Movie

S.W.A.T.: Under Siege (2017)

What it “says on the tin” basically – a S.W.A.T. team under siege. Who would have guessed? Expecting to recover drugs on a joint raid with the DEA, things get complicated when they discover a chained-up prisoner with a scorpion tattoo on his back. And even messier when mercenary villains, led by the suave Lars and his ruthless lieutenant Simone, want to capture “Scorpion” because he has valuable information.

It’s established early on that there’s an insider when a mystery caller offers to give up Scorpion for fifty million dollars. Lars would rather spend money on his private jet and henchmen, so he decides to take Scorpion by force. Since the traitor uses a voice disguiser and many female operatives are on the team (close to a 50/50 split), there’s a good chance of a second villainess besides the obvious Simone.

And indeed there is, although there are two traitors on the S.W.A.T. team (and that tired excuse of police work not paying well), with the caller revealed to be male. A clever subversion of the expected trope, but don’t get too disheartened because the final villain is a woman. The subplot mystery of who’s feeding the baddies information works well, maintaining the tension in between the frantic action.

Villainesses

Simone (Monique Ganderton)

Ganderton has a martial arts and stunts background, and so is believable in her fight scenes. These don’t happen until the last third of the movie, but the actress performs well in dialogue-heavy scenes and comes across as menacing. The occasional sinister smile when required, and her body language suggest a woman with no problem killing anyone who interferes.

A male hacker gets too distracted by the beautiful henchwoman (with her semi-revealing black leather top, who can blame him?), and Simone quickly establishes her authority by rubbing his shoulders. Sounds sexy, but her toying behaviour makes him uncomfortable. Simone’s best non-action moment comes when she threatens their S.W.A.T. team’s families unless they surrender Scorpion. Her evil smirk afterwards is pure gold.

Monique’s most memorable scene is the inevitable catfight with Ellen Dwyer, a federal agent working with the cops. The two women hold nothing back, and Fiorentine doesn’t ruin action by cutting away. The uninterrupted fight lasts approximately a minute, and the two combatants are evenly matched. Ellen gets the upper hand, but she’s knocked out from behind before she can finish Simone off.

The villainess returns to fight the male hero Travis with a baton and becomes a nearly unstoppable whirlwind of fury. Sadly, this scene is interrupted, and the action flips between another confrontation between Scorpion and Lars. After her decent contribution, Simone gets a mediocre death scene when she charges Travis and he sends her flying off the roof.

Ellen Dwyer (Adrianne Palicki)

Lead female Ellen is characterised as badass fairly early on, equally proficient on the firing range as taking on male opponents unarmed. The skilled agent shows markmanship and fighting skills before her villainous reveal. As noted above, she’s mole number two, but the overly confident male turncoat outlives his worth and Lars cuts his losses.

Viewers who paid attention to the pre-credits sequence, where an unknown assailant attacked Travis in a forest, will already suspect Ellen. Since that scene hasn’t happened ten minutes from the end, and only one person is alive besides Travis and Scorpion, it’s not a great shock Ellen is indeed working with the bad guys.

This leads to a gun battle where Ellen recovers a microchip with Scorpion’s data, and a chase through the aforementioned forest. Adrianne Palicki is surprisingly physical in her tussle with the hero and lasts a little longer than expected before she’s disarmed and arrested.

Honourable Mentions: Mercenary Henchwomen / Traitors

The Package (2013) – Monique (Monique Ganderton)

No, it’s not a typo. Monique Ganderton plays a henchwoman who shares her first name, which sums up the lack of imagination in this mundane action thriller. With B-movie heavyweights Steve Austin and Dolph Lundgren as a debt collector and criminal underworld boss, badass moments as expected, but generic gun battles hardly set the pulses racing. There’s an unneeded romantic subplot with a woman who just gets forgotten, and the final fight between the two leads is an anticlimax.

A mercenary group really wants the titular package, enough to cause carnage in small-town America with civilians caught in the deadly crossfire. Monique, a thankful highlight, is a sadistic interrogator with a beef against the hero after he kills her fiancé. Bad move, considering she’s a torture enthusiast who murders a disposable henchman with a head scissors move to show off.

After spending most of the movie talking on the radio, Monique finally gets in on the action. She tests out various sharp blades before opting to choke her prisoner with a garrote. Her eagerness to exact revenge on the hero proves her undoing, allowing him to escape, and the villainess dies in a blink-and-miss-it shootout. Still, it’s another memorable tough-girl role for an actress who seems to specialise in them.

Gridlocked (2015) – Gina (Trish Stratus)

Another action-packed tale about a police unit under siege, this one features Dominic Purcell as a tough cop babysitting a bad boy actor. Except his community service turns deadly when armed criminals raid a remote training facility. Vinnie Jones shows up as a villain (what else?) and Danny Glover plays another guy “too old for this shit.” A welcome cameo before he bites the dust halfway through.

No romance to distract us from the gun battles and fight scenes. Gina rejects the actor’s sleazy advances, and the actress’ wrestling background makes her a convincing action heroine. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, a lone female in a testosterone fest would always end up being good, rescued by the hero in exchange for evidence. These days, said scenario means she can be evil, even if Gina wastes a few minor baddies to fool us.

After pretending to be heroic all film, the greedy woman betrays her fellow officers for… yes, money. She frames an innocent cop as the mole and explains her motives before she bumps him off. After Gina’s reveal and failed attempt on the actor’s life, a brutal fight ensues. This tough woman shrugs off attacks that would fell lesser foes, including a gunshot to the face. But the unlikely hero gets the better of the treacherous cop, and a second headshot proves decisive.

U.S. Seals II: The Ultimate Force (2001) – Sophia (Sophia Crawford)

Patriotic nonsense with American military heroes, but Isaac Fiorentine as director usually heralds above-average action and enjoyable hokum. Former U.S. SEAL Casey Sheppard (Michael Worth) leads a team of misfits against an ex-colleague who betrayed him. Haven’t we seen this plot somewhere before?

A Dirty Dozen-style setup, with an ex-convict, Japanese civilian Kamiko (Karen Kim), and mercenary assassin coaxed into service to foil the standard nuclear weapon extortion plot. The villain’s island base is contaminated with explosive methane, a convenient excuse to ditch firearms and focus on martial arts and swordplay.

Some impressive fights, but no shocker the team gets wiped out – save the two leads – or the greedy merc betrays Casey for a more lucrative pay offer. Plus points for having the henchwoman involved in the action. From the very start, when Sophia snaps a sentry’s neck to show her strength, she’s never far from the main villain’s side. The tough woman forgets about the explosive threat when she slices open a vent shaft with her katana. All brawn and no brains?

Kamiko is established as a swordswoman herself early on, and thus it’s inevitable that she and Sophia will face off. Their lengthy fight has some cutaways to other action, but thankfully the last section is unbroken. The women prove worthy opponents until Kamiko triumphs, slaying the villainess with an acrobatic backward thrust.