Good Samaritan Ensnared in a Web With No Exit "Swerve," a would-be thriller set in the Australian outback, throws a handful of familiar genre bits at the screen, including a very bad man, a menacing husband, a wily wife, a rootless stranger and a chunk of change. Certainly there's promise in the setting, which with its swaths of desert and roads to nowhere evokes the violent sun-scorched world of "Red Rock West," John Dahl's 1993 cowboy noir about a chunk of change, a rootless stranger, a wily wife, a menacing husband and a very bad man. Yet to say that the films have similar parts is about as meaningful as pointing out that a 1970 Pontiac G.T.O. and a 1971 Ford Pinto both have internal combustion engines, when only one is worth the ride. As the title of "Swerve" suggests, there's a lot of driving, and cars and characters veer, though never far enough for either to arrive at some place, some narrative, that's remotely new. David Lyons plays a stranger, Colin, who on his way to a job interview witnesses a two-car crash that leaves one driver shaken and the other without his head. From out of this wreckage, Colin plucks both a briefcase and a blonde, Jina (Emma Booth), each of which leads to more trouble. Jina has a jealous husband who's also a sheriff, Frank (Jason Clarke), while the briefcase - the story's other man trap - is being tracked by a murderous thug, Charlie (Travis McMahon). The fatalities and clichés escalate, as the wife plays the femme fatale, and the men run circles around one another amid the dust, blood and some tonally off, ill-conceived cutesiness. This includes the name of the town, Neverest, the site of some of the story's moving parts and an assortment of marching bands that have competitively converged to blare and toot down the desolate streets. There's nothing funny, surreal or obviously meaningful about these bands, and it's mystifying what the writer and director, Craig Lahiff, thinks they're doing for him. We march to different drummers? The band plays on? There's nothing going on, so why not toss in a trombone? Every so often, however, Mr. Clarke, a very fine actor who can project deep menace without twitching a muscle or raising his voice, and has delivered memorable turns in movies like "Public Enemies" and "Zero Dark Thirty," lets loose a slightly demented smile that suggests there's a killer inside Frank. If only someone would spring him. "Swerve" is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Murder and other bad things. Swerve Written and directed by Craig Lahiff; director of photography, David Foreman; edited by Sean Lahiff; music by Paul Grabowsky; production design by Tony Cronin; costumes by Ruth De La Lande; produced by Mr. Lahiff and Helen Leake; released by Cohen Media Group. Running time: 1 hour 27 minutes. WITH: Jason Clarke (Frank), Emma Booth (Jina), David Lyons (Colin), Travis McMahon (Charlie) and Vince Colosimo (Sam).