“Swordfish” (2001) is a rare movie that I rate low not because of boredom but because of confusion. It’s gutsy in its action sequences and a couple shock-value moments, and tries to mesmerize us with washed-out, techno-soundtracked style, but the events are nonsensical even by the standards of “It’s only a movie.”
In Skip Woods’ screenplay (although, to be fair, it’s possible director Dominic Sena and editor Stephen Rivkin deserve blame too), not only are character actions driven by the plot, they are driven by the mini-plots within given scenes. No one behaves like a human being.
The point, I’ve been told by people who like “Swordfish,” is that supervillain Gabriel (John Travolta plus a soul patch) is a master of misdirection. But the joy of this type of villain, as seen in David Mamet movies, is seeing the ingenious way he does it. Here, Gabriel simply ducks out of a showdown inexplicably fast or almost magically produces corpses that resemble him.
“Swordfish” (2001)
Director: Dominic Sena
Writer: Skip Woods
Stars: John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry
Who needs logic when you have money?
Woods often writes misdirection for the sake of misdirection, rather than for the sake of the overall scheme. Halle Berry’s Ginger is either a loyal operative to Gabriel or a mole in his operation, and she gives hero hacker Stanley Jobson (Hugh Jackman) conflicting info – but for no particular purpose.
Stanley is already on their side, due to his desperation for cash so he can improve his life and see his daughter more often, so there’s no need to throw distractions at him. Just give him his hacking assignments; stop harassing him.
The movie features three scenes you won’t see anywhere else that I’m sure were devised before a narrative was formed around them – led by Gabriel forcing Stanely to hack into the FBI in 60 seconds while being distracted by oral sex and a gun to the head. The next is the famous titillation (pun intended) from Berry, who earned a $250K-per-boob bonus.
Third is the grand finale of this mercifully 99-minute film: Sena and Woods devise a stunt with a helicopter and bus that makes “Speed” seem grounded. Thank god “Swordfish’s” damage was limited to inspiring the later “Fast & Furious” films. The intelligence (while retaining great action) of the next year’s “Bourne Identity” perhaps turned the genre back onto a sane path.
While “Swordfish” throws logic out the window, it throws money at Travolta, Jackman, Berry and Don Cheadle, with some hope that great actors can pave over convenience-based character behavior. The latter has the most embarrassing role, because he’s the federal agent who can’t catch Gabriel, even though he’s right in front of him several times and has murdered many people in front of many witnesses. And the only way this agent can catch Stanley, just to chat with him (!), is to follow him rolling down a steep hill Chris Farley-style.
Hack screenplay
Here’s an example of how incompetently structured “Swordfish” is. It opens with a suspenseful scene wherein Gabriel’s team has strapped bombs to a dozen hapless hostages at a bank. After the scene plays out, we cut to “four days earlier.” This is a lazy trick, but not automatically awful. You can recover by re-earning the high tension when you catch back up to the cold-open scene, like in “Mission: Impossible III.” Even better would be to have twists the redefine the scene when we get back to it.
But “Swordfish” returns to the scene in the worst way possible. After we’ve gotten to know the main players (as much as is possible when their behavior is scene-dependent), the movie hard-cuts back into the midst of that hostage scene. So it has the exact same cold-open feel as the first time! And now the confusion is more annoying, because we should now be armed with all the information.
A comment on the hacking: Taking a step back from “The Net” and “Antitrust,” which had verisimilitude in their “sitting at a computer and working with code” scenes, now we’re back in “Hackers” territory, as Stanely’s screen has 3D graphics as he retrieves a “worm” for Gabriel’s needs. Montages features the graphics, techno music and Stanely pumping his fist at his successes. Turns out he’s good when Gabriel leaves him alone.
One neat element: Stanley had hidden the worm in the ancient depths of the internet, on a reel-to-reel computer that’s kept operational in a museum for nostalgia’s sake. This might push logic, but at least it creatively pushes logic. Opposed to, for example, Gabriel’s stated goals.
All we need as viewers is for Gabriel to desire to be rich and live in luxury (which he already is and does, but presumably he needs more). Instead, the villain says he additionally chooses to be a domestic terrorist for the good of the USA. He says he’ll raise the bar of terror so high that foreign terrorists won’t want to bother — or something like that. Not every movie has to be about something profound, but when “Swordfish” pretends like it is, that’s an extra level of confusion and annoyance.