Decent action film/eye candy, but ridiculous politics/philosophy
Added 1/4/2010
3.4 stars
A technically well-made action flick with occasional very interesting lines, Swordfish also gets way above its head in many areas.
I liked Travolta and Jackman well enough, and Berry is better than the normal starlet in these sorts of summer blockbuster movies (backhanded praise, of course). There were moments here that I really enjoyed, but they always seemed offset by some form of silliness that ratcheted everything else down a notch, like the hacking/bj scene. There's also zero sense of reality (the DOD mainframe gets hacked and they don't immediately track the ISP?), but I doubt that was the goal here.
The ending is laughable; watch the two deleted endings in the extras and listen to the director's commentary. He claims they added the [spoiler alert] bit about blowing up the terrorists to show that Travolta's character "is a patriot". Yeah, some patriot: he kills dozens of innocent bystanders to "save our American way of life". This is presented as some sort of rationale, incredibly. Look, boys, stick to the slam-bang action and leave the self-glorifying justifications for murder and torture to scumsacks like Dick Cheney. Saving our "way of life"! If paying ten bucks to go watch weirdly violent semi-nationalistic weirdness like this is our way of life, I'd say it might be time to get a new life.
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Swordfish caught for great price
Added 12/9/2009
Love the movie. Can't beat the price.Delivered fast.Holly is so beautiful and Travolta is one of my favorite actors.Action and drama make a great movie and swordfish has both.I've seen this movie before and the price gave me a chance to own it on blueray.
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Swordfish
Added 10/17/2009
Great movie everyone does an excellent job u feel tension almost right away and will find yourself glued to this movie to see what happens.
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Wow! What a great first 5 minutes!
Added 10/8/2009
5 of 5 stars for this exciting suspense movie. The first 5 minutes of the movie is an amazing set of scenes acting as a kick-start for this high-tension, suspenseful action movie. Right down to the little ball-bearing rolling towards to camera covered in blood--amazing effects!
Travolta's character is truly evil--calm, cool, collected but evil. Frankly, he is really a terrorist trying to sway events using violence. Ruthlessly cold, he doesn't mind killing people to get his way. For his purposes, he needs a top-class computer hacker (Jackman) who he recruits via Halle Berry's character.
Thru the whole movie, there are twists and turns. Travolta even makes a speech to Jackman about how Harry Hudini did his tricks "mis-direction"! Several times, you learn things are not as they appeared to mis-direct efforts. Travolta is in total control.
Lots of action scenes, chases, explosions, machine guns, RPGs, etc. The ending scenes have several surprise twists; remember, mis-direction!
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First Viewing Was A 'Blast'
Added 5/2/2009
John Travolta as "Gabriel Shear" was riveting as an anti-terrorist terrorist. The early explosion scene where people are flying sideways is awesome, particularly in the sound department if you have surround system. Oh, and yes, Halle Berry and her figure was on display in this film and quite a sight. Wowzer!
Some of this script is a takeoff on Dog Day Afternoon, which Travolta's character re-enacts a role from that famous '70s film. "Shear" talks about that movie during the film.
A few warnings: there is so much computer terminology that I was lost. However, if you find yourself in a similar spot, take heart because that that ends after that first 30 minutes and is no longer a problem. The film also has a strong left-wing bias (wow, what a shock), but it's still fun for at least one viewing. After that, it loses its appeal.
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Decent action film/eye candy, but ridiculous politics/philosophy
Added 1/4/2010
3.4 stars
A technically well-made action flick with occasional very interesting lines, Swordfish also gets way above its head in many areas.
I liked Travolta and Jackman well enough, and Berry is better than the normal starlet in these sorts of summer blockbuster movies (backhanded praise, of course). There were moments here that I really enjoyed, but they always seemed offset by some form of silliness that ratcheted everything else down a notch, like the hacking/bj scene. There's also zero sense of reality (the DOD mainframe gets hacked and they don't immediately track the ISP?), but I doubt that was the goal here.
The ending is laughable; watch the two deleted endings in the extras and listen to the director's commentary. He claims they added the [spoiler alert] bit about blowing up the terrorists to show that Travolta's character "is a patriot". Yeah, some patriot: he kills dozens of innocent bystanders to "save our American way of life". This is presented as some sort of rationale, incredibly. Look, boys, stick to the slam-bang action and leave the self-glorifying justifications for murder and torture to scumsacks like Dick Cheney. Saving our "way of life"! If paying ten bucks to go watch weirdly violent semi-nationalistic weirdness like this is our way of life, I'd say it might be time to get a new life.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Swordfish caught for great price
Added 12/9/2009
Love the movie. Can't beat the price.Delivered fast.Holly is so beautiful and Travolta is one of my favorite actors.Action and drama make a great movie and swordfish has both.I've seen this movie before and the price gave me a chance to own it on blueray.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Swordfish
Added 10/17/2009
Great movie everyone does an excellent job u feel tension almost right away and will find yourself glued to this movie to see what happens.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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