Swordfish got a lot of attention on release for precisely two reasons, and um, well, they were both on Halle Berry. She quite publicly announced and celebrated the fact that the film would feature her first onscreen nude scene, which naturally, because if we love anything more than a good action flick it’s a good action flick showcasing a beautiful women with her shirt off, generated a lot of buzz. I suppose that says a lot about a society. Either way, she did reveal the goods as promised in a brief, somewhat generic way that didn’t really fit into the story but there you go. Berry’s boobs. Hooray. I’ll pause as you Google that.
The movie itself though was a modest money maker with ticket buyers and savaged by critics who straight up panned the movie as a waste of time, loaded with bad acting and transparent action. They weren’t all that wrong. Even Berry’s naughty bits didn’t get much attention. However, nearly twenty years on, how has it all stood the test of time? The movie I mean, not Berry’s bosoms, which we all know are doing just fine.
Let’s start with the story, it centering on a computer hacker named Stanley Jobson (Hugh Jackman), who is out of prison and on parole for his exploits, now forbid by the FBI to own or go near a computer. He’s got an ex-wife, now partnered with a porn king, and a young daughter he’s not allowed to see. Life’s not all that great. In comes Ginger Knowles (Berry), who works for crime thug Gabriel Shear (John Travolta). They have a proposition, one that would net Stanley ten million dollars if he does it right. Of course, he’ll have to break his deal with the government. Will he do it?
Well, duh. Yes. And so starts a movie with its head in the clouds, skipping realism in favor of style, director Dominic Sena creating an explosive fairy tale that pushes aside authenticity for slickness and in doing so, ties a bow around a movie that fits precisely in the era it was made and nowhere else. Not surprisingly, the hacking is the least believable thing, and the filmmakers seem to know that, introducing it early in the story with Stanley forced to break into a highly secure government agency, which might not be all that hard to accept except he does it in sixty seconds with a gun to his head while a gorgeous blonde tends to his um, how shall I say? Other head. It’s funny, and sort of meant to be, but features Stanley typing nonsensically on the keyboard so rapidly it’s silly and pulls the whole thing out any proper realism.
And that’s surely intentional in some ways, the film declaring itself ridiculous for the sake of entertainment. Everything that follows is one step crazier than that with all kinds of deceptions and secrets, over-inflated melodramatics, über violence and Halle Berry sunning herself without a top on. Knowing what it is, and allowing it to be that, there is some fun to be had, with a young Hugh Jackman effortlessly charming his way into stardom and Travolta his usual scenery-chewing self clearly enjoying any chance he can get to be larger than life. And yes, Berry is herself er, well-endowed in making her limited character have some impact.
The best thing going for the movie is in fact its sensational start, which begins like a Quentin Tarantino film with Travolta sitting quietly with others in a shadowy room talking about a misstep in the Al Pacino classic Dog Day Afternoon. It then reveals that it’s actually a conversation between authorities and the leader of a bank heist, where across the street, in the vault of said bank, hostages are strapped to loads of C4 explosive and tracking devices that will set them off if they stray too far from each other. Naturally, over ambitious cops get one separated and all hell breaks loose in a truly cool (and horrifying) sequence that is jaw dropping to watch as we spin about the whole chaotice boom. It’s just too bad the movie couldn’t sustain that kind of creativity and energy the rest of the way through.
However, it’s not all bad and fans of this kind of overzealous approach to criminality on screen are sure to have a good time, Sena offering up plenty of good looking moments that keep it always interesting to watch. It doesn’t have all that much depth behind it and it runs fairly superficial throughout, but that’s sort of what you get when the movie’s biggest marketing ploy is a peek-a-boo shot of a famous woman’s bare chest.