Swordfish Review
by Ram Samudrala (me AT ram DOT org)August 25th, 2001
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Swordfish
http://www.ram.org/ramblings/movies/swordfish.html
/Swordfish/ is actually a fairly clever thriller, but for some reason the cleverness isn't made evident in the direction (by Dominic Sena), which focuses on the action extensively.
Gabriel Shear (John Travolta) wants to steal over nine billion dollars of unused governmental funds stored behind heavily secured computer locks. Gabriel's reason for stealing the money is that he is doing it to take care of American government interests across the world by doing the dirty work that politicians cannot do. A hacker, Stanley Jobson (Hugh Jackman), is recruited by Gabriel to fulfil his goal under an extremely tight deadline.
Gabriel is aided by Ginger Knowles (Halle Barry), who turns out to be a DEA agent and decides to help a reluctant Jobson turn against Gabriel. Or so it seems, since not everything is as it appears in /Swordfish/.
The action sequences are excellent (yet another /The Matrix/ reference). Even though the movie is ostensibly about a cracking event, car chases and explosions abound in the tradition of good Hollywood thrillers. The movie's focus isn't on any of the actors which makes it work out for the better.
The energy level in the film is high and there are some pretty good stunt sequences. /Swordfish/ is worth the matinee fare.
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