreams he has about the robbery, has no idea where the money is. Of course, as the gang terrorizes the town to get what they want, it will all end up in bloody violence.

    I might note here that the terrific actor Alfred Molina adds much needed comic relief in the film as Doc, the only physician in Baker.

    In summary, this movie, written and directed by Keith Parmer, offered just enough to keep my interest, but don't expect a fast paced crime thriller.
  • The worst van dammed movie I've ever seen.. Slow-paced annoying supporting characters and a forgettable performance by can dammed who seems added just to lure you with his name as a draw. I've seen commercials more exciting. Not to mention the weird blues soundtrack that made me feel I was watching a horrible episode of in the heat of the night. By the time the movie ended I wanted refund for time spent watching. Avoid this toilet bowl of flick . It will do nothing but disappoint. Maybe a committee should be made to halt horrible movies from being distributed.. We could call it the saving your time foundation
  • I've never seen a film before where I couldn't hear the dialogue but every five seconds a loud soundtrack blasts so I pretty much had the remote in my hand the whole film. The story is stupid and the characters are disgusting and vile. Alfred melino was just stupid and goofy. And the tramp of the sheriffs daughter is just begging to get into trouble. Then there are the town's hillbilly's whom are a great advertisement on why not to visit middle America. Even at volume full whack I couldn't hear what JCVD s dialogue was as he mumbled. Not surprised as he is a terrible actor.
  • This is not your typical western or action movie. There is a lot going on and a lot of layers to the plot. I liked Lenny James' performance a lot, and Alfred Molina is great as always. I also really enjoyed JCVD in this more understated role. It's definitely worth watching and seeing him in this character!

    I liked the cast of characters a lot and that there seems to be a diverse group of actors in the movie. I wished that JCVD and Alfred Molina were in more of the movie. They were the most interesting characters in my opinion.

    Additionally, the cinematography was very nice as well.
  • kosmasp31 December 2014
    This is not a Jean Claude van Damme vehicle (putting this out, because I can imagine that some countries might try to sell it that way). He's taking back seat with a more chilled out character and lets others go crazy. Lennie James whom I really noticed in "Hung" (nice small role in that TV show) is taking center stage.

    The story is pretty bog standard, but it works for a small budget movie. It tries keeping the story flowing and doesn't take any prisoners (a bit of a western analogy can be made). The flashbacks are there to help us and move the story forward. Some character relationships are a bit too complicated and might not work entirely. Still nice effort and the tension it builds is decent enough
  • Swelter is an interesting movie, but do not expect the classic action movie with JCVD. If I had to compare this film with others, I would say "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." There are clear references to the "spaghetti western genre", in fact many of the characters are modern versions of classic roles of those films (see the old man with the pick-up truck collecting corpses, the preacher who has a past to hide, the good doctor we can find in all the villages of the old west, the sheriff deputy who is absolutely stupid and the prostitutes in the brothel ... The warm atmosphere and the sweaty faces, the constant creaking of fans who remind the hinges of the doors of the old saloons, the Indians that seem to come from the 1800s: all these elements make us forget very often "when" the story takes place and take us forcefully into the genre films.

    The four outlaws are assorted like 4 aces in a game of poker, some by accident, some by luck and the sheriff is the fifth card that has little to do with the others. Do not ask why the four are together: they are just part of a game, as the bandits in the old west, they are together because they have nothing else to do, or maybe just to exercise their arrogance and their greed for gold. Metaphor of American history, the town of Baker is a border post where humanity emerges in all its misery and where time has stopped in the mid-nineteenth century when Americans survived on a horse and with their gun. Remarkable in this film is a very good photography, a respectable cast and intuitions directing the epic story that follows perfectly the spaghetti westerns genre, both with the themes but especially in the way of "making the movie" (someone surely will understand what I mean).

    Finally a few words on the acting of JCVD ​​that will surely turn up their noses at the hardcore fans, used to seeing him perform in his famous split. Have you seen "The Wrestler" with Mickey Rourke? OK, you get the idea of the attempt JCVD is making to engage in deeper and more exciting roles than those shown so far. Finally, if you expect a "classic" JCVD movie because the posters and DVD covers show basically only him, blame the distributors and the marketing department ;) Recommended for fans of the spaghetti western.
  • This film was pretty good all the way through; good action and acting from all the cast. Good pacing to. The mystery of the money was interesting to me and even when we find out where it was it boggled me how it got there. Altogether it was a pretty good crime movie.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    I had no interest in the story or the narrative. Its a story that's been done to death. Money goes missing, a rag tag team of criminals go to a dusty old town where is some money stored from a heist that went wrong.

