Bullet Points: Swelter
When I heard the news that there was a new Jean-Claude Van Damme movie streaming on Netflix, Swelter immediately became the next thing on my watch list.
Much like Dragon Eyes, Van Damme has a small role in this movie. Something I expected when I saw how far down the list his name showed up on the Netflix summary. So I knew going in not to expect too much JCVD. Although based on the cover of the Blu-Ray or DVD you would likely think he was the star of the movie.
- The Premise: Bishop (Lennie James) was part of a crew that knocked off a casino in Hollywood for 10 million dollars. Bishop got away with the cash, but not his memory of the event. The amnesia suffering Bishop now the sheriff of the small town of Baker, Nevada, where he hid the money. Some years have passed and the rest of the crew is out of prison, in one way or another, and they are looking for their piece of the 10 million dollar pie. The movie has a modern day western vibe to it, from the western small town setting, to the sheriff with a cowboy hat (although he doesn’t carry a gun), to the outlaws riding into town…
- The Outlaws: Our villains include the leader, Cole (Grant Bowler) a master manipulator if there ever was one, his right hand man Stillman (JCVD) who seems to be questioning his life of crime, Cole’s brother Kane (Daniele Favilli) and rounding out the foursome is Boyd (Josh Henderson). Favilli really did a great job in the role of Kane, I almost instantly wanted bad things to happen to him. In a lot of respects he stole the show in my eyes.
- The Bishop’s Life: Bishop slowly regains his memory of the heist as the movie goes on, but at first he is just happy living his new life with his lady Carmen (played by Catalina Sandino Moreno) and helping her raise her daughter London and keeping the town of Baker crime free.
- The Van Damme Factor: As I stated earlier, there isn’t a lot of Van Damme in this movie. But any fan of JCVD knows that a little JCVD is better than no JCVD at all. And even though he may not always be the leading man, the man can’t help but to be a ladies man as his character hits things off with the local bartender.
Swelter has a 50/50 mix of action and drama, so fellas you may be able to get your lady to sit down and watch this one with you, if you so desire. But no matter who you watch it with this one is worth checking out, especially if you are a Netflix subscriber.
A few more tidbits about Swelter…
- It’s Getting Hot In Here: The title of the movie comes from the triple digit temperatures the town of Baker is experiencing.
- Doc Ock?: Alfred Molina, who played Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2, just plays plain old Doc in Swelter. He is both the town doctor and the town drunk rolled into one. I’m not sure I’ve ever forgiven Molina for betraying Indiana Jones.
- Wrestling Fun Fact: Swelter features brothers Cole and Kane. Those names triggered something in the useless information section of my brain and I remembered another set of brothers with those names. When the tag team Harlem Heat first came to World Championship Wrestling, their names were Kole (Booker T) and Kane (Stevie Ray). They eventually reverted back to the Booker and Stevie names they used prior to coming to WCW. Now can you dig that sucka?
