film: review

> SWORDFISH (2001)
Sure it's all for show, but Swordfish really proved to be an enjoyable experience…

By John C. Lyons
Film Critic

Starring: John Travolta, Halle Berry, and Hugh Jackman

Directed by: Dominic Sena

Written by: Skip Woods

Genre: Action/Techno

Our Rating: 8.5 out of 10

After making the mistake of seeing Travolta's baby, (What was it called again? Oh yeah, Battlefield: Earth.) last summer, I have to admit I was not very excited to see another summer flick with him in it. Actually out of the big, summer action flicks I really hadn't paid much attention to this one. However, with Swordfish I was pleasantly surprised and glad that I gave it a chance. Although, I'm sure my enjoyment of the film had less to do with Mr. Travolta and more to do with Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, and the high-gloss special effects.

Swordfish moves along pretty fast. The film's story is shown in one of those, start from the end and then go back to show how you got there, kind of ways. You know the type (see Out of Sight, Fight Club, etc. etc.). The movie literally opens with a bang as Gabriel (Travolta) shows off his ego with a little speech followed by some Matrix-style carnage. Yes, some of the guys who handled the Matrix's patented effects worked on this film and they did a nice update on the "bullet-time" effect. If you are an action fan this opening sequence is worth the ticket price alone. In this case, it is done once and it is done well (unlike cheap knock-offs like The Art of War).

The storyline is pretty much as follows: Gabriel needs Stanley (Jackman) to hack into some government funds ($9.5 billion to be exact) so that they can all get very rich and so that Gabriel can afford his anti-terrorist group's toys. Utilizing the very sexy Ginger (Berry), some very interesting hacking tests (why don't they have these tests in college?), and the fact that Stanley needs money to try and get custody of his daughter, Gabriel succeeds in acquiring him and the movie goes from there…

Action by way of computer hacking has never looked so good. Jackman is actually pretty convincing as the cyber geek, which surprised me a bit after seeing him as Wolverine in X-men. Berry is here mostly for eye-candy and she does a great job at that. Yes, she is topless at one point and walks around in some pretty hot outfits the rest of the time. It was also very cool to see another appearance by Vinnie Jones (Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) as one of Gabriel's thugs. As an action flick Swordfish holds your attention and comes up with some new ideas (human bombs, helicopters carrying buses) that should manage to satisfy an action junkie's needs. If you're looking for a gripping, believable story, with top-notch acting, don't go see this. This one is merely for the fun factor, which was good enough for me. My one and only gripe of the film really is the ending, which seemed a bit forced to me. It was as if they really didn't know how they wanted it to end, so they just sort of ended it, which came off feeling a bit dull.

I saw this film at the Tinseltown theaters on upper Peach Street in Erie.

PROs: The ultra-cool characters, the special effects, the opening sequences.

CONs: The last five minutes.

(01-0618)

related links:

Swordfish - official site