    And one of the team from the heist is now a lawman, but hey, he's hiding the money, and the rest of the team want their share.

    The team consist of the regular crew.

    The boss, who's calm and collective.

    The one who's a bit quiet, but could go off at any minute.

    The obligatory famous person in a small role.

    And the complete nutter.

    The only reason why I saw this film was purely for Van Damme, as I've been a fan of his since 1989, and this has to be the poorest thing he's ever been in.

    And the fact of the matter is that he had no need to be in this, as his role consists of sitting in a bar, having a few drinks, walking in slow motion, and uttering lines from an inane script.

    Lenny James tries hard, but he is bogged down by stereotypes, crass narrative, and an overall sense of déjà Vu.

    All in all, its a very boring affair, and a fitting line from 'Blackadder Goes Forth', sums up the whole movie.

    'It started off badly, goes downhill in the middle, and the less said about the end, the better'
  • I bought this film only because it was a mix up between western and crime movie, and also because there was JCVD in a supporting character. Besides this, as we say in french, this feature doesn't break three legs to a duck. Nothing exceptional in this forgettable movie. I did appreciate the wink to THE WILD BUNCH; the sheriff's name is Pike Bishop. I watched Sam Peckinpah's masterpiece at least a dozen times in my life, and Pike Bishop sounds quite familiar to my ears.

    It's a new wave crime film, in the line of Quentin Tarantino's world, as we watch since the early nineties now.

    An acceptable time waster, no more, just for rent, and certainly not for buying.
  • I'd bet all of Jean Claude's money that the director shot a bunch of scenes, maybe loosely based on a script. Then once he realized he had the world's dullest movie, he told his editor to pull apart the working print and tape it back together in random order.

    Nothing makes sense. But it doesn't matter because there are no characters worth caring about anyway.

    There is also precious little action. A lot of posing, though. And bursts of gratuitous violence. All boringly rendered in the service of a dull story.
  • JCVD is top billed but really not utilitied in this rather disappointing film. The premise was okay, but the story had to force its way through a slightly unexplained opening. At no point did you feel gripped or engaged, as the setting and characters were uninspired. JCVD, who I imagine is the sole draw to this film for most people, played his part well, but really had no opportunity to make an impact on the overall quality.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    This film's plot and premise make very little sense. It revolves around a former crook named Bishop who made off with $10 million after a Vegas heist while all of his accomplices got pinched, and due to a bullet wound to his head he's forgotten where he hid the money from the robbery. Bishop is now a sheriff in a small town in the Nevada desert called Baker.

    For some unexplained reason Bishop (who was bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound to the head) was able to get away from the scene of the robbery in Sin City which was swarming with police (the same police who busted all of his accomplices) and made it all the way out to a small town in the middle of the Nevada Dessert which was many miles from Las Vegas and ran into his savior Alfred Molina, who plays a doctor in the film.

    Where the near-death Bishop found the time to hide the money in a town he'd never been to before (or how he managed to get his badly bleeding body there in the first place) is left unexplained, as is the reasoning behind why Bishop took his chances hiding the money where someone could have possibly found it when it would have made more sense to keep it safe and close to him is unclear as well. (And when the location of the money is revealed at the end of the film one really starts to wonder how on earth such a badly injured Bishop could have even put it there in the first place).

    For some reason the doctor in the small town he now resides in knows that Bishop has hidden the money nearby (although how the doctor knows this is never explained) as do numerous other people not living in the town, yet for some reason only the doctor and his ex have made any effort to look for the money.

    At one point in the film the movie's antagonists tell numerous people in the town about Bishop's past and that the money is hidden somewhere in Baker. The crooks then say to the townsfolk that they'd better find the money for them or else the whole town will burn. This is downright illogical and stupid, as no crook (especially ones who were capable of stealing $10 million in the first place) would tell random people that there was that much money in loot hidden somewhere nearby and honestly expect them to fork it over if they found it.

    Although these are but a few of the glaring plot holes present in the film, I can assure you that there are many, many more.

    This movie also has some of the worst dialogue ever written which attempts to be clever but falls ridiculously short. Take this for example:

    "Look at Stillman. It's like he's waiting on a train that already left the station."

    "I'm thinking you're out where the trains don't run."

