Swordfish (2001)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Dominic Sena

Writer (WGA):

Skip Woods (written by)

Release Date:

8 June 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Thriller | Crime

Tagline:

Log on. Hack in. Go anywhere. Steal everything.

Plot:

A secretive renegade counter-terrorist co-opts the world's greatest hacker (who is trying to stay clean) to steal billions in US Government dirty money.

Plot Keywords:

Computer | Terrorism | Hostage | Told In Flashback | Flashback

Awards:

3 wins & 5 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Wed. Nov. 11

11:00 PM

HBO

Cast

John Travolta	...	Gabriel Shear
Hugh Jackman	...	Stanley Jobson
Halle Berry	...	Ginger Knowles
Don Cheadle	...	Agent J.T. Roberts
Sam Shepard	...	Senator James Reisman
Vinnie Jones	...	Marco
Drea de Matteo	...	Melissa
Rudolf Martin	...	Axl Torvalds
Zach Grenier	...	Assistant Director Bill Joy
Camryn Grimes	...	Holly Jobson
Angelo Pagan	...	Torres (as Angelo Pagán)
Chic Daniel	...	SWAT Leader
Kirk B.R. Woller	...	Axel's Lawyer
Carmen Argenziano	...	Agent
Tim DeKay	...	Agent

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, language and some sexuality/nudity.

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA | Australia

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #38324) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Manitoba) | Denmark:15 | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Philippines:R-18 | Netherlands:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA | Brazil:14 | Finland:K-15 | France:-12 | Germany:16 (w) | Hong Kong:IIB | Hungary:14 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:M18 (re-rating) | Singapore:NC-16 (original rating) | South Korea:15 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | Canada:13+ (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

Belasco Theatre - 1060 S. Hill Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Jonathan Krane Group

Trivia:

Nick Nolte was originally considered for the senator part that eventually went to Sam Shepard.

Goofs:

Continuity: After driving his daughter home, Stan reverses his car and hits the door of the FBI agents' car, breaking its passenger side window. When the car later catches up to him, you can see that its door and window are still in perfect shape.

Quotes:

Stanley: What are you still doing here? Look, I'm beginning to lose my sense of humor about all this.
Ginger: Ok, then I'll cut to the chase. If you want a chance in hell at getting your daughter back you better listen up. Unless of course, you want to stay here, in this loser existence, while your daughter grows up to be a fluffer in her new daddy's videos.
Stanley: With the courtesy of not confusing your own childhood with my daughter's.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "20 to 1: Adults Only 20 to 01: Hottest Stars on the Planet (#8.7)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Stanley's Theme

A lot of style and action, little substance

This movie can be summed up as: lots of very cool action scenes (fans of both bullet time and explosions will really enjoy this), a lot of style, and a standard implausible plot. This movie is very entertaining if you like non-stop action in a cool high-tech environment.

The ingredients are pretty standard. There's a stylish kick-ass villain (Travolta) with a plan, being a high-tech bank robbery. This is all garnished with lots of weapons, technology, car chases and beautiful women. This movie really delivers on the action front, I don't think there's any 'quiet' scene that lasts more than 2 minutes. It also contains the now standard implausible hacking scenes, where getting into the computer system of a bank involves solving a kind of Rubik's cube on your computer screen. I hope you're not offended by product placement because a certain computer brand is quite prominent when IT hardware is involved in this movie. But it's by far not as obnoxious as in "I, Robot".

The filming is top-notch, unlike some other movies you can actually see what's happening in the action scenes (which is sometimes due to the amazing slow-down effects in some scenes). Unfortunately the entire plot becomes quite thin when the movie is stripped of all this action and style. However, it works. The ending is rather vague, as if room was left for a sequel without making it too painful if there wouldn't be one after all.

Overall I would say this is a pretty OK movie, but don't expect the best cinema ever.