Looking for a movie in the recent abyss of those the cinema is offering. Didn’t fancy seeing ‘Recess’ and the boyfriend refused to see ‘Cats and Dogs’ which was my choice so the only viable alternative (having already seen Jurassic Park 3) was Swordfish. I have been suffering from a recent bout of an illness I simply cannot get rid of and so have not been out of the house a lot lately, being extremely tired I half expected to sink into the big comfy seats and wander away to the land of nod. However the film proved to offer more than I initially thought. I would like to take the credit for choosing the movie but the honour lies with the other half.

I was a little dismayed about the opening scene, a group of men sat around a table drinking coffee and John Travolta (Gabriel Shear) going on about how Hollywood makes rubbish movies (although I must say he uses stronger language) and giving his idea of what should happen in the end, i.e. the bad guy can get away with it. I didn’t realise what was going on until his speech had finished and the film got going.

We are then transported to 4 days earlier in order for the opening sequences to make sense, i.e. tell you what the hell was going on! So the story, well the gist of it, is that there is several billions of dollars left unaccounted for in a bank account somewhere. The coded DEA account has in it over $9 billion, a nice little sum then, that has been earning interest in the ‘slush fund’ for years. Gabriel Shear is an agent, who is working for a senator, who wants to acquire the money in order to fund a private army that will stop terrorist attacks on America. The problem is though that Gabriel needs someone who can hack into the system guarded by code and encryptions.

This films has amazing character profiles and depths, I suppose it can be compared to those in ‘The Usual Suspects’ although their depths and shadiness do not compare to that brilliant film. You will find that the dice has many faces and each character has a face for a different occasion. Nothing is what it seems and you need to keep on your toes. They are complex things, just like the real humans then.

Cast and their performances…

Ginger - Halle Berry
The gorgeous (yes from a female point of view) Halle Berry has been a little quite recently, well apart from the disappointing ‘X-Men’. She plays the manipulative and very sexually provocative ‘partner’ of Gabriel. Like the rest of his women she has to look and we sense can do the deed as it were. Ginger not only looks cracking but she has a brilliant mind as well, as she puts it “Are you surprised that a woman with an IQ over 70 can give you a hard on?” She knows her computers and how to hack into systems but she does not have the expertise of Stanley. Reports have suggested that she received and extra $300,000 to $500,000 to show her assets. But I put it to you, from the woman’s side; they were worth every penny extra! Although I must say I thought the use of them was not necessary. With sex coming out of her ass and wearing great clothes Miss. Berry could not be replaced as Ginger.

Agent A.D. Roberts - Don Cheadle
I don’t have the greatest of opinions on this, except that Cheadle plays the role well and has a little dark edge to add to the goody side of the world of the law. He is a stressed out agent who specialises in catching computer criminals, like Jobson.

Dominic Sena whom is known for ‘Gone in 60 seconds’ directed and produced by Joel Silver who’s talents were made clear by ‘The Matrix’. That explains the similarities in some of the sequences to that used in ‘The Matrix’. Sena and Silver show off their abilities well in this film and bring the movie to you and hit you in the face as it were. First class directing and producing, but did we expect anything less from these two? I think the best scene in the film, well bar the masterpiece of ‘bullet time’ action, has to be a sequence with a helicopter and a flying bus, you have to see it to believe it happens!

No film would be complete without a great soundtrack and this is no exception. Paul Oakenfold works his magic to add new dimensions to the film, and boy does he have talent. I suppose it just stays in line with the rest of the film, full of some great performances and talented young people.