Movie rating: 2 Star

Swordfish

Slick but soulless cyber crime caper in which John Travolta stars as rogue secret agent, Gabriel Shear - a man waging his own private war against terrorist organisations which threaten the American way of life. This war isn't a cheap one, so he enlists the aid of reluctant computer hacker, Stanley Jobson (Jackman) in an attempt to steal $9 billion of mob funds from the DEA's accounts. Problem is, Jobson is being monitored by Roberts (Cheadle), a weary cyber crime agent intent on finding out what's going on.
Swordfish starts out promisingly enough - an excellent opening sequence shows the actual robbery taking place in glorious detail - but quickly descends into (albeit polished) action-by-numbers fare. Travolta has some fun, hamming it up to Jackman's sturdy moral compass, but the lack of attention paid to character and plot development means Swordfish fails to maintain interest beyond the visually impressive stunts.

Story by Garreth Murphy | 09:00 | Friday 27th July 2001 | DVD review

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