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Swordfish

Swordfish

List Price: $14.96
Your Price: $11.97
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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: WARNING....
Review: (...)
This is an extremely violent movie with many graphic scenes (...).
The movie itself isn't particulary worth viewing anyway. The plot is very disjointed, and lacking. I didn't know what was going on half the time, and they just kept jumping back and forth to different characters and not explaining why or who they were. The script was just plain awful, and I thought John Travolta was overacting. Although the character often reminded you of his characters in both "Get Shorty" and "Pulp Fiction".
He plays the bad guy, who is trying to wipe out terrorism with terrorism. He has Hugh Jackman, of XMEN, hack into a bank's computer so he can be financially secure with his terrorist activity. Halle Berry, who looks great in this movie, plays Travolta's sidekick. For reasons unbeknown to me, she decides to reveal her breasts in this movie. (...)
The whole movie is just confusing, and doesn't delve to deep into what is going on, and why. It's just a mishmash of events, almost plotless, and just has a lot of stuff blowing up throughout it.
I say throw this fish back.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Menagerie of Action, Psyche, Techno, and Style
Review: All film-makers should have a morning mantra "to be like Dominic Sena". Which is simply to be original.

The movie was a fun ride. It kept me going through the entire film , and the characters?.... It was hard to not like simply all of them. If you like action, flash, a quality line up, great music, and if you're a sucker for good 'ol originality this one is for you.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Slick, Suspenseful, Intelligent, and Action Packed
Review: Wow, what an outstanding plot, elite special effects, and spectacular performances! This film is slick, suspenseful, intelligent, and definitely action packed. With one of the most gorgeous explosions that Hollywood has to offer it can't hold a candle to the Matrix, but it's suspense, and special effects match. To appreciate this film to the furthest capacity, one should experience it in 5.1 or greater Dolby Digital sound. Under no doubt, should this film receive an academy award for outstanding special effects. It's amazing what 20 lbs. of C4 can do to an entire block, and then capturing every piece of glass shatter and every wall crack is mind boggling. What even adds more enjoyment to this film is its cast: John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, and Don Cheadle. I would definitely recommend this film to anyone who enjoyed The Matrix, enjoys out-of-this-world special effects, and/or adores suspense.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Halle Berrys boobies
Review: This is a sweet DVD and movie. It is a combo of the Matrix and Gone in 60 seconds if you dont like characters who act human then dont get this movie. Or if you dont like plots that have twists then you wont like this either.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Halle Berry's two talents
Review: There are exactly two entertaining scenes in this godawful action flick. The first is the Matrix-style "money shot" of a terrorist hostage exploding in slow motion. It is a truly spectacular shot - morally bankrupt, of course, but in the finest tradition of the genre. It lasts for around ten seconds, I guess.

The second is the widely heralded baring of Halle Berry's breasts. This lasts for only two seconds but the DVD will allow the interested viewer to freeze the image indefinitely without loss of picture quality. Accusations of cynicism on the producers' parts aside, this is definitely the more intriguing of the two scenes.

When Meryl Streep flashed a nipple in "Silkwood", it was slightly shocking but it actually developed the character and no one felt the great actor's dignity was impaired. Everyone who saw "Swordfish" in the theaters knew that Ms. Berry's moment-of-truth was coming. For two seconds she displayed the merchandise and then the movie stumbled along with "electrifying" scenes of Hugh Jackman typing really fast and so on.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Incredible beginning... the rest makes you puke
Review: I feel bad for Travolta. He comes up with one good movie per decade, and this was not his good movie of the first decade of the 21st century. The beginning (first ten minutes or so) of the movie totally captures you. You think: "Oh, my God! This is just like Tarantino..." But then it all falls through the cracks. The plot is very, very weak, and the acting is no better, beginning with Travolta, after he's done with his mind-capturing intro. There are a couple of unnecessary, yet sadly money-making-for-the-studios, sex moments (Halle Berry exposing her breasts out of no reason in one of them, and another one, where the hacker -played by Hugh Jackman- has to crack a very secure network while undergoing some very distracting sexual maneuvers -a plain gun pointed at his face might have done the same trick, I think)... So, not even the nudity and sex-related scenes in the movie fit in with the plot.

