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About ten minutes into the movie,
"Swordfish", I really felt that a great movie was developing
before my eyes. The beginning was that good. It was John Travolta at his
best. It had a certain "Pulp Fiction" feeling to it.
To my disappointment, what I ended up watching was an average movie at
best. And surprisingly, it was not because of Travolta. He was actually
not too bad in his role as the sinister Gabriel Shear. Hugh Jackman was
quite good in his role as computer hacker extraordinaire, Stanley
Jobson. I really do see a bright future for this guy (Jackman, not
Jobson). Halle Berry, with her gratuitous nude scene (which was very
nice by the way...) was okay. Don Cheadle (Agent A.D. Roberts) was also
decent.
So why did a movie with what seemed to be a commendable cast fail? There
can be only one answer - poor plot and character development. This
average movie had the ingredients to be a great movie. However, it lost
a great villain in Travolta by not doing enough with his character. The
movie never explains who he really is and why he is doing what he is
doing. I recently read that this movie is about "the world's most
dangerous spy hired by the CIA". I did not leave the movie knowing
that Travolta was the world's most dangerous spy. I didn't even know he
was hired by the CIA! I knew that Travolta wanted to steal a lot of
money and I knew that he coerced one of the top computer hackers in the
world to help him do it. And I also discovered that Halle Berry should
incorporate more nude scenes into her movies.
But overall, I found the story to be muddled and confusing. In the end,
I left "Swordfish" with too many questions unanswered. Who was
Gabriel Shear? Why was Halle Berry sunbathing topless and why did they
show that for only 10 seconds? From what I hear, that ten seconds was
one of the most expensive "special effects" in the movie!
Despite a great beginning, a decent cast and some decent acting,
"Swordfish" left me with an empty feeling. And so, the summer
movie season begins.
 
- 5/10
Brendan Cullin -
Senior Editor
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