Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageSwordfish (2001)
Director: Dominic Sena
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Carnage is fixed in mid-air as the camera exacts an oh so elegant 180 degree arc around exploded bodies in suspended animation, and we’re still only three minutes into the movie! More of a stylist than a director, Dominic Sena (Kalifornia, Gone in 60 Seconds) photographs everything like a fashion shoot. Sporting a natty goatee and slicked-back hair, Travolta looks every inch the criminal mastermind. Jackman is an improbably muscular computer nerd, roped in reluctantly to hack for billions – and as for Berry, there ought to be a law (in some cultures there surely is). You don’t care about these characters, but their clothes are out of sight. Especially Halle’s. Forget Intimacy, if it’s porn you’re after, how about the scene where Travolta holds a gun to Jackman’s head, giving him 60 seconds to break a top secret government code, while a hooker sucks him off at the same time? Cyber porn. Money porn. Gore porn. Even the film’s reactionary politics are obscene (not just a criminal, Travolta is also a true patriot, a terrorist vigilante). Slick, amoral and not half as clever as it thinks it is, it’s the perfect lads’ movie. I confess: I enjoyed it – so shoot me.Author: TCh
Cast & crew
Director: Dominic Sena
Producer: Joel Silver, Jonathan D Krane
Cast: John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Don Cheadle, Vinnie Jones, Sam Shepard, Drea De Matteo, Rudolf Martin, Zach Grenier, Camryn Grimes full cast
Genre(s): Thrillers
Duration: 99 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Has David Cronenberg turned tame?
Has director David Cronenberg veered too far from his radical and bloody roots with new film 'A Dangerous Method'?
The 10 worst date movies
Just in time for Valentine's Day, we present ten of the least romantic films ever made
Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films
Find out where to watch 2012's Oscar-nominated films in London cinemas
10 unlikely badboy biopics
Featuring Phil Collins, Jeremy Clarkson, Nick Clegg, David Starkey and a host of other unlikely subjects
Interview: Sean Durkin on 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'
The first-time director of the brilliant new thriller discusses religious cults and robot boxing
Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day
Side-step romantic clichés with some alternative Valentine’s viewing
What do you think?
Post your review now