SWORDFISH (2001) ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: Dominic Sena
John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry,
Don Cheadle, Sam Shepard, Vinnie Jones
It's hard not to like how this movie starts out. A master criminal and self-styled film critic (John Travolta in tight close-up) declares that most Hollywood movies are shit. He zeroes in on "Dog Day Afternoon", complaining that it lacked a happy ending because the robbers didn't get away, and arguing that things would've worked out better for Al Pacino if he'd actually killed a few hostages. When the soliloquy is finished, the camera pans back and you realize that Travolta's character is in a "Dog Day Afternoon" situation himself. That's the best part of "Swordfish", that opening bit. The rest isn't Hollywood shit exactly, but it's a long way from"Dog Day Afternoon": a cool-looking, mean-spirited action thriller about some crooks trying to hack their way to $9 billion in government money. It's the kind of picture where a hostage, wired from head to toe with high explosives, has to be detonated, not because it's essential to the story, or to evoke any sympathy for the victim, but to revel in the special effects mayhem caused by the blast. There's a merry ruthlessness in Travolta's cold-eyed villain, and Sena has a lot of fun playing with light and color. But the movie never lives up to the promise of that opening scene, and Berry has little to do except look good, modeling a variety of form-fitting outfits, or modeling topless without them.