Finally, while the technical veracity of the hacking scenes can be questioned, the movie does have some really cool effects, but overall, I don't recommend it too much. Get it unless you have something better to watch.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Everything is wrong
Review: This movie start good, and I liked the travolta's speech in the beginning, even that scene when the camera rotate in slow motion around the explosion was interesting. But after all that, you realise this just another stupid hacker movie. But the whole problem is: I don't think the director knows even a little bit about computers, systems, hacking, cracking, all that stuff he loved so much to say from the beginning until the end of the movie over and over again. I had that same sensation (alredy with the movie Hackers) about people being a bunch of retards in front of the computers. Yes, that was the central problem. Look at the computer's screens in the movie and you realise that doesn't exist, it's impossible, nobody works like that, that hacking method is just a fairy tale for stupids to think they know about hacking and computers. Again, people think hackers are connected with punks, sub world, drugs, hookers and whatever, my holy god, that's all wrong, it plays wrong, and even worst, after few minutes the movie lose his interest about computers and turn into a action movie "a la americana". Believe me, I'm not an hacker, I don't know how to hack any kind of system, even don't know how to make an horse of troia, but at least I know that if you want to understand something, you need study, hard work, and not just stay playing fairy tales, making stupid movies for people to think you're intelligent, because you aren't.
And again, at least, I gave this movie 2 stars, because it was a little bit entertaining. Yes, you can entertain yourself, have some fun watching movies, and I'm not trying to be a dork, but please, after the movie is over, don't forget to put the trash in it's right place.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Almost Comparable with the Movies it References...
Review: So you have this very noble idea, eliminating terrorism from the world, but how far would you go? Gabriel (John Travolta) is part of a secret organization to stop terrorism, but he needs more funding. He seeks out a retired computer hacker named Stanley (Hugh Jackman) to crack several mainframes and databases transferring over 4 billion dollars into their account. Stanley, who is in the middle of a dirty custody battle for his daughter (which is brought up at least once every fifteen minutes. Everyone from the FBI to Halle Berry wants to save this kid from her mother and porn-directing stepfather), was recently arrested for hacking by the FBI. If he touches a computer, will be sent to jail...

This movie references several cinematic masterpieces such as "Dog Day Afternoon" and "Sugarland Express." What I found most interesting about the plot is that it borrows so much from these movies, while still being considered original. You almost get the feeling as the bus drives off to the airport; you know what will happen. But just as Gabriel says, "Oh, come on, Stan. Not everything ends the way you think it should. Besides, audiences love happy endings."

This movie was just the right length, had just the right actors, but had too much computer jargon for the regular person to understand. While some may know what a "worm" is, others will be stumped as they (Travolta and Jackman) exchange ideas on 1,064 bit encryption and backdoors. The writers of the movie understood what they wrote, but my girl-friend still a little confused on some of the topics.

Overall, I enjoyed this film immensely. Much better than Battlefield Earth, I assure you!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: could have been dumb fun if not for Sept. 11
Review: Swordfish is classic Joel Silver all the way-explosions, attractive people, slo-mo action and a booming soundtrack. The movei stars John Travolta as a spy who recruits Stanley (Hugh Jackman) to hack into a bank and steal 6 billion dollars. If he refuses, Stanley's little girl will be killed. Halle Berry also stars as Travolta's girlfriend, who has secrets of her own.

I thought that Travolta had a blast as the psycho Gabriel. He is always good as a bad guy (except in Battlefield Earth, of course). Jackman was equally good as a man who is tempted by what Gabriel has to offer but wants to do the right thing. He also looks so good in this movie-he's downright beautiful. Berry also gives a worthy performance, but I thought it wasn't necessary to show her topless-she's better than that.

Was this a good movie? Yes, in essence. I thought that some scenes were outlandishly overdone with no basis in reality. The action sequences were very eye-apealing, but you knew there was CGI involved....

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: GOOD BUT NOT GREAT
Review: Ignore the Amazon editorial review and all the other reader reviews. I don't want to spoil this movie for you by telling you too much about the plot or describing in perfect detail some of the best scenes in the movie but what I will tell you is...
1) Yes, it's true, Dominic Sena's last directorial effort Gone In Sixty Seconds was a MAJOR dissapointment BUT SWORDFISH ISN'T!!! It's a good movie!
2) Travolta is good
3) Halle Berry is good
4) Don Cheadle is underused and
5)Hugh Jackman is a major star in the making.
6) The now infamous scene of Halle Berry topless was probably unnecessary and perhaps gratuitous (but hey, she's a good looking woman with a good body). Sorry, did I say good? I meant great...but if this is the only reason why you'd watch this movie, then you really do need to get a life.
7)This was one of the better films of the summer.
8)It is neither formulaic nor does it lack ambition. Unlike most movies of this genre it challenges it's audience to excercise the old grey matter and it's got a half-decent twist.

Sure it has some faults, like did they run out of money for FX when they shot the scene of the bus landing on the roof? And the change of pace and edit from past events back to present was badly thought out and jarred a bit. BUT you know what? I liked this movie and the directorial set-piece that everybody wants to spoil for you by describing it to you in every detail is excellent. I only wish the moviemakers had been able to take that extra step and made a great rather than good movie. Buy some popcorn, kick back and enjoy this one on a Saturday night at home in front of the TV...


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