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Movies / On DVD / Swordfish
Swordfish

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Swordfish (2001)

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Reviews Counted:33

Fresh:6

Rotten:27

Average Rating:3.5/10

Consensus: Swordfish is big on explosions, but critics dislike how it skimps on plot and logic. Also, the sight of a person typing at a computer just isn't that interesting.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for violence, language, and some sexuality/nudity

Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Jun 8, 2001 Wide

Box Office: $68,760,155

Synopsis: There exists a world within our world. A world beneath what we call cyberspace. A world protected by firewalls, passwords and the most advanced security systems. In this world we hide our deepest... There exists a world within our world. A world beneath what we call cyberspace. A world protected by firewalls, passwords and the most advanced security systems. In this world we hide our deepest secrets, our most incriminating information, and of course, a whole lot of money. This is the world of Swordfish.

Gabriel Shear (JOHN TRAVOLTA), a charismatic and dangerous spy wanting to finance his own brand of patriotism, needs inside this world. If he can get in, billions in illegal government funds wait for the taking. To actually steal the money, however, heíll need a superhacker, someone whose talents make even the most airtight security systems of the world look like childís play.

That ís where Stanley Jobson (HUGH JACKMAN) enters the picture. One of the two best hackers on the planet, Stanley has been forbidden to get within 50 yards of the nearest electronics store after doing time for wreaking havoc on the FBI's controversial high tech cyber surveillance operations. Now Stanley is living out his life in a broken-down trailer, penniless, alone and without the two things that give his life meaning his computer and his daughter Holly, whom he lost in a divorce.

Gabriel and his beautiful partner Ginger (HALLE BERRY) lure Stanley into their clandestine world, baiting him with the one thing he can't have a chance to reunite with Holly and start a new life. But once Stanley enters their world, he realizes that nothing in this operation is what it seems and he has become a pawn in a plot that's a lot more sinister than a high tech bank heist.

From producer Joel Silver, who has brought to the screen some of today's most successful and acclaimed films, including the Oscar-winning smash The Matrix, and Jonathan D. Krane, whose roster of over 40 films includes Phenomenon and Primary Colors, comes a dark counter-espionage action thriller about power, money, sacrifice and 21st century breaking and entering. -- © 2001 Warner Bros. [More]

Starring: John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Don Cheadle

Starring: John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Don Cheadle, Camryn Grimes, Vinnie Jones, Sam Shepard, Zach Grenier, Drea de Matteo

Director: Dominic Sena

Director: Dominic Sena
Screenwriter: Skip Woods
Producer: Joel Silver, Jonathan D. Krane, Dan Cracchiolo
Composer: Christopher Young, Paul Okenfold
Studio: Warner Bros.

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Release:

Oct 30, 2001

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Reviews for Swordfish

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
12/18/08
Todd McCarthy
Todd McCarthy
Variety
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Newsweek | comment Comment
11/01/07
David Ansen
David Ansen
Newsweek
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Another in a long line of middling movies for Travolta.

Full Review Source: New York Magazine | comment Comment
01/22/02
Peter Rainer
Peter Rainer
New York Magazine
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Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
10/30/01
Susan Stark
Susan Stark
Detroit News
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
06/14/01
Ebert & Roeper
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The story ... is just what fills in the gaps between slow-motion fireballs, Matrix-style frozen mayhem, and Halle Berry's notoriously undraped breasts.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
06/12/01
Michael Atkinson
Michael Atkinson
Village Voice
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The sleazy script by Skip Woods ... slimes the actors.

Full Review Source: Rolling Stone | comment Comment
06/12/01
Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
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An action opera designed to elicit Beavis and Butt-head-level appreciation.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
06/08/01
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
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Nobody really cares about the plot, least of all the filmmakers.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
06/08/01
Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter
Washington Post
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The kind of movie where glass-smashing in slow motion serves the same function as extended guitar solos did in '70s rock concerts.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
06/08/01
Geoff Pevere
Geoff Pevere
Toronto Star
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All this excess, leading to nothing much.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
06/08/01
Bob Graham
Bob Graham
San Francisco Chronicle
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Feels like every other action thriller we've seen in the past three years, only it's more annoying.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
06/08/01
Stephanie Zacharek
Stephanie Zacharek
Salon.com
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By the seventh explosion, you can't help wondering whether all this flashy stuff amounts to more of a smokescreen shielding a lack of spine or soul.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
06/08/01
Gene Seymour
Gene Seymour
Newsday
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A film that reeks of stupidity and cynicism, one that makes you feel soiled just to have sat through it.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
06/08/01
Jonathan Foreman
Jonathan Foreman
New York Post
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Truthfully, it's all twaddle.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
06/08/01
Eric Harrison
Eric Harrison
Houston Chronicle
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Don't look too closely. If you do, it becomes not just mindless, but ludicrous, preposterous and downright stupid.

Full Review Source: CNN.com | comment Comment
06/08/01
Paul Clinton (CNN.com)
Paul Clinton (CNN.com)
CNN.com
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Begins by directing our attention to a potentially good film in full view -- then some damn Hollywood magician makes it disappear.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
06/08/01
Rick Groen
Rick Groen
Globe and Mail
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Too much routine stuff amid the excess relegates the hyperactive Swordfish to the level of costly dross.

comment Comment
06/08/01
Jay Carr
Jay Carr
Boston Globe
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It's skillfully mounted and fitfully intriguing.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
06/08/01
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
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A meticulously choreographed bang-by-the-numbers action fantasy that I would accuse of peddling evil if the film weren't so dumb and incoherent.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
06/07/01
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
New York Times
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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Latest News for Swordfish

July 17, 2007: G.I. Joe Update: The Cobra Team Will Be Involved!
When Latino Review took a look at the first screenplay for the (eventually) upcoming G.I. Joe movie, they definitely did NOT like what they saw. But with Transformers making all... More...

May 23, 2007: Someone REALLY Hates the New "G.I. Joe" Screenplay
Apparently Paramount and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura commissioned a "G.I. Joe" script from "Swordfish" screenwriter Skip Woods -- and someone out there... More...

April 13, 2007: Halle Berry Says "No, Again" to Catwoman
Just a few weeks ago Halle Berry was telling everyone that there would never be a "Storm" spinoff movie (as if anyone actually expected one), and now she's on record... More...

April 06, 2007: Halle Berry Nixes a "Storm" Spinoff
Anyone out there actually believe that Fox would ever produce a "Storm" spinoff? Nope, didn't think so. But Halle Berry must have thought it was a possibility, which... More...

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