Swordfish

Rating:
Summary: Somewhat watchable...
Review: After hearing all the bad hype about this movie, I saw the DVD just to satisfy my curiousity.

It was watchable. Some good action scenes but the acting wasn't much to write home about. A good enough movie to watch on a slow night.

There's a great piece of dialogue by John Travolta in the very beginning about why Hollywood movies suck, then the movie takes it a step further and ends up proving its own point.

It's nowhere near as bad as Wing Commander, though.

Rating:
Summary: Clever
Review: From the directing team of Gone in 60 Seconds comes a tale that will have your head spinning when the final blow is delivered before the closing credits. One of the best films of its kind I have ever seen. A masterfully written script that will have you guessing until the end. A must see for anyone tired of the same old good guy vs. bad guy movies where the plot is so predictable and paper thin that you could cut through it with a dull pair of scissors. Hugh Jackson and John Travolta deliver very good performances as wells as Hally Berry.

Rating:
Summary: Horrible
Review: If I could give this movie a rating of 0, I would. This movie is so bad, although it could have been good if you consider the world of hacking and how people could go to extreme criminal lengths with it. That has already been covered (and in much better ways) by other movies. It's just Hugh Jackman receiving oral sex while hacking, John Travolta acting cool, and Halle Berry's breasts. Her breasts were probably the best part of the movie.

Rating:
Summary: Suspense and Excitement!
Review: It has been said that you can't judge a book by it's cover. I say you can't judge a movie by it's name. This movie has been out awhile, but the name did not intrique me...so I did not rush to see it. Upon learning that it starred John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry and Don Cheadle...I figured it was worth watching.

This high-tech thriller kept me in suspense the entire time. Jackman is a top notch computer hacker, Berry's character is very mysterious, Cheadle is law enforcement and Travolta is the mastermind behind stealing millions from a government slush fund named Swordfish. If you want suspense and excitement, then this is for you.

Rating:
Summary: If there is nothing else on...
Review: After the first hostage explodes peppering
a city with ball bearings, the movie grinds
to a halt. While I enjoy watching
John Travolta dance, another remake of the
psychotic villian so aptly played in Broken
Arrow starts to grate.
Most hackers I have met as a computer
security engineer are nothing like the one
portrayed by Hugh Jackman.

The other actors were not memorable to me at all.

This movie seems to have expensive special effects,
but I got a sense watching it that the special
effects were done first, then a script was thrown
together to tie the special effects together.

The plot twists were nothing compared to the beautiful
weirdness of movies like The Matrix.

...

Rating:
Summary: Reviewers just don't get it!
Review: It has explosions and Halle Barry's [chest]. Despite what the critics say that makes for a movie any man is sure to love. The same critics who bash this because it's totally implausible are the ones who loved "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". Yeah, that's sure plausible to be able to run up the side of buildings and jump 30 feet in the air without any assist. If you want plausibility go watch Schindler's List. If you just want a good time and would like to see Halle Barry's hidden assets then grab some popcorn and enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Jus a minor technicality
Review: You'd think for all the money Hollywood puts into these films, they'd do a bit more research before filming. The assassinated hacker was NOT speaking Finnish. It sounded more like Dutch or German, but definitely not Finnish. Okay, its one of the most obscure languages, but there are surely a good number of Finns seeking fame and fortune in LA who could have provided a bit more credibility to those scenes. A laughable display of ignorance!

Rating:
Summary: Exciting, cool effects
Review: If you love movies with bombs and...girls, this is for you. Lots of bombs and shoot-em-up scenerios in this movie...Not a movie for children as this movie is riddled with explosives and people being torn apart. Good effects and decent acting. Nice twists throughout the plot too and ending.

Rating:
Summary: Swordfish is ultimately weighed down by its sleazy self mark
Review: I saw this movie a couple days ago after everyone was telling me that this movie was awesome - unfortunately, I did not share their views towards the movie.

The beginning blew me away literally, and enraptured me for the next 30 minutes or so. Unfortunately, this mind-bending beginning which was one of the best set up scenes I have seen for a movie ultimately disappointed when the rest of the movie did not live up to that standard. While the ending was surprising and a neat touch, there were some unanswered questions that I wished were answered because of that ending. The way they did the ending was like a cheap trick just thrown in to add some more spice, whereas movies like Memento, The Sixth Sense, and Unbreakable set up and build towards their respective endings. Sure Swordfish set up for the ending -but only with one or two quotes randomly thrown in throughout the story, and one scene that gives a small clue. Ultimately, because there was no real set up, there can therefore not be a satisfying pay off -instead, you are left feeling ripped off. Even so, I am still very understanding of these movies that don't have a set up. However, if they do not have a big set up, I would usually want the movie to explain things more properly, which brings me back to my original point. An example of a movie that did not have a big set up but explained things thoroughly at the end instead, would be Abre Los Ojos/Open Your Eyes.

The changing time frames were a good touch to add to the suspense and thrill of the movie. While it may ultimately not have been satisfying, it nonetheless kept me consistently entertained throughout. Another qualm I had with it was the overall unrealistic parts, the main one being one in which Stanley finds a way to hack something in 60 seconds. This is rather impossible, as I know from several very good sources on the net - it would at the very, very least take two hours. If they had left that scene with him unable to hack in to the computer, it would provide us with more food for thought so to speak, and make him seem more human than he does appear. Instead, they took the cheap shot, and lost. One more thing to note on the realism point: most hacking is nowhere near as exciting as they made it look in this film. As one reviewer on the net said -hacking is usually done with just simple tools like notepad, etc, but in this movie, they made the hacking programs seem like Macromedia Flash 5 or some kind of game (which I agree with by the way).

And the very worst part of the movie came when Halle Berry took it all off. While the part itself was not bad, it was the very pointlessness of the movie which suddenly drove in how cheap and sleazy this movie was. (As they said, she was paid $200 000 just to bare her breasts) Well if she was paid $200 000, they could at least have fit that part into the story somehow. Instead, its just a random scene thrown in to boost up ratings, and because of the sheer randomness of that scene, you're suddenly thrown out of the movie again, and reminded that it is, after all, just another cheap marketing scheme. But worse than any other marketing scheme, this one was implanted into the actual movie itself.

While this is ok for cheap thrills and Berry of course, it will ultimately leave you feeling unsatisfied and cheated.

Rating:
Summary: Swordfish: Accepted
Review: Oh yes. John Travolta sporting the "Pulp Fiction" hair and Hugh Jackman (that one guy from "X-Men") and Halle Berry all in one movie! Travolta's character is an anti-terrorist who hires a computer hacker (Jackman) to make some cheap money. $9.5 billion to be exact is to be transferred into the man's bank accounts or else. Halle Berry pulls Jackman to the operation and how can he refuse? She kicks major stern in this movie! He will do his job or people will perish and the bad guy will win. The monologue at the beginning with Travolta looking at the camera and asking his audience why didn't Al Pacino win in "Dog Day Afternoon". It's truly awesome. Plenty of 360* action and comedy for everyone to enjoy. Watch for a flying bus, yes, and people rolling down a steep hill. Although, the movie has no plot and cheap action, I'm sure any action fan will feast on it!