Swelter (2014)

So far in this blog, we have seen the Muscles from Brussels Jean-Claude Van Damme (Black Eagle) play the hero, a dramatic role, and a villain. So, I figured for today we would check out one where he played a bank robber in the form of 2014's modern day western style film Swelter which was written and directed by Keith Parmer (Mob Rules). Ten years before, five men tried to successfully rob a casino, but much to their avail their perfect plan fell apart and four of them went to jail. Fast forward the ten years and the four men break out of jail and they want the 10 million dollars they stole, but where is the fifth member? He turns out that he is alive and is living in a town in the middle of the desert where he is the sheriff, but he has no recollection of his past. Well now his past is about to catch up with him when they come looking for him. The film stars Van Damme as Stillman, Lennie James (Fear The Walking Dead) as Sheriff Bishop, Grant Bowler (Guns Akimbo) as Cole, Josh Henderson (Yours, Mine, & Ours) as Boyd, Daniele Favilli (Puncture Wounds) as Kane, Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full Of Grace) as Carmen, Freya Tingley (No Way To Live) as London, Peter Vack (CBGB) as Madsen, Tracey Walter (I Spit On Your Grave) as Old man Henry Johnson, Arie Verveen (The Thin Red Line) as Reverend Joshua Stone, and Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2) as Doc.

I know it's listed as an action, crime, drama film, but this is totally a modern day western with the outlaws that are coming into town and they know a secret. The Sheriff of the town isn't the most popular person in that town because they don't understand him, nut as the film goes on they begin to. The gang comes riding into town and it's an all out western when the sheriff comes looking to end these clowns once and for all. It's just that modern technology is involved and cars replace horses in this film, but their bank robbers looking for the loot and every gang has the one guy whose had enough of the life (Van Damme) and every gang has the fearless leader (Bowler), and the scumbag (Favilli). There definitely wasn't enough of Van Damme, but when he was on screen he was working that old charm of his with the ladies. I liked the gang and some of the characters in the film, but there were some characters that I thought were OK like the two Native American Biker Gang guys. I get it that it's a western so you have to have them, but they just could've had more personality then they did is all I am saying. This was an OK film for Van Damme, it was definitely something different, but the real star of the film was Lennie James who I could have believed would be sheriff in the old wild west. Some of the dialogue and interactions could have been better, they could have explained what happened to some characters, but the cinematography was pretty good. I am going to give the film an C+ for a final grade.

Guns Akimbo (2019)

Sometimes being a part of a major franchise can be both a blessing and a curse for an actor or actress where some have prospered with a career outside said franchises while others have perished. Some of the major players to have found careers outside their big breaks were Zac Efron (High School Musical), Robert Pattinson (Twilight), and the man at the center of today's film Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter). The film of his that I chose for today is 2019's Guns Akimbo which is an action comedy that was written and directed by Jason Lei Howden (Deathgasm). Radcliffe plays Miles, a computer programmer who thinks that it's cool to troll people online while drunk inside while the subject matter is of a real life game where people are pinned against each other to the death. To get even on Miles, the creators kidnap him, bolt guns to his hands, and force him to face the best player in the game or they will kill his ex-girlfriend. The film also stars Samara Weaving (Mayhem) as Nix,  Rhys Darby (What We Do In The Shadows) as Glenjamin, Ned Dennehy (Mandy) as Riktor, Mark Rowley (The Last Kingdom) as Dane, Natasha Liu Bordizzo (Hotel Mumbai) as Nova, Grant Bowler (Killer Elite) as Degraves, Racheal Ofori (Artemis Fowl) as Effie, Edwin Wright (Turbo Kid) as Stanton, and Milo Cawthorne (Deathgasm) as Hadley.

This was a bad ass film and I love some of Howden's work cause Deathgasm was a bad ass film in it's own right. This one is taken to a whole other level with all of the bad ass action scenes especially when Samara Weaving is on screen being a total bad ass who snorts drugs to power up like in a video game. I love all the little things that they added in editing like the bullet count in the guns that Miles has and some of the scenes where people are watching has a very Death Race look and feel to it and why shouldn't it since this is almost the same thing. The stories are almost very similar in which there is something to be won, but the forces that be want to keep taking from you to hope that you don't win. I feel a film like this with the right kind of promotion behind it could have done very for itself in the box office cause I feel it had everything action fans would want and Daniel Radcliffe is a name that so many of his fans would show. Hollywood needs to realize that there is great material out there being made, they just need to take a chance and Samara Weaving is proving to be a household name. I have loved her in everything that I have seen her in as she has not disappointed me yet. A part of me is wondering if a sequel is being made because I would love to see them continue the story for sure and with that being said I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade. By the way, Rhys Darby has an awesome cameo as the homeless guy in this film, lots of great stuff there.