The bastard son of 'The Matrix' and 'The Sting' (Swordfish (DVD))

Member Name: ben_83

Product:	Swordfish (DVD)
Date:	09/08/01 (69 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Exciting action set-pieces, Travolta, Jackman and Cheadle are all very good

Disadvantages: Its style is derivative, the story is confusing, boring and occasionally saccharine sweet, product-placement is all too abundant, Halle Berry is treated like a piece of attractive meat

Stanley Jobson (Australian actor Hugh Jackman who played Wolverine in 2000's 'X-Men') is a deadbeat just out of prison for hacking into the FBI's mainframes. As such, he is forbidden to even touch a computer, let alone use it to hack, and, more importantly, isn't ever allowed to see his daughter, Holly (Camryn Grimes), who lives with his ex-wife (Drea de Matteo) and her porn-baron husband. Gabriel Shear (John Travolta with the most ridiculous hair/beard combination you could imagine - think Robert Pires with a bob), a shady terrorist-type, is planning to steal $9.5 billion from stagnant government bank accounts and offers Stanley $10 million to come out of retirement to hack into the computers holding them. He accepts because he needs the money to fight his rich ex-wife for custody of their daughter.

'Swordfish' is an unabashed tech thriller very much in the vein of 'The Matrix' (in fact it is even advertised as being by the same producer as the Wachowski brothers' seminal work) so obviously big-budget action set-pieces will be its forté. It does not disappoint. The opening 360º rotating shot of a ball-bearing bomb explosion is absolutely spectacular, despite it's distinct similarity with the 'bullet time' effects of 'The Matrix'. You can see the mid-explosion mayhem in all its destructive glory but, most impressively, you can hear ball-bearings screaming through the air, apparently centimetres away from your ears. Sound is an oft neglected aspect of film special effects but now technology, at least in terms of pictures on a screen, has reached the point where explosions and the like look as real as they're ever going to so perhaps directors and producers should take more notice of the aural side of things.

As if this weren't enough, there's a gripping car-chase scene midway through which is reminiscent of a more stylised version of that amazing post-bank job scene in 'Heat
'. If you like TVRs, speed and big guns then you'll love this scene. By the end of the film, however, it starts to get stupid (well, more stupid than the stupidity that preceded it anyway). A bus slung underneath a helicopter dodging skyscrapers in downtown Los Angeles anyone?

Good direction is evident in these action scenes, especially the car chase, but it also rears its head in the quieter parts of the film too. The scene in the mirror-glassed FBI interrogation room is a masterclass in building tension.

One thing that pleasantly surprised me about 'Swordfish' was the quality of the acting. We have come to expect woodeness in action movies, populated as they are by the likes of Schwarzenegger, Stallone and Seagal but the main players in 'Swordfish' all put in very commendable performances. If you can look past the barnet (hard, I know), you'll find that John Travolta does a very good job of being both mysterious and threatening and Hugh Jackman is equally impressive as the hacker who has got in over his head. He even passes the acid test for an actor by managing to cry convincingly. Don Cheadle is also worthy of a mention as the stressed and frustrated FBI agent on Shear's tail.

Less impressive, however, is Halle Berry who, although perfectly competent when called upon to act, is utilised as mere eye-candy to fill the gaps between the killing. Ex-rubbish footballer Vinnie Jones also makes an appearance but he needn't have bothered - he simply goes through the motions as the stereotypical quaint London gangster, his performance culminating in a 'joke' about a rocket launcher being a suppository (oh, my sides).

So far, so good right? So, I hear you quite legitimately cry, why the low rating? In a word: story. Whereas 'The Matrix' was an action movie led by a strong story (which was what made it so good), 'Swordfish', like so many others, is an action movie led by action w
here the story is tacked on at the end as an excuse for all the explosions.

It starts off perfectly acceptably but when the revelations about Shear's real identity and real aims start emerging it gets really confusing, and quite frankly, not nearly as exciting as the writer thinks it is. It's hard to explain without giving it away (and I don't do that no matter how bad the film) but imagine the end of 'The Sting' mixed in with a bit of 'The Sixth Sense' but without any of the excitement or surprise and, most importantly, explanation (yes, none of the apparently impossible feats that go on at the end of the film are ever explained. It's like 'Jonathan Creek' without the last ten minutes) that those two excellent films both had.

And the subplot about Stanley's daughter is positively nauseating. Her mother (who she lives with thanks to Stanley's conviction) drinks, smokes, stars in the occasional pornographic feature and forgets to pick her up from school. On top of this, the daughter really loves Stanley and the crime he got put away for was merely righting a supposed wrong (he stopped the FBI from snooping in people?s e-mails). Does Hollywood think that their audiences are so stupid that they have to patronise them with such unrealistic, clear-cut pap as that? Would 'Swordfish' have been a more cerebral (and, dare I say it, less forgettable) film if Stanley wasn't so perfect, his ex-wife wasn't the daughter of Satan and the viewer had to consider whether it was right that he should have custody of their daughter? Undoubtedly.

In addition to the production-related grievances vented above I would like to give a mention to the abundance of product-placement in 'Swordfish'. Alongside everybody in the film smoking (a trend apparent in every single Hollywood film you're ever likely to see. You think tobacco companies can't advertise on TV or in the cinema? Think again
) is the very noticeable branding of the numerous computers on show in the film. Considering the amount of advertising we are subjected to already, it would be nice to have a break from it occasionally. More seriously, I would question the moral certitude of sneaking adverts in through the backdoor, so to speak.

If you're feeling dumb and are prepared to look past the terrible plot, there is plenty in 'Swordfish' to entertain. The action is enjoyable and the acting is refreshingly accomplished but its flaws are too serious to ignore. For an action movie, it's very good but when compared to films as a whole its inadequacies are all too evident.

Summary: