Swordfish is a code. Diabolical, powerful Gabriel Shear (John Travolta, also in DOMESTIC DISTURBANCE, PULP FICTION) can have anything he wants. He is able to influence the uninfluence-able; wields a power that few, if any, civilians have ever been able to; and answers to no one. [never really loved Travolta, though he was a decent Tony Manero in SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, pretty good in PHENOMENON, and reprised his Vinnie Barbarino role in CARRIE]
Swordfish opens with a close-up shot of Shear in wide-screen view. He’s talking to someone off camera about old movies, comparing them with the ineffectual writing of most recent Hollywood ventures. Shear seems to be making reference to hostages and a hostage situation. Then, he states something to the effect that in real life it would play out in a very different way.
He rises from where he’s sat all this time (about 3 to 5 minutes since the opening), and the camera pulls back to reveal Shear holding some object in his hand. The guy he has been talking to is barely visible, but his movements suggest he has been duly impressed as he merely watches Shear walk toward a gang of military-attired men in the doorway, instructs them to move aside, with object still held, his thumb pressing down on it from the top. A bomb? The viewer(s) wonder. No, the remote to a complexity of explosives, which can (and will) be triggered by specific (and of which he has specified to all involved as a warning of their inappropriate actions) parameters rigged onto each of the numerous hostages.
Horror of horrors. It works exactly as he’s just informed the key government personnel it would. Of course, we find this out because they have not believed him so put his threats to the test. At the expense of one screaming and terrified female hostage, and at the hands of two of her would-be military rescuers; neither of which survive.
Then, we find out how it had begun, three days before as Axel Torvalds (Rudolf Martin, BEDAZZLED), expert system hacker is detained at the airport, attempting to get into the United States. He is caught with two passports, his photo but different names. At FBI headquarters, the guy is grilled by Agent Roberts, (Don Cheadle, TRAFFIC, OCEAN ELEVEN [in yet another substandard role for his talent]). Just as he has agreed to cooperate to a point, Roberts is called from the interrogation room. Both suspect and his attorney are gunned down by unknown assassin from the other side of a two-way window while the agent is out the room. Someone has power in very high places.
Shear sends his number one girl, Ginger, (Halle Berry, BAP*S, X-MEN [her best role, in my opinion, was the title role in ALEX HALEY’s QUEENIE, although made-for-tv]), to recruit Stanley Jobson, (Hugh Jackman, KATE and LEOPOLD, X-MEN [he and Halle have been here before & seems they will be headed back again next year with X-MEN 2]). Jobson is acquainted with Torvalds, but they also have a similar reputation for hacking. Jobson, however, does not want to return to prison, forfeiting any chance he might have of getting daughter, Holly, (Camryn Grimes, tv soap baby/child star from Days of Our Lives and Young & the Restless; also Heather Grimes’ daughter) away from his witch of an ex-wife and her porn-making current hubby.
When Ginger shows up at Jobson’s dump of a place, 10Gs in hand just for coming to talk to our man Shear, what do you think an FBI-busted, ex-con pumping gas for a living, but needs enough money to retain a lawyer to see about getting custody of his adolescent young daughter before her chain-smoking mom and her x-rated movie making step-dad can give her an education that is sure to alter her tender young life, will choose to do. And, once you meet the shy, quiet and unassuming daddy’s-girl, Holly, you’ll understand why Stanley goes to ’’talk’’ to Mr. Shear, who’ll give him the $10, 000 just for making the trip. Right! Caution: this part of the movie [when Stanley meets Gabriel] is definitely a bit on the sexually-explicit side of things. There’s a certain ’lady’ who ’helps to convince Stanley’ to beat the clock in cracking a coded CIA website. In fact, I think she and her... ahem... talents (in certain unmentionable regions of the anatomy) ... affected him much more effectively than did the gun one of Shear’s henchmen held to his head (the one on his shoulders). This is the only scene in the movie which rivals a topless Halle Berry.
Senator Reisman, (Sam Shepard, PELICAN BRIEF, ALL the PRETTY HORSES, The PLEDGE) as liason to the CIA, also has something vested in the venture of the U.S. vs Gabriel Shear. However, affairs between Reisman and Shears are not exactly as they appear to the public, nor as they should be. In time, the viewer comes to understand that Swordfish is more... much more, than the name of this movie.
My Impressions
I would come to pick up Swordfish quite by chance. Wanting something to watch over the Thanksgiving holiday, it just ’’happened’’ to attract my attention. Already on dvd, this 2001 movie was the most recent feature film to disc offering at my local neighborhood Blockbuster. So, it ended up coming home with me.
As you might have guessed from my opening paragraph, Travolta is far from my favorite actor. In fact, he rivals a short & select list of stars for my choice of ’’accidental stardom’’ status. Nevertheless, he invariably lands a role that he does a decent job of portraying. Gabriel Shear in the 2001 Swordfish is just such a role.
Also, as you might have guessed as well from my opening paragraph, I applaud writer, Skip Woods, whose only other credit for writing (in addition to co-producing) is THURSDAY, 1998, with Mickey Rourke and Glenn Plummer the only recognizable names among the cast. He produced a script that gave us more than mere sex, breasts, and violence. The plot was interesting and the violent acts creative from the very beginning.
And, not to forget the necessary vision and delivery of the director in such a film, I must give director, Dominic Sena his curtain call, too. Although I was more than impressed with his 1993 KALIFORNIA, starring David Duchovny, Brad Pitt, Michelle Forbes and Juliette Lewis, I can’t say the same for his 2000 film GONE in SIXTY-SECONDS, starring Nicholas Cage, Angelina Jolie, and Robert Duvall. While his only other directorial endeavor was Janet Jackson’s musical short, RHYTHM NATION 1814 in 1989, Swordfish’s pacing and creative explosions, gunfights and double-crosses, get-a-ways and the like deserve at the least a mention. It was definitely not a boring watch.
So, my recommendation? Swordfish is worth a see. For all the reasons stated above, I think it will entertain most anyone. However, as I also stated previously, there are scenes of violence, implied (if not completely visible) sexual activity (oral) and, of course, as we all have known since before it hit the theaters, Halle Berry’s breasts! So, no children of any age, please. You have been warned. Enjoy!
Thanks to all for reading.