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Year:   2001
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Movie:  3/5
DVD:    3/5

Swordfish is an atypical heist/action movie. John Travolta stars as Gabriel Shear who wants to break into a bank in order to break into a secure financial network and syphon $10 billion. Shear with his femme fatale aide Ginger (Halle Berry) enlist the aid of master hacker Stanley Jobson (Hugh Jackman) for the computer work. FBI Agent JT Roberts (Don Cheadle) gets wind of the operation and sets out to stop them.

The whole movie is about misdirection. Nobody, other than Roberts, is who they appear to be. There are twists and turns and the ending is also a bit different. Lots of action and explosions and Halle Berry topless.

Naturally, the computer hacking stuff was way over-the-top Hollywood but I was fine with that. I thought it the plot jumped around a bit and they cut out parts that were not strictly necessary but would have made it harder to watch the movie if you were paying attention to the plot. Overall a nice but not great movie.
Extras

Commentary with director Dominic Sena
HBO First Look at Swordfish (15 minutes)
The Effects in Focus (8 minutes on the bus/helicopter sequence)
Two alternate endings with commentary
Theatrical Trailer

Copyright (c) 2005 Kevin C. Wong
Page Created: April 24, 2005
Page Last Updated: April 24, 2005