Swordfish (2001) – Film Review

Director: Dominic Sena
Cast: John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry
Certificate: 15

By Sarah Morgan

Explosions, computers, unnecessary female nudity and bonkers stunts abound in this classy hi-tech action thriller from 2001.

Hugh Jackman, then still making a name for himself in Hollywood, plays Stanley Jobson, who was once regarded as among the world’s greatest computer hackers – until he was caught and ended up in jail. Now free, he has to stay away from the world he once knew, or risk being thrown back behind bars again.

His main aim in life is to be reunited with his beloved daughter Holly, who is being raised by her alcoholic mother and her new husband. But to do so, Stan will need lots of money to pay for lawyers, so when the mysterious Ginger Knowles arrives at his trailer offering him millions of dollars to help her boss, Gabriel, carry out a hi-tech bank robbery, he decides to take the chance.

“Visuals are everything”

What follows is a convoluted plot involving bombs, guns and a car chase, all designed, it seems, to distract viewers from a storyline that is, at best, confusing and, at worst, downright ridiculous.

John Travolta plays the enigmatic but charismatic Gabriel who, it turns out, may not be a villain after all, but rather a shadowy character working to eliminate terrorism on the behalf of a senator played by Sam Shepherd. But to do so, Gabriel himself appears to become a terrorist. Or something.

And Halle Berry’s Ginger might be working for the DEA. But then again, she might not. What she does do, however, is flash her boobs at Stan for no good reason – at least Berry was, reportedly, paid an extra $500,000 to do so (a rumour she now denies).

Director Dominic Sena cut his teeth on music videos, which shows here; the visuals are everything, with quick cuts to keep the attention, while character very much plays second fiddle to spectacle.

“Entertaining”

Don Cheadle and Vinnie Jones also appear in a film that hasn’t dated all that well either – the set-up Jackman is given to work on is meant to be impressive, but now, it’s probably no better than the average gamer has in their bedroom, while the biggest stunts have obviously been played out against a green screen with the effects added in post-production.

Nevertheless, for all its faults, Swordfish is rather entertaining – just make sure your brain is in neutral before watching, and don’t look for any kind of hidden meaning or depth!

Special features include new interviews with soundtrack composer Paul Oakenfield and production designer Jeffrey Mann, as well as chats with the cast from around the time of the film’s original release.

Sarah Morgan

Sarah Morgan studied film journalism at post-graduate level with the BFI and has been writing about TV and film for PA Media’s newspaper, magazine and new media customers since 1996. She’s also written for a wide range of other publications, both online and in print, including the book Offbeat and Intermission magazine, and is a regular contributor to the Talking Pictures TV podcast. When she isn’t watching movies, she’s collecting and reading vintage crime and horror paperback books or, for her sins, watching her beloved Sheffield Wednesday.

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