Better Late Then Never

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Swerve is written and directed by Craig Lahiff. It stars Emma Booth, Jason Clarke, David Lyons, Vince Colosimo and Travis MacMahon. Music is by Paul Grabowsky and cinematography by David Foreman.It was done absolutely no favours by the marketing department, the studio executives clearly not having a clue what sort of film they had on their hands. Even the home format releases are adorned with enticing slogans such as "The New Mad Max" and etc, which is utter tosh and only of use to dupe high energy action film fans into buying the product.Swerve is a clinical piece of neo-noir, it stabs its tongue into its bloody cheek whilst adhering with great success to the conventional rules of film noir. The characterisations, the triple pronged narrative front and visual ticks are all here, with a healthy slice of sly humour sprinkled over the top of things.Story will be familiar to purveyors of noir and its devilish off-shoots. Man comes across the remnants of an auto-mobile crash, bringing him into contact with a gorgeous lady and her less than stable husband. Oh and there's a suitcase full of cash as well. From there it's welcome to noirville – Oz style, as characters battle hard to keep out of the sticky cobweb woven by Lahiff.Violence and action marries up with the cunning machinations of the characters, where of course nothing is ever as it seems, the means and motivations shady at best. Grabowsky serves up a quirky music score that probably shouldn't fit an Australian neo-noir, but it really does, especially upon reflection of the story at pic's culmination.Lahiff and Foreman offer up some super cinematography. The Australian vistas are sumptuous, the sun drenched back drops perfect for a sweaty tale of dupe, divide and domination. Classical noir visuals are used with great effect, as shadows and rippled reflections drive home the psychological discord pulsing away in the plot.Booth (The Boys Are Back), Clarke (Texas Killing Fields/Lawless) and Lyons (Save Your Legs!) turn in crackling performances for their director, with Booth standing out as she sizzles and sauces the femme fatale role that shows an acting talent few give her credit for.Problems exist with a couple of the action sequences, Lahiff not a dab hand at constructing with conviction. Elsewhere the comparisons with films of a similar ilk, better ones, serve a familiarity factor that some may find hard to forgive (Lahiff practically remaking his own Fever from 1989). Yet this deserves better than its current low ranking on internet sites. A victim of poor marketing as votes from those not expecting a neo-noir have been held against it. Neo buffs should check it out. 7.5/10

Why oh why is it always the script that's the weakest link in Aussie movies? Swerve could have been good. It looks like a real movie, but it descends into the usual Aussie weirdness where the script was too self absorbed and it all goes to crap. It had promise, it had a certain polish while keeping that Aussie grittiness that Australian movies do so well. Great scenery, some solid acting, (although some scenes like "WTF are they on now?") Usual good cinematography and some quirky locations, but as usual it disappears up its own arse. What did the publican mumble at the end? I didn't care, I was just glad it was over. I will never want to watch it again to find out.

I saw Swerve at the Melbourne International Film Festival last year. What a ride! The films' director Craig Lahiff (previous film fame Heavens' Burning (Russell Crowe) and Black and White (Robert Carlyle)) prefaced the screening by saying "have fun" – I sure did! Too often Aussie audiences seem to take Aussie films too seriously, this was just good old' entertainment and the audience really got into it! Swerve is an action packed and sexy neo-noir thriller with twists, turns and all sorts of goodies in-between. It's a confident film and knows how to have some fun. The twisting plot always keeps you on your toes and the hot Aussie stars David Lyons, Emma Booth and Jason Clarke are all well cast for their roles. It was great to see an Australian film with some proper action in it. Roy Billing and Chris Haywood make some colorful cameos. Travis McMahon plays a ripper of a bad guy and it was good to see Vince Colosimo in some rough-house fight sequences. Hopefully Swerve comes out in cinemas soon – everywhere it plays it gets a great response. Australia should make more movies like this!

This gets a 6 out of ten and that is ONLY for the photography. Sadly SWERVE actually crashes from sheer improbable plot points and absurd action moments that leave the viewer less and less enthusiastic as the silliness rolls on. The opening sequence is terrific and if you saw U TURN in 1997 you will feel this film is almost an Australian remake. Once the deceit and double deceit begins to overtake the plausibility of choices (oh I dropped my car keys down that well where we just dumped a body) and stunts (Cop leaps onto roof of speeding train nonsense) SWERVE careens out of control of the reality it strives to show. Good looking Aussie cast and very well realized production, SWERVE starts to ask too much of its audience when THE NARROW MARGIN sequence takes over and we are on a speeding train complete with every cast member who hasn't been whacked... and a few who have. The lead character really could just have gone home at any time leaving the femme fatale in the dust, and the most eyerolling moment comes when he retrieves his car and comes speeding back to town (why?) for a beer at the pub. In a previous scene all 4 tyres were shot out from the car and the window smashed. However after retrieving his keys he just speeds back into town car all fixed up somehow... especially when the car was damaged in front of the crime scenes on a property surely under investigation by now. Also magically their house has a second floor which is never seen from outside as every shot shows it as a single floor dwelling... but inside there is a stairway up to another floor. It all gets sillier and asks the audience to be really dumb and not think for a minute about what just happened and go with whatever is on screen exactly this every second. It copies a lot of U TURN ans some of NARROW MARGIN and wants to be NORTH BY NORTHWEST. It is none of those at all. The audience tolerance for the implausibility takes a u-turn when the chief cop rushes to the local railway station to catch up with his wife and our hero leaving on a train (like it is 1955) ...he gasps as the train rolls out of the station... all of which begs the obvious question: why did he not just radio ahead to the station ID himself and tell the stationmaster to hold the train?. SWERVE is another good looking well made film that will only appeal to morons, and those few who might rent the DVD one day in a weekly stack of 10 for $5. There is a character killed who we do not see previously: his body is found (in the mineshaft... yes the ol' silver mine) and they later discuss him as if we know who he is. At 83 minutes SWERVE did not avoid the speedy editing scissors either.