Review of Swordfish (2001) by Tony O — 23 Dec 2009

This is another movie I feel deserved more than it got.

Swordfish is about a hacker named Stanley Jobsen (Hugh Jackman). He and his wife are split up, and all he wants to do is get his daughter back. He is visited by a mysterious girl named Ginger (Halle Berry) who offers him $10,000 to come to meet her boss (John Travolta) for a job. If he does the job, he gets paid a whole helluva lot more. If he doesn't like the scenario, he walks away and keeps the 10 grand. Needless to say, Stan accepts, and the story unfolds.

Excellent casting for this film is one of the under-appreciated elements. They pull off their characters quite flawlessly. The story is quite interesting if you can follow it. One of the admittedly obvious flaws with the film is that the basic chain of events is quite boring; Stan's job is to type on a computer. That's it. And aside from a 5-minute scene in which he does so to Frank Popp's High Voltage, we don't get to see much of it. Every other scene is either semi-interesting plot points that eventually connect to end the movie, or just little side-pieces. Of course, as most of you know, and probably the only reason you're reading this, is that Halle Berry shows her tits. Gorgeous as they are, they show up needlessly for 10 seconds and are more of a distraction. They also act as a little pick-me-up to get you through the rest of the movie. The special effects are great (and no, they really are Halle's breasts), the actual events are okay, but the driving action for the storyline is just kind of boring. The characters are well-fulfilled, but some of the lines are admittedly cheesy. Do not watch this film on TNT or FX or one of those other similar channels, or the "interview" scene just won't make sense to you. Overall, the plot is interesting, and the twists and turns are excellent, being just one surprise after another. I think Swordfish deserves perhaps 6.5 out of 10 because it is an enjoyable movie, and takes an excellent jab at the cliché-ed movie. Turn your brain on for this one, but keep in mind that it is half an action film too.