Swordfish

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Summary by John J. Puccio:

As the saying goes, you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear. Even with all the gussying up that HD-DVD brings to the movie, and it is considerable, "Swordfish" remains "Swordfish," an action thriller I didn't care for any more in its fancy new high-definition garb than I did in standard definition.

Of course, there are many fans who love this picture, and for them, watching it in 1080 scan lines rather than 480, over four times the total pixel count, will be a special pleasure. Even I, as a non-fan, have to admit the film looks great.

We must first begin with a caution, though: "Swordfish" centers on terrorist activity, hostage-taking, multiple killings, and buildings blowing up. In this post 9/11 day and age, it's best that people be forewarned.

"Swordfish" was the secret word for entrance to a speakeasy in the 1932 Marx Brothers comedy "Horse Feathers." It is also the code name for a covert government slush fund in the 2001 action thriller, "Swordfish." If the latter movie thinks it's paying tribute to the former by borrowing its famous password, it's not doing it much of a favor. For one thing, most of the audience for the new film will probably have little knowledge of the older one; for another thing, the new film is little more than an excuse to insert as much violence, profanity, and sex as possible into a postmodern exercise in futility. In any case, I thought the Marx Brothers film made a lot more sense than this new one, and unless you can't get enough abuse from today's headlines, the Marx Brothers were more entertaining than "Swordfish."

"You know what the problem with Hollywood is?" asks John Travolta as the film's antagonist in an opening monologue. "They make sh-t. Unbelievable, unremarkable sh-t." The film obviously wants us to consider it as more of the same, begs us to take our best shots, and then smugly assumes the position that only IT is cool enough, with-it enough, to facetiously poke fun at itself. I guess this is supposed to make us see how really good the film is by being so hip to itself. Yet while I found this self-righteous, referential deprecation annoyingly smug, at least it was minutely thought provoking.

Then the opening sequence reveals twenty hostages wrapped in explosives and culminates in a really big Hollywood explosion; I mean, it's a Hollywood explosion to end all Hollywood explosions. If only the rest of the film had continued along the lines of its controversial and incendiary opening pace, I might have found it more interesting. Instead, the movie quickly dissolves into a fairly standard caper flick, punctuated by unbelievable exaggeration.

The film tells its story in flashback. Travolta is a seemingly evil, ferocious, criminal mastermind named Gabriel Shear, who is recruiting the world's best hackers to break into a covert DEA bank account that contains 9.5 billion dollars. Travolta has developed into one of the screen's most fascinating actors, and his deft portrayal of the cool, calculating arch villain here is without question the best part of the picture, even if we've seen him in similar roles before. As he tells one of his associates, he's a murderer with ethics, and, like Houdini, he uses misdirection as his biggest asset; indeed, we're never quite sure where the actor (or the character) is going to take us next.

Among the other players in the film is Hugh Jackman as Stanley Jobson, the "most dangerous hacker in America." Turns out, he's a pretty decent fellow, a Mr. Nice-Guy, in fact, who has just spent the last eighteen months in prison for a hacking job he did on the government but out of good conscience. Anyway, Gabriel persuades and coerces Stanley into joining his team by first offering him a bribe of $10,000,000 and then holding a gun to his head! Since Stanley needs the money to hire lawyers to get his young daughter back from his alcoholic ex-wife and her new, porn-king husband, Stanley agrees. Does this sound like piling on to you? Jackman is first-rate in the role--noble, heroic, stalwart, athletic by turns. But, still, he pales by comparison to Travolta's enigmatic scoundrel, who is able to manipulate people, including the audience, in so many far-fetched ways.

Then, there's Halle Berry as Ginger, Gabriel's right-hand man, er, woman. She's gorgeous and seductive and almost as problematical as her boss. We're never quite sure just whose side she's on. Her most famous contribution to the film, however, is her topless scene. You doubtless read about it even if you haven't seen it; it's probably more well known than the movie itself. The scene is a very big deal, and, like almost everything else that happens in this plot, it's very unnecessary. Except perhaps to fans of high definition, because there is no denying that Ms. Berry is quite attractive, and no extra pixel sent her way is wasted.

The final major players in the cast are Don Cheadle and Sam Shepard. Cheadle is the one who almost disappears from sight and mind by the end of the film, playing a dedicated, hard-nosed FBI agent hot on Gabriel's trail. Cheadle's so good, I almost wish he had played Stanley's part. And we see Shepard briefly in a throwaway role as a U.S. Senator, a squandering of talent.

Joel Silver produced "Swordfish," he being the guy behind "Exit Wounds," "Dungeons & Dragons," "Romeo Must Die," the remake of "The House on Haunted Hill," and, of course, "The Matrix." You can see his track record here includes mainly action flicks, and with one big exception, not always good ones. "Swordfish" was directed by Dominic Sena, whose two previous credits were "Kalifornia" and "Gone in Sixty Seconds," the latter of which was gone and forgotten in less time. Neither filmmaker exactly inspires confidence in cinematic masterpieces, but in "Swordfish" the men seem to be trying to outdo themselves in the violence department. They never manage to top that initial explosion, but it doesn't stop them from trying. Like about every two minutes. People murdered with shots through their head and endless, needless chases (on foot, in cars, in helicopters) are designed to promote action for action's sake alone, never to advance plot. The filmmakers use fancy quick edits, scenes bathed in dusky golden glows, and loud, raucous music continuously to replace old-fashioned, intelligent script writing.

By the story's end, the filmmakers seem to be making it up as they go along, with multiple climaxes atop one another as if Silver and Sena either didn't want to end the show or had no idea how to do so. One can easily anticipate the final plot twists, yet they are awkward, nonetheless.

Technical Review by Dean Winkelspecht:

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