Jeux dangereux

Meh. Pretty good cast; but not really a pretty good movie. My main gripe is that it was needlessly choppy, which didn't make it more suspenseful, just more annoying. It's a shame because Fenn and. Sizemore's performances deserved better. (Maybe it was just me but Sizemore reminded me a lot of. Madsen in Kill Bill 2.) I didn't care much for Pla's performance at all. It was cartoonish. I don't know if it was his acting or how he was directed or both. I've seen worse, but I've definitely seen better.

Stars Dave Foley (kids in the hall), Tom Sizemore, Sherilyn Fenn. George goes undercover to try to join the gang that's been pulling jobs in his hood. They have pretty sophisticated equipment and strategies. Sophie (Fenn) is the boss of the gang, and isn't sure about trusting him at first. So they pull the job.... was kind of hoping for surprises, some twists and turns. But no. It starts out so good, and doesn't really go anywhere. Script needed souping up. Needed something new and different. There's violence and swearing. Directed by KC Bascombe.

This film is in 360p quality I kept faffing with my broadband to see if it was bad connection. Terrible quality image to watch. Then in the first scene you see the bank robbers park about 2 streets away and do a slo motion walk across to the bank. Armed to the teeth, balaclavas on vests on. And pushing pedestrians out of the way. Then the same level of ridiculousness throughout.

With a title like 'Swindle', and a score (criminal activity) as object of a movie, you wonder if it could be any good.

But if you are looking for a good illustration of how a movie can be chock full of characters yet revolve mainly around two characters, this is the movie. There is the undercover cop whose dialogue is just great, and a tough hoodlum who does not get much screen time, but whose presence looms large in the movie. The two are a lesson in contrasts.

The ending is one of those grey area endings, different people will have different takes on it. The important thing? A surprisingly good movie with a somewhat surprising ending.

HEAT is obviously the DNA of this film, as many others made in the mean time, including Spanish films such as INSIDERS, a bad movie by the way. AMERICAN HEIST and TAKERS were also good ones. Back to this one, Tom Sizemore is of course the main link between Michael Mann's masterpiece, but not exactly the same character. The basic scheme of undercover cop is so predictable, foreseeable.... But that doesn't matter after all, the main interest is somewhere else. The heist is rather complex and ingenious but obviously inspired by DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE, the diversion. I admit that the lady gang leader, mastermind, is not that convincing. It remains overall a good story, destined for TV and DVD market. Good dialogue lines, especially from the female lead, exquisite lines for this kind of B movie.