Swordfish

Starring: John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Don Cheadle, Vinnie Jones, Sam Shepard
Directed by: Dominic Sena
Rating: R
Genre: Action
2001

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: An antiterrorist (John Travolta) hires a recently out of jail computer hacker (Hugh Jackman) to create a hydra: a multi-headed worm computer device in order to steal money from a $9.5 billion government fund.

Review:

Tim: The first time I saw this movie, I absolutely hated it. I was excited to write this review, because I wanted to comment on that fact that Travolta opens the movie with the line, “Hollywood makes shit,” and I was so excited to say that that was ironic, because the rest of the film desperately tried to prove it, and it did. Unfortunately, I happened to catch the film for a second time, and was very disappointed because for whatever reason, I enjoyed it more the second time around, and find that my earlier statement cannot be said.

I want it to be said that I still do not particularly like this film. But, it is not as bad as I first thought. The first eight or so minutes of the film is excellent, with a monologue by Travolta, followed shortly afterwards with a truly incredible special effects explosion scene that needs to be viewed more than once (I watched it three times the first time I saw the film). However, the film drops off from that point.

John Travolta cannot play a bad guy. He simply needs to realize this. With the exception of Broken Arrow, Travolta’s bad guys simply fall flat- look at the god-awful example of Battlefield Earth. He needs to stick to playing good guys. I will give him credit for trying really, really hard- that effort shows up in the film. Sadly, his character never came alive for me, and I was not impressed with the few scenes in which Travolta tries desperately to be a hard ass. Give it up.

I also did not like the character played by Halle Berry. She was horrible in the film, and at several points I questioned whether she had ever acted in a movie before in her life. Her character is flat, and incredibly unimpressive. She is mostly just a waste of time in this film.

Another aspect of this film I did not like was the feeling that in making this movie, the production crew made certain scenes simply to do them. Let me explain. Everyone likes fancy special effects, scenes that we are not used to seeing, and that is all fine and good. However, when you put a rarely/never-before-scene into your movie, you need to make sure that it plays a significant role in the film, and tie it all in together. On two occasions, Swordfish had scenes in which I got the feeling that they simply did it to do it… that is never a good thing. Let me give you the examples. First, there is a much-anticipated shot of Halle Berry’s chest. Now I am sure this will send flocks of people dying to see this movie- and that is okay with me. If you see this film, pay special attention to this scene. It is as if they are saying, “Look, let’s take a break from the less-than spectacular film and look at Halle Berry’s chest!” The scene is not needed, and if they wanted to do it anyway, then it should not have been so cheesy. Secondly, the big finale (stop reading if you don’t want a MILD spoiler) occurs with a helicopter dragging a bus through the city. Once again, all fine and dandy with me- however, the entire scene feels as if the only reason it is in the movie is because someone thought- hey- we’ve never done this before! Let’s do it! I am incredibly disappointed in the seemingly unintelligible way in which certain scenes in this movie turn out. I had very high hopes for this film, and while it is not incredibly bad, it could have been much, much better. And, at times, that is a worse disappointment than had the movie simply been awful with no hope of anything better.

So far, the film sounds about as awful I first thought. However, upon further examination into the film, I will admit that it is saved by two things and two things alone: the performances of Don Cheadle and Hugh Jackman.

I first saw Hugh Jackman in X-Men, and really liked him in the role of Wolverine. His performance in this film is just amazing, and truly, truly saves the film from the toilet. Jackman is excellent as Stan Jobson. I cannot say enough about Jackman in this film- without his performance, I would shudder to think what the film would be like.

Don Cheadle helps Jackman with saving this film. Cheadle plays his usual excellent cop role, and while does not have a large part in the film, excels whenever he is seen. My favorite scenes in the movie are the ones with both Jackman and Cheadle in them (sadly, there are not too many). They chemistry between these two is very, very good, and I hope one day to see them together in another film.

With Swordfish, I feel many people will not agree with me. The film is not terrible by any means, and I think that most people will enjoy the film. For whatever reason, I took a much harder approach to this film that I do to most. I simply could not get into the movie, and was unable to suspend my attitudes and beliefs, and found myself very disappointed in the film. While I will admit it is not a bad movie, I cannot help but condemn it because it could have been much, much better.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Broken Arrow, X-Men, Traffic