Swerve - Wrong Place, Wrong Time -Blu-Ray

Movie: Colin (David Lyons) is just out of luck. All he really wanted to do was get to an important performance date on time. But then his car gives him trouble in the middle of nowhere. As if that wasn't enough, he witnesses a near collision between two cars, in which one of the cars leaves the road and rolls over - which not only costs the driver his head, but inevitably also his life. On the deceased, Colin finds a briefcase full of money, but resists the temptation to make off with it. He drives the distraught accident perpetrator Jina (Emma Booth) home and then turns to the local sheriff Frank (Jason Clarke) in the nearest village, who initially makes a very sincere and helpful impression, but invites Colin to his home until his car is repaired. Once there, Colin discovers that Frank's wife is none other than Jina. And before he knows it, he's caught in a web of intrigue, deceit and violence from which he can barely extricate himself...

Swerve begins very promisingly. The first few minutes are action-packed, with a bit of black humour thrown in, bringing back memories of films like the Coen brothers' No Country for old Men. But this quickly proves to be the real problem for Craig Lahiff's solidly crafted thriller. Because an expectation is built up in the audience at the beginning, which the story can't withstand despite some good twists. The dialogues are at times just too strained and the characters nowhere near as profound as the script would have you believe. While this is perfectly sufficient for a simply good crime thriller. For the inevitably arising comparisons with films of the Coen brothers du other original representatives of the genre, on the other hand, it is simply not enough.

Who can free themselves from the comparisons, Swerve offers exciting and entertaining entertainment. The actors are convincing, though Emma Booth is perhaps not quite the femme fatale she is supposed to embody. But especially Jason Clarke is convincing as a cop with two faces as well as David Lyons as a crook against his will. The story itself is exciting and cleverly constructed and offers with the dusty desert of the Australian outback a very atmospheric plot.

And so Swerve can leave a very positive impression overall, even if the whole thing is not quite as cool as the film would like to be. So if you like small, atmospheric crook movies with a decent mix of suspense, humor and a pinch of eroticism, you can safely give this Australian thriller a chance. Worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The picture of the Blu-Ray impresses with a high overall sharpness, which allows even smaller details to come into their own very well. The very bright color scheme atmospherically renders the desolate, yet fascinating desert landscape of the Australian outback, making the heat almost palpable. The DTS-HD Master Audio mix is coherent, but only makes limited use of the surround channels, as the rather front-mixed dialogue dominates the action in many scenes. Overall, however, there is for it a satisfied: good!

Extras: Except for some trailers, the Blu-Ray has unfortunately no bonus material to offer.

Conclusion: Swerve is a decent thriller, which in the end, however, can not quite keep what the good beginning promises. The cleverly built plot twists, the decent actors and the atmospheric scenery of the Australian outback ensure that the film offers on balance, even despite its weaknesses, good, entertaining thriller entertainment, which can be recommended to lovers of the genre quite - even if the technically well implemented Blu-Ray has no extras to offer except for trailers.

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp