Hey folks, Harry here... I'm looking forward to this... Agent Smith at Warners told me that this would be a great summer film... and since I don't think Agent Smith would want to lie to me... I've kind of harbored the hope that SWORDFISH would kick a little ass... However, the mention of 'bullet-time' just scares the bejeesus out of me... R-Man claims it works... so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt... but whew... I'm just not sure if Bullet-Time has a place in cinema as a technique to use in telling a story... Maybe in exposition explanations of how things went down... but... yeesh, I just... well... Let's see it for ourselves... Here ya go....
Harry,
I had the opportunity to see an early screening of "Swordfish" this week. I don't know if you've seen it or received any reports but I thought I'd chime in.
I liked it. I enjoyed it and it was fun. The crowd had a good time too. I thought it paced very well but I can understand why some people may say it's slow in the middle but this movie does have some twists to it and makes some attempts at character development.
I'll try to keep this tight and not spoil anything. We start out with JT in a strange hostage negotiation. Of course, JT is the bad guy and when the cops do something stupid, we're presented with a very awesome sight of human carnage in bullet time. My hats off to it, they did a great job with it and it worked. It was so good that every one applauded.
The movie then jumps four days earlier where Halle Berry pays a visit to Hugh Jackman, an ex-con on probation for computer piracy. She makes him an offer to make some money to do some computer hacking. He resists at first but eventually gives in when he realizes that the money he can make on this job could help him get a good lawyer who will help him get visitation rights to see his daughter. His ex-wife/girlfriend is now married to a porn producer and stars in some of his movies, and Hugh doesn't quite like it.
Hugh takes the bait and is "interviewed" by JT and his gang. He passes the test and is brought in on the scheme. Turns out that there is $9 billion dollars from old CIA/NSA front companies earning interest in several banks. They need Hugh to hack in and steal the money. His take - $10 Million. Hugh goes for it and soon finds himself in the middle of a major FBI and DEA investigation. Don Chedale plays an FBI agent who is trying to figure out what JT and Hugh are up too and who JT is really working for.
Of course there are the usual misdirection, lies and surprises that keep everyone jumping and takes Hugh to the breaking point.
Overall it's very entertaining. Some of the computer hacking scenes required you to "believe" that Hugh's fingers dancing over the keyboard would actually do more than type "alkjfoneovn0akndvpapdnad", but what the heck it's a movie. For those who didn't hear Howard Stern on Tuesday, Halle does a very nice nude scene. Unanswered issues: Don's FBI agent's background as well as JT, why cops are so dumb and don't listen, and why they had to actually enter a bank to steal the money rather than hack into it's systems. JT was menacing but played it cool. He didn't drop into the manic psycho from "Broken Arrow". He used his eyes to let people know not to mess with him.
Plenty of set pieces, there's the opening bullet time scene along with some great gunfights, car chases and (I hate to say it) some cool explosions. This movie had a nice sized body count and they didn't cheat on the end. The interesting thing was that JT lays it out for you what to expect throughout the movie, and at the end, I was satisfied and pleased with it.
It's worth checking out.
Hope you can post this Harry, take it easy.
R-Man
Meanwhile... Begbie just wrote in saying that it was laughably bad... who is right? You'll be the judge...
Harry
I'm sorry, but I had to write in response to the review you just posted for Swordfish. I'll make this quick. I was at the screening, and I'm not sure if it was the same one or not, because the movie I saw, along with the members of the audience was laughably bad. Just look at Vinne Barbarino's freakin' haircut. Also, is Travolta ashamed of his famous chin cleft? It is covered up by the most annoying thatch of misguided hair since Burt Reynolds's toupee in Cannonball Run II. Now on to the movie itself. The "bullet time" scene was the only cool thing in the movie - believe it or not. I am just as sick as most people of this over-used camera trick, but it did work here. It got applause and so did one other scene which involved Halle Berry, a chaise lounge, and the two most perfect breasts this film geek has ever seen!
Somehow Halle's character convinces Jackman's character to help her and her associates out because Jackman needs money to help get his daughter back. I know he is an ex-con, but he is reformed and the mother is a porn star for chrissakes. I think that any lawyer with a phone number on the back of a buss could win Jackman's daughter back, especially considering she WANTS to be with her father, and not her mother. Anyway, the "test" the other review was referring to involves... MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR SPOILER HERE... Hugh getting a blowjob with a gun to his head while hacking into a government network from a night club in the middle of nowhere in downtown LA. This was just the first of many "Awww.. come on" moments infecting this movie.The other best example of this theme is the car chase/shootout. This scene was put in just to be there to be in there. The studio guys must have said, "Um, it looks pretty good so far, but where is the car chase?" You don't know who is chasing whom, and why there are no cops or even other cars or people in the street or anywhere in the scene. Just Travolta's ultra-cool car and a few black cars shooting. This was the worst schlock car chase I have ever had to sit through in a movie. Lots and lots of "Awww..come on" moments in that scene! Let's move on... The only attempts at character development in this film were so confused, muddled and convoluted it made both Mission Impossible movies seem like Mr. Happy books. This movie had a great cast with Jackman, Vinnie Jones, Don Cheadle (one of my favorites), but all were horribly underused and looked uncomfortable, and even upset at taking second fiddle to travolta, in his worst performance ever, yes...EVER. I swear to you that he was better in Battlefield Earth! His hair in that film was even better. This movie takes itself WAY to seriously and the ending is not only a bad Wild Things rip-off, but horribly shot and completely unbelievable.
People were laughing in all of the wrong spots in this movie, especially during the ending sequence. And at the end, besides the crappy action and horrible continuity no one that I spoke with still knew what the movie was about. Not in a cool, mystery, Unusual Suspects/12 Monkeys sort of way, but in a "are you kidding me, what the 'F' was that!?" sort of way. I know you said you were looking forward to this, but you really shouldn't - No one should!
Sorry for the bad news,
Begbie
