Swordfish (2001)

I wanted to but couldn't!

Good concept, poorly executed.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

A covert counter-terrorist unit called Black Cell led by Gabriel Shear wants the money to help finance their war against international terrorism, but it's all locked away. Gabriel brings in convicted hacker Stanley Jobson to help him. Despite being a bit slow at times 'Swordfish' digs the villain more than the hero and John Travolta does an insane amount of well done job as the villain, the same goes for Hugh Jackman as Stan and Halle Berry as Ginger. This is a well written film with a well written plot, characters and even with flaws it's a better movie than it gets credit for. (8/10)

Swordfish is a brutal film with a poorly developed plot and a cast who seemed in it for the paycheck. The film opens up with an intriguing monologue from John Travolta about how movies are too typical, which led me to expect that this movie was really going for something different. Sadly, it ended up being very much like what Travolta was talking about, predictable. The cast is terrific, but there heart was not in the right place. There is a sense from the four main cast members that they were merely offered a nice contract to do this film, their is no feeling of them being inspired to take these roles whatsoever. It did not take any risks in plot development, every beat is expected, there is no moments that will its audience, there are very few surprises. A film can try to do something different with its direction and pacing, but that is not enough if the story is dull. Predictable and tedious, Swordfish is better off to be missed. The leader of a counter-terrorist organisation hires a convicted hacker to help him crack a code. Best Performance: Hugh Jackman / Worst Performance: Halle Berry

The world's most dangerous spy (John Travolta) is hired by the CIA to coerce a computer hacker (Hugh Jackman) recently released from prison to help steal $6 billion in unused government funds.The film received a great deal of press initially because it featured Halle Berry's first topless scene. She was paid an extra $500,000 on top of her $2 million fee to appear topless in this film. Critics said the scene looked forced, thrown into the film just to garner press. Berry said she did the topless scene, knowing it was gratuitous, to overcome the fear of appearing nude on screen.Well, Berry's body aside, the film is fairly entertaining. Not maybe a very deep script, but an exciting one. There is just a pinch of ethics involved, with John Travolta's character showing us the pitfalls of utilitarian thinking. (Or, if not pitfalls, at least the sacrifices that would have to be made for such a pure philosophy.)

2001, the year of Kubrick's very unprophetic Space Odyssey, (:p) turned out to be a cynical and sleazy time, where movie companies were happily cashing in on the idea of Matrix-like techno thrillers. In "Swordfish" (2001), John Travolta stars as a man with a terrible hairpiece who is weirdly self-conscious about the fact that he is in a movie and basically goes about being a total arrogant jerk. Hugh Jackman stars as the poor foil for all of Travolta's hijinks, some of which are laughably sexual. Check the Parents Guide for those details. Halle Berry and John Travolta spend most of the time patronising Hugh Jackman. There's a lot of raised eyebrows, knowing glances. Its all very schoolyard and not very sophisticated. Halle Berry is weird in this. She's got her boobs out, which is nice. Worth the infamous paycheck? Dunno. She gives this weird kind of serpentine performance that is just upsetting, almost to the level of Elizabeth "Showgirls" Berkley.Still, the movie is slick and fun, even in 2015. It's mainly saved by Hugh Jackman, who is, as always, eminently likable. The overall tone of "Swordfish" I put somewhere between smarmy and patronising. Its got that cocky assurance that comes from being a self-aware techno-thriller that came out just before the bubble of The Matrix was burst by all those revolutions. Yes it was a hit, but it was so cynically designed to be a hit that time has forgotten about it, now that computer hacking is more a nuisance than a source of novelty and excitement.Enjoyable as a time capsule, and an example of a hit movie made without superheroes. And for that awkward topless scene that only sort of makes sense in context. Fans of Hugh Jackman will not be disappointed, of course. He is in it, after all.