Superficially diverting and ultimately empty, an exercise in technique without content.
Swordfish (2001)
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Reviews Counted:134
Fresh:34
Rotten:100
Average Rating:4.3/10
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.
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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Reviews for Swordfish
Flaunting his bad guy talents ever since his Pulp Fiction comeback, Travolta streamlines that pathological persona as an online obsessed, virtual one man crime wave.
The most mesmerizing and refreshing action film of the last three years.
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.
Sena is too wrapped up in making every explosion a work of art that he never seems to notice how hollow it all is.
Relentlessly mediocre, and belligerently determined to hide its mediocrity under sleek production values and cocky attitude.
By the end ... I was praying for one giant cataclysm of ruination in which everyone would perish.
The liveliest and most engaging time killer to come out of Hollywood in a long while.
Oops, I think one of the flying bodies belonged to a screenwriter, the one who was meant to supply clever dialogue and plausibility.
The story is mostly about what happens to various objects (plate glass windows, SUVs, senators) when they are riddled with bullets or detonated by explosives.
A film that is too clever by half and is without the common sense God gave a game fish.
Whatever interest the film creates is squandered via the smug, showy amorality that runs through it.
Has a great opening, an exciting finale and in between it rarely bores and often entertains.
John, John, John -- one more bad-guy role in a bad movie and you're going to need another comeback.
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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