    It's really that bad.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    SWELTER is a very poor little heist thriller about a group of bank robbers who meet up again years after committing their ultimate crime. The hunt for missing loot brings them back together, but rivalries and vendettas are endemic and the blood begins to flow. Sadly, this is a film which manages to waste the talents of a familiar cast in a story which unsuccessfully mixes family drama, romance, and more showdowns than you can shake a stick at. Jean-Claude Van Damme headlines but is barely in the movie, which mainly follows around sheriff Lennie James as he attempts to keep everybody in check. I love James after seeing him in THE WALKING DEAD but even his talents are wasted here, and you wonder why others like Alfred Molina bothered showing up. A few action scenes aren't enough to make it worth tuning in for.
  • Saw this movie on sale for 50 cents and said hey can't go wrong right? It made sense after watching why it was so cheap but overall the movie wasn't worst thing I ever seen.

    First of all this is not big budget movie at all. Its very easy to tell immediately from the shaky camera work to the poor action shots. But it does what it can with all that in mind.

    The movie starts painfully slow and feels extremely dragged out. However the last 20 minutes or so I have to say were pretty good and lot things happen.

    Another issue I had with this movie without giving too much away is some events that transpire in the movie are utterly confusing and you'll notice yourself scratching your head several times. Its shame because I think they tried to do this to give it twist and turn aspect but this style of movie it just doesn't work good for.

    I wouldn't recommend this movie for teenage to young adult demographic they'll hate it with passion. But for the dad/older men generation might find it somewhat enjoyable.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    It's a bit of a paradox. I watched this movie only because of Jean-Claude. If not for him, I wouldn't even bother watching it, but if somehow it happened that I did watch it, I would give it maybe 5 stars as it's pretty average, not completely horrible, but rather bland and boring. But, since there is Jean Claude, but no fights - he's doing absolutely nothing during the whole movie and even worse, he's getting killed in a totally unspectacular manner, I'm giving it maximum 3 stars.

    Summary: not recommended - for JCVD fan's it will be frustrating, for other people, it will be just plain boring.
  • I really enjoyed this film. I think it is an interesting, fresh, new take on the Western/Action genre. Of course, it seems like the presence of such a big name like Jean-Claude Van Damme in the cast may lead into thinking of SWELTER as a pure action/martial arts film. Well, it is not. It is more of a modern drama with a Western vibe. JCVD plays an interesting role in this film and he brilliantly mixes in with the rest of the cast giving his contribution to the story. Yes, the aim of writer/director Keith Parmer seems to be the story: the film is slow-paced with strong moments of rapid action because it needs time for the characters and the several sub-plots to unfold. SWELTER is a film you have to sit down and pay attention to. It's not just explosions and fights (although there are some very cool ones in it).

    It's a film full of details where everything you see is meant to be seen and every dialog makes sense in the big picture once you get to the end of the story. It's like putting the pieces of a mosaic together and finally figure out what really happened and how everything is connected.

    It may not be a film for everybody but it is definitely a good watch for those who love films like "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" or "A History of Violence".

    The cast is great but a special mention goes to Alfred Molina, Grant Bowler and Academy-Award-nominee Catalina Sandino Moreno who deliver amazing performances.

    Totally recommended.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    *** This review may contain spoilers *** i am biggest fan of Jean Claude Van Damme the biggest lover back then he was good guy in Action movies but this Started van Damme into villain Since Expendables 2 that was better film then Sweater screw it he doesn't do much i am sorry he doesn't do jack crap in Expendables 2 he did a lot but not lot this he didn't do much no fighting yes i know it's not van Damme movie. this story follows about 10 years ago heist robbery in Las Vegas the lead role was (Lennie James) is the lame character that you don't care about ! he is not likable, just boring main role if they just get Van damme as main character you know like Desert heat (1999) WAS Better movie, then this crap that is better movie Desert Heat.Lennie James character was like lame but this doesn't make a sense but hes character Lennie James was like who doesn't remember about the past he doesn't know where is the money is after some hold up years ago. later on he become the town Sheriff that doesn't hold gun how the heck in earth that your Sheriff you catch bad guys with guns how do you catch them ? i mean it is just stupid these guys (Josh Henderson) (Grant Bowler) characters bad guys looking for the money what Sheriff toke but it was hidden in water tank at end of film you will find out i like Action Scenes but this film just sucked no martial arts in this movie how can be movie without martial arts.

