I must admit that I didn’t really want to go and see this film, but as I keep dragging my long suffering boyfriend to films I want to see I thought I’d better make the effort to stop him moaning. The reason he wanted to see it was because he’d heard about the explosions and killings, and more importantly Halle Berry’s breasts. Anyway I gave into him and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised.
Swordfish is full of attitude, energy and action. Director Dominic Sena’s previous film was Gone in 60 seconds starring Nicolas Cage, but Swordfish is much better and a lot more interesting.
Here’s the story
In the opening scene Gabriel (John Travolta) is giving a speech about how terrible modern Hollywood cinema is and discusses Dog Day Afternoon. Then we realise Gabriel is in a similar robbery situation as Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon. There is a spectacular explosion and a swirling Matrix type of circling shot in slow motion. Then the story begins – four days earlier.
Stanley Jobson (played by Hugh Jackman of X-Men fame) is a infamous computer hacker who is on parole and now living in a trailer in Texas. He longs to be with his 10-year daughter who is living in Los Angeles with her drunken mother and stepfather, who makes porn films. She has even taken out a court order to forbid Stanley from seeing his daughter.
Then the sexy Ginger (Halle Berry) visits Stanley, who tells him her boss, wants to meet him. Stanley is reluctant at first because one of the rules of his parole means that he is not allowed to go near a computer. But Ginger convinces him by saying that she will give him a hundred grand just to meet her boss.
So Ginger takes Stanley to L.A. to meet Gabriel, her boss, who tests Stanley as a hacker and shows him the high life. Gabriel needs a new hacker because his previous one was arrested and then assassinated at the airport. He wants Stanley create a “worm” computer virus type of thing to transfer millions to their bank from a government account that has been frozen for a while and contains 9 billion dollars. The reason for this is so that Gabriel can wage war on the world’s terrorists, especially those who target Americans
Then there is a FBI agent (Don Cheadle) keeping an eye on Stanley and soon things get really complex when shady identities are revealed.
There are some really good Matrix type of shots, great shoot outs and spectacular action sequences, and surprisingly it delivers the goods. And unlike Gone in 60 Seconds – Swordfish makes some more developed characters. The rest are the usual type: a seductress, a tough cop, henchmen, and the shadowy villain.
Swordfish is a good film, but can be complicated and confusing at times. The script is sometimes all over the place and some parts are a little unbelievable. But it was clever and the ending was surprising.
Hugh Jackman is fantastic as he shows he’s the a great actor and not trying to be just another Aussie hunk. Travolta is still recovering from the appallingly bad Battlefield Earth, but can play a bad guy pretty well (even though he insists on the same ridiculous hairstyle that he had in Pulp Fiction). The rest are well casted despite some cliches.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
The sort of action thriller for which the phrase "high octane" could have been ... more
conceived,Swordfishstars John Travolta as Gabriel Shear, an enigmatic criminal operator who is as admired as he is feared. Using sexy sidekick Ginger (Halle Berry) as bait, ...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
The sort of action thriller for which the phrase "high octane" could have been ... more
conceived,Swordfishstars John Travolta as Gabriel Shear, an enigmatic criminal operator who is as admired as he is feared. Using sexy sidekick Ginger (Halle Berry) as bait, ...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Log on. Hack in. Go anywhere. Steal everything. John Travolta stars as Gabriel Shear a ... more
sinister mastermind with an elite criminal crew who are desperately trying to access information locked inside a complicated computer system that contains governme...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Log on, tap in and kick back for cyber-edged action and suspense. Your password for ... more
excitement is SWORDFISH.Use a computer, go to prison. The terms of Stanley Jobson's (Hugh Jackman - X-Men) parole are clear. Yet a $10 million payday awaits the super h...
![Swordfish [DVD] [2001]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78531121.jpg "Swordfish [DVD] [2001]")
very helpful by (100%):
