| Swordfish |
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| Rating: Mixed Distributor: Warner Brothers Release Date: June 8th, 2001 (wide) Running Length: 1 hour, 38 minutes MPAA Rating: R Genre: Thriller, Action, Drama Director: Dominic Sena Cast: John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Don Cheadle, Sam Shepard, and Camryn Grimes. |
| picture above from www2.warnerbros.com/operationswordfish/ms/gallery.html |
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| Plot: Stanley Jobson (Hugh Jackman) is a famous computer hacker, who has recently spent time in jail. He is eager to make an honest life for himself. However, an eccentric and mysterious criminal, Gabriel (John Travolta) lures Jobson in to help rob a bank. Gabriel is incredibly powerful and wealthy, and offers Jobson ten million dollars for the job. Jobson will be able ot utilize the ten million dollars to hire a good lawyer; he plans to take custody of his daughter from his trashy wife. While working on his new task, Jobson is surrounded by Gabriel's wild lifestyle, and he is impressed by all the people Gabriel attracts with his money and influence. Jobson is especially intrigued by Ginger (Halle Berry), Gabriel's girlfriend and assistant. Meanwhile, the police officer (Don Cheadle) who originally arrested Jobson is watching him, and surveying the strange activities of Gabriel. |
| Critique: Swordfish is an entertaining motion picture, with a sufficiently engaging story. Some segments in the film are hackneyed, and the plot is silly. Yet, it manages to be enjoyable. Swordish is a guilty pleasure; it is a film with no rewarding qualities, but it engages the audience with quirky silliness. John Travolta's charming villain is irresistible, and his charismatic performance holds the film together. Skip Woods, the screenwriter, creates some disarming twists to Travolta's character. However, the plot concepts around Hugh Jackman's character, Stanley, are unconvincing and trite. Additionally, Jackson looks confused and does not deliver an inspiring performance. Jackson has a solid screen person, but his performance in this picture lacks effort. The role is not demanding, but Jackson could have been more consistent, and he could have added some depth to his character. Swordfish attempts to stylish; sometimes it is kinetic, but other times is blunt and dull. Dominic Sena, the director, is not entirely successful in his objectives, but his techniques are sporadically intriguing. The final product is an action film of moderate quality. The film maintains animated foolishness, but it is enjoyable because it conjures enough surprisingly flamboyant images. Consequently, Swordfish is a success as a popcorn film, and that is all it attempts to be. It is not a deep film, but it never poses as a deep film. In conclusion, Swordfish is silly fun. The film is vigorously animated, and it contains enough twists and turns in its storyline to satisfy the audience. Additionally, John Travolta has a charismatic performance. I recommend Swordfish, an entertaining motion picture. review by supernothingman |
| 1/2 |