    Film is slow,boring,no martial arts, Pointless film JCVD should have not take this role just why just why does he take this bull crap role for ? the action scenes little shootout in breakout prison that's it another scene shooting at cops that's it director killed off van Damme for no reason that is so lame that they killed him off for no reason dies stupid way who called this movie worth it well it's not i know it's not a action movie i can handle that but what i can handle that if they make it better JCVD was main character, better location of movie better actors in film, it would be better if JCVD didn't take this role it will be better or else nobody would care about this movie because there is no JCVD just crappy drama crime heist film plus it is B Class film but it looked realistic no fake scenes in movie but it's cheap believe me i am Real Fan of JCVD Fan the end pointless main character very stupid characters in movie just very stupid characters no likable characters any JCVD Fans who wants to check it out DON'T it is not van damme movie, he is not bad guy but he looks like one only person is JCVD just actor not his stupid character that i am very dissportant about he didn't talk as much, didn't do much he never did after half way of 2 hours of film Swelter (2014) SUCKED 1.10 movie sucked not a action or drama ,just stupid time waster believe me there is a lot of better JCVD Movies out there It's best to avoid this turkey bull crap movie.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    I've been trying for years to decide the solitary element the separates Quentin Tarantino from his vast amount of imitators. Since 1992 when he burst out with Reservoir Dogs and turned the basic narrative structure on its head with Pulp Fiction, every two-bit, wannabe filmmaker has been trying to duplicate the formula. They seem to have the notes right, but not the music.

    Director Keith Parmer is no different. His new film Swelter is a puny modern day western propped up against the influence of Tarantino's Django Unchained and Robert Rodriquez's Once Upon a Time in Mexico, yet it can't approach either of those films because it comes off more as a showcase of violence in slow-motion than developing any kind of character. Worse, his narrative has no purpose. Characters and motivations are muddy and unfocused and often a character is introduced and dispatched without any kind of explanation.

    If the style comes from Tarantino and Rodriquez, then Parmer borrows the story heavily from Ocean's Eleven (not the new one). His story begins with a flashback structure that features three sweaty guys who spent 10 years in prison for robbing a Vegas casino of several million dollars dressed in masks that look like – you guessed it – The Rat Pack. They're caught. One of their partners is wounded and disappears, and the rest of the movie is focused on a violent bloodbath as the three ex-cons now converge in a small Nevada backwater to find their missing partner-in-crime and uncover what happened to the missing money.

    Now, as any reasonable moviegoers might assess, that's not much to build a movie on. You need characters and histories and motivations for this to work. Plus, you need dialogue that consists of more than tough talk, sexual innuendo, pseudo-philosophical nonsense and half-assed boilerplate patter that only functions to move the plot along. The fact that one of the robbers is played by Jean Claude Van Damme should be an indication that some neato fisticuffs are on the way. Nope! He just looks mean and shoots people.

    Swelter is a good looking movie, but its all frosting and no cake. The camera whips around and the actors walk and shoot in slow motion. The opening heist is so filled with close-ups and jump cuts that we hardly get any sense of risk or danger. The rest of the movie is a long, slow haul to the inevitable showdown.

    Parmer is so satisfied with his style that he forgets to involve us in what is going on. Many of the action scenes look cool but the simplest element of motivation is thrown to the wind. For example, early in the film a bunch of guys break out of a prison chapel by blowing a hole in the wall followed by a shoot-out with the cops. One of the cops was apparently in on the prison break and is suddenly dispatched. It's a cold-blooded moment that is never explained. What follows is a series of scenes of carnage and blood employed by and with characters that we never get to know. They're all pawns in a stylish exercise. You wonder where their motivation comes from, and you're also baffled about why, after the murders of two dozen local cops, the FBI and the SWAT Team aren't converging on this town.

    If there is a positive in this movie, it comes from two performances that should occupy a more focused story. One is by English actor Lennie James as the robber who disappeared. He has some quiet moments that are effective, especially in his connection with a beaten-down local doctor played by Alfred Molina whose whole physical structure seems motivated by whatever he's experienced in life. These two guys seem to have genuine charm and you can feel the pain of a long and difficult life. A little more exploration of their lives and the movie might have amounted to much more. We lean forward to hear what they have to say. Unfortunately it's drowned out by gun fire and explosions that don't mean a darned thing.
  • This could have been a better movie, however it's brought down by a confusing script.

    The story is all over the place and the pacing is PAINFULLY slow.

    Only watch this if you are bored.
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