Stream it now Swordfish 2001
 

IMDb rating: 6.40 (72,805 votes)
IMDb ID: 0244244
Duration: 99 min
Release date: June 4, 2001



A secretive renegade counter-terrorist co-opts the world's greatest hacker (who is trying to stay clean) to steal billions in US Government dirty money.


Thriller, Crime, Action produced in 2001 [USA, Australia]

 
 
Voting
Quality
Comments
Age
Views

Сomments

0
report
Anonymous 1 year ago
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, just kidding, if this is the only reason you watch this movie then its totally worth it!
7)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...
0
report
Anonymous 1 year ago
Ok 3 of my favorite actors in this movie r played good together john travolta hugh jackman and halle berry ok hugh is a computer hacker that want to jail and is not out and john wanted to hug to hack in the banks system to steal money for him and said he would let him go after he does that for him.but the only thing i dont get he was taking money from bad people again they want to a rest him.good movie
0
report
Anonymous over 2 years ago
I really enjoyed this movie, the sight you get of Halle Berry is enough reason to see it. Don't expect a deep plot but its and entertaining movie.
0
report
Anonymous over 2 years ago
This is another movie I feel deserved more than it got.
Swordfish is about a hacker named Stanley Jobsen (Hugh Jackman). He and his wife are split up, and all he wants to do is get his daughter back. He is visited by a mysterious girl named Ginger (Halle Berry) who offers him $10,000 to come to meet her boss (John Travolta) for a job. If he does the job, he gets paid a whole helluva lot more. If he doesn't like the scenario, he walks away and keeps the 10 grand. Needless to say, Stan accepts, and the story unfolds.
Excellent casting for this film is one of the under-appreciated elements. They pull off their characters quite flawlessly. The story is quite interesting if you can follow it. One of the admittedly obvious flaws with the film is that the basic chain of events is quite boring; Stan's job is to type on a computer. That's it. And aside from a 5-minute scene in which he does so to Frank Popp's High Voltage, we don't get to see much of it. Every other scene is either semi-interesting plot points that eventually connect to end the movie, or just little side-pieces. Of course, as most of you know, and probably the only reason you're reading this, is that Halle Berry shows her tits. Gorgeous as they are, they show up needlessly for 10 seconds and are more of a distraction. They also act as a little pick-me-up to get you through the rest of the movie. The special effects are great (and no, they really are Halle's breasts), the actual events are okay, but the driving action for the storyline is just kind of boring. The characters are well-fulfilled, but some of the lines are admittedly cheesy. Do not watch this film on TNT or FX or one of those other similar channels, or the "interview" scene just won't make sense to you. Overall, the plot is interesting, and the twists and turns are excellent, being just one surprise after another. I think Swordfish deserves perhaps 6.5 out of 10 because it is an enjoyable movie, and takes an excellent jab at the clich
0
report
Anonymous over 2 years ago
Big action sequences are impressive however the rest is almost comedic. John Travolta really hams it up here and if this was a better movie it may work. The only thing good from Berry is the fit of her dresses and the lack of them. Jackman plays the part well - but with such a silly story and everyone heading in opposite directions cannot pull the film together.
0
report
Anonymous over 2 years ago
That was a fast paced movie. Some good scenes and good performances by Travolta and Jackman. I liked it so I'm going to give it 60%. Though it is not a state of Art movie yet it is not a bad one.
0
report
Anonymous over 2 years ago
Swordfish opens with a mysterious mastermind named Gabriel Shear (John Travolta) complaining about "the lack of realism" in Hollywood action movies. He claims that a movie shouldn't cater to the audience: it should pull the rug out from underneath them and rather than leave them with the feeling of joy, bestow a feeling of admiration. If a film is well made then this is either the inevitable or right outcome.

Is Swordfish different from any other action movie? Of course it is! Didn't you listen to John Travolta? So there you go. We now we know it's not run of the mill. That gives them license to go and do all the things an action movie does; car chase, shoot out, hostages, fake identities, both clever and brawny baddies, and a lot of chicks and sunglasses. It's hardly Italian Neo-Realism is it?

I mean, was the director trying to lie to us and call this a clever, different thriller? It isn't. Never for a second does the script consider another movie that wasn't made in the last decade by Hollywood. What about Orson Welles? What about Federico Fellini, Werner Herzog, Vittori De Sica, John Schlesinger? Even Quentin Tarantino makes realistic movies to a certain degree -- his movies extend beyond realism into a sense of ultra-realism that is not seen in modern movies.

But it's obviously alright to make an action movie and lie, and call it different. Then you can blow stuff up as much as you want. Jeez, I'd just wish it'd be honest about what it is, because as an action movie it gets a pass, as a clever movie, it gets a huge fail -- and to that degree: this one and a half stars is because of that one section of dialogue.

All qualms aside, Swordfish is not a boring movie, nor a gripping one. I guess I felt I could do without it. There is stuff to entertain the people who will see this on a date, on their own, or with others, but there isn't enough really. Aren't you bored after the first couple of explosions?

The character arcs are uncontrollable, as slippery as a bar of soup, we never truly understand who is who. Hugh Jackman stars as Stanley, a huge muscley computer hacker, who's hired by scantly dressed Ginger (Halle Berry) to help her boss (Travolta) steal billions of dollars from the government. Along the way they run into various trouble involving machine guns and car chases, but don't forget -- this is allowed: it's not an action movie.

Directed by Dominic Sena, who blasphemously remade Gone in 60 Seconds in 2000, who brings a couple of nice shots into it, and some scenes are decent enough to watch and enjoy -- but these are all talking scenes. Swordfish either collapses in stoic formula or in plot. Who is Gabriel? Who is Ginger? We never really find out. The movie is confusing and uneven. I'd have just preferred it as a normal action movie.
0
report
Anonymous over 2 years ago
**1/2 (out of four)

John Travolta is an evil spy who wants access to the information and computers around the world that would provide financial assistance to aid him in his own idea of patriotism.

The film moves along okay, but the plot is thin and not very exciting.
0
report
Anonymous over 2 years ago
Like a lot of sci-fi fans, I was lured into this one by the reference to a producer from 'The Matrix'. But it's no 'Matrix', hell it's not even a half-way decent knock off of 'The Net'.

Swordfish has a female character being slapped, knocked down a flight of stairs and called a bitch all in the first ten minutes. And the female lead? She's African American. And the male doing the smacking around? He's white. I'm pretty sure Halle Berry's character is named 'bitch' or 'cunt' because I don't think I ever caught her first name.

John Travolta is a revolting bad guy with the World's Most Annoying Facial Hair. He has a soul patch that looks like a furry tick attached to his lower lip. Honestly, it's completely mesmerizing, I dare you not to stare at it.

Hugh Jackman is a computer hacker who's been relegated to working on an oil derrick by the Fuzz, cos that's where all hackers who get caught go, don't ya know? Straight to dirt-under-your-nails labor jobs. Apparently, there's a huge demand for flabby, pasty geeks on construction sites.

There's some other characters, DEA or ATF or whatever dicks who are double agents or something.

The film culminates in a bus flying over Los Angeles (no idea WHY), stunt doubles caroom across the screen, the sound effects are deafening.

I'd tell you how it ended, but I walked out after the second or third beat down of the female lead. What was Halle thinking???
0
report
Anonymous over 2 years ago
John Travolta, Halle Berry, and Hugh Jackman. Three beautiful people. I liked the movie. I felt something was missing from the story, but it was a good movie. Seeing Hugh Jackman in a towel was worth my money.