R E V I E W S
Swordfish (2001)
Starring: John
Travolta, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Don Cheadle Studio: Warner Bros. Review Posted: 6.7.01 Rating: 7/10
By Stephen.
"An action movie to cash in on the fun "
Swordfish opens on an interesting note. Even though it takes a while for Travolta to get to the point of the conversation, its payoff is rather gratuitous. Like other summer blockbusters, in the veins of Gone in 60 Seconds, Swordfish manages to ridicule Hollywood's tendency to "produce shit." Now, this is the first time that a movie gets it right and admits this from within.
Somehow, I feel that Gabriel Shear's (John Travolta) quote "Hollywood produces shit" distances itself from the truth. A lot of people agree with it, but by admitting it it kind of manipulates the moviegoer's sub-conscience into not thinking the movie might actually be shit. It just seems odd for a movie to open like that. Maybe writer Skip Woods (Thursday) wanted to send out a message, but then again, what kind of producer would want to play around with such a degrading note? The answer is: Joel Silver. Most known for The Matrix and the Lethal Weapon legacy, Silver manages to make Swordfish an action-packed movie. Surely, Dominic Sena and Skip Woods all collaborated, but in the end, it's Silver emptying his pockets to provide for [most of] the budget (which consists of explosions, special effects, etc).
So, is Swordfish fun? Yes. Is it a great movie? No. It's not as mindless as it may seem, because the way the story unfolds is quite interesting. I think spoiling it for you would be a bad idea. The basic plot is this: An ex-special op's agent, Gabriel Shear, has a way to get $9 billion of unused government funds. The catch? It's stored in a mainframe that needs to be hacked. Shear enlists his trustee Ginger (Halle Berry) to make ex-hacker Stanley Jobson (Hugh Jackman) do the hacking. After a while, Jobson gives in and things go according to plan. But, the cops are always one step behind. In this case, FBI detective A.D. Roberts (Don Cheadle) is investigating Shear's plot. Roberts doesn't know what Shear is up to, but his intuition is getting him close.
I can safely say that I enjoyed Swordfish. There are several big action sequences. Most of them make sense and are true as to where the plot is going. Others, however, are just basically there to entertain bored minds (it's not the best word to describe it, but it's the first word that comes to mind) and undo the impossible; as in the "this is now an aerial pursuit" scene towards the end. I recall a montage in the middle of the movie that was over-done and felt downright silly. Small moments of absurdity didn't affect Swordfish as a whole. While it's not the most intellectual action movie, it still manages to put a smile on your face when things blow up (so easy to entertain these days, eh).
Swordfish employs some special effects and one of them we know best from The Matrix. You'll see it in the first fifteen minutes (and it's in the trailer, too). I'm glad to see that it didn't overuse special effects, because I was disappointed with Tomb Raider going to such great lengths with them. As far as acting and directing is concerned, I don't really have any major complaints. The writing was neither great nor bad. It's somewhere between good and mediocre (pretty witty, but also clichéd here and there). Travolta plays the bad-ass and Jackman successfully increases his screen-presence as one cool guy (you know he's going to be a huge star in a year, or two). Halle Berry is not exactly wasted, but her cleavage is (what's the point?). What's to say about Don Cheadle? Well, it doesn't matter who he plays, he'll always be kicking you in the 'behind.'
The only remotely sad thing is the ending. It's not clear what happens. It's open-ended. The problem is that it doesn't quite work here. We want to know what happens. Then again, if Swordfish isn't the Hollywood "shit" it claims to be, it doesn't go by those rules. It ends in confusion, kind of, or maybe, in a way that you might think, "hey, this is an interesting take on the type of Hollywood shit."
|
