There's been a lotta fuss about the fact that Halle Berry appears topless in this movie. So let's get that outta the way. Is she topless? Yes. Are they nice? Yes. How long do we get to see her topless? No more than 5 seconds. If you wanna get a longer look, buy the DVD when it comes out, and take advantage of the crystal clear "Pause" and "Frame-By-Frame" function. I know I will.
On with the review.
"Swordfish" is a mindless action movie that tries really hard to be more than that. At certain points, it succeeds, but for the most part, it doesn't. A lot of thought seemed to go into the script, but when all is said and done, it has all the clichés of the mindless action movie, the most glaring being how little physical pain the main characters feel. Still, "Swordfish" doesn't disappoint. The action scenes are well-executed, the acting is very good, and despite the script being typical of the genre, there are a few surprises.
This movie stars John Travolta, and he has an interesting look in the movie. With his brushed back hair and his funky mini-beard, he looks more like a villain in a cyberpunk comic book than a Hollywood action flick. He's played similar characters before, but he does it well, so that's okay. Then there's Hugh Jackman, who you may remember as "Wolverine" in "X-Men." He's awesome in this movie, and he proves that he has real starpower. Halle Berry (who was also in "X-Men," she played "Storm") is good in the movie, but her role isn't very big. She has more of a "sidekick" job than anything else. Finally, there's Don Cheadle ("Traffic," "Out of Sight," "Boogie Nights"), one of my favorite actors in the world. He's very good, but he plays it simple. The character is the kind we see countless times in movies, so he doesn't do much outside of the norm. Nevertheless, he's a fantastic actor.
I like that word. "Nevertheless." It's cool, isn't it?
"Swordfish" was directed by Dominic Sena, who, like Michael Bay, shoots his movies so that it always seems to be set during "the magic hour" (when day is creeping into night). Sena (who also directed "Gone in 60 Seconds," "Kalifornia," and a lotta Janet Jackson's older videos) has a visual style like most people who got their start in commercials and music videos. Those kinds of directors are very easy to spot. That's not a bad thing, though. As a matter of fact, I like most of those directors, including Sena. It's just a different style, ya know? It's not bad (though most critics disagree), just different. As for the script, it was written by Skip Woods, who frightens me. This is Skip Woods' second script, his first being "Thursday, which he also directed. "Thursday" was pretty good, but it had too much white rage in it for me. The movie seemed racist. I don't want to get into why, but I definitely got that vibe. With "Swordfish," instead of racism, it's sexism. All the actresses in this movie have very demeaning characters to play. The only one who doesn't is Camryn Grimes (she won the 2000 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in "The Young and the Restless"... her uncle is obscure "Party of Five" actor, Scott Grimes). She plays Hugh Jackman's young daughter in the movie. Actually, in this movie filled with testosterone, explosions, and demeaning roles for women, I found the tender scenes between father and daughter to be very refreshing.
I liked "Swordfish," but to be honest with you, I'm not sure if a lotta people will. It has cool moments, a few great scenes, and good acting, but it's pretty paint-by-numbers otherwise. The good really DOES outweigh the bad, though. Halle Berry's boobs aren't the only things in this movie worth watching.
Scale of 1-10: 7