" You know what the problem with Hollywood is? They make shit. Unbelieveable, unremarkable shit. Now I'm not some grungy wannabe filmmaker that's searching for existentialism through a haze of bong smoke or something. No, it's easy to pick apart bad acting, short-sighted directing, and a purely moronic stringing together of words that many of the studios term as "prose". No, I'm talking about the lack of realism. Realism; not a pervasive element in today's modern American cinematic vision. Take Dog Day Afternoon, for example. Arguably Pacino's best work, short of Scarface and Godfather Part 1, of course. Masterpiece of directing, easily Lumet's best. The cinematography, the acting, the screenplay, all top-notch. But... they didn't push the envelope. Now what if in Dog Day, Sonny REALLY wanted to get away with it? What if -- now here's the tricky part -- what if he started killing hostages right away? No mercy, no quarter. "Meet our demands or the pretty blonde in the bellbottoms gets it the back of the head." Bam, splat! What, still no bus? Come on! How many innocent victims splattered across a window would it take to have the city reverse its policy on hostage situations? And this is 1976; there's no CNN, there's no CNBC, there's no internet! Now fast forward to today, present time, same situation. How quickly would the modern media make a frenzy over this? In a matter of hours, it'd be biggest story from Boston to Budapest! Ten hostages die, twenty, thirty; bam bam, right after another, all caught in high-def, computer-enhanced, color corrected. You can practically taste the brain matter. All for what? A bus, a plane? A couple of million dollars that's federally insured? I don't think so. Just a thought. I mean, it's not within the realm of conventional cinema... but what if? "

John Travolta plays Gabriel Shear, a rogue CIA operative who has his eyes on stealing billions of dollars in illegally hoarded government funds, funds that stay hidden and almost forgotten. Gabriel's plan is to steal the funds via computer hacking and for that he enlists the services of renowed computer hacker Stanley Jobson (Hugh Jackman). Stanley has just been released from prison and has seen his daughter taken away from him and being put into a lifestyle that is far from wholesome. Gabriel's offer of several million to steal the funds is too good to refuse and soon Stanley finds himself in far too deep with a man who s not what he seems, can Stanley trust the alluring Ginger (Halle Berry) and will he make it out alive?

In a way Swordfish reminds me of all the un-apologetic action films to come out of the eighties. My only problem with it that some of it is shot like a music video whihc can be explained by the fact that music video/commercials director Dominic Sena (Gone In 60 Seconds) is sitting in the directors chair. But don't let that put you off, this is far better than his last film and if I still haven't persuaded you then Halle Berry goes topless for the guys while Hugh Jackman plays golf only wrapped in a towel.

If that wasn't enough then you get some decent extras to flick through after the film has ended. The menus for once aren't animated, they're purely static with a techno beat. Thank god, animated menus are really getting annoying on dvd release. Show me the film already!