Swordfish
Warner Bros., 2001
Directed by Dominic Sena

$$

A city bus flies through the air over downtown Los Angeles, in the last act of the new action movie Swordfish. Dangling from cables attached to one of those "flying crane"-type helicopters, the bus swings back and forth like a wrecking ball, smashing into glass skyscrapers. It's an image that barely makes sense, but it looks cool -- a description that could pretty much apply to the entire film as a whole.

The plot is some complete nonsense about a secret agent who's so secret, his own government doesn't even know he exists. Played by John Travolta as a sort-of sleazier, more arrogant James Bond; he coerces a retired computer hacker (Hugh Jackman) to help him break into a bank computer and steal nine billion in drug money from the DEA (don't ask). Jackman walks through the movie looking confused -- like us, he's probably just trying make sense of the script.

Halle Berry also stars, but her role is even skimpier than the outfits she's forced to wear. Berry ends up being just another fantastic looking piece of art direction. She doesn't do much besides allow the camera to ogle her (though, I must say, there are far worse things a camera could ogle).

Director Dominic Sena stages some flashy, stylish moments -- early on, he takes us 360-degrees through the shockwave of an explosion. There are some fantastic little pieces of eye candy that stand up on their own -- but they don't add up to much.

No review of this film could be complete without mentioning the scene in which Travolta's character tests Jackman's hacking talents. He has a gun pointed to his head and is given 60 seconds to hack into the impenetrable Department of Justice mainframe -- and he has to do it while a prostitute simultaneously performs a sexual act on him. Like the helicopter sequence that comes later, the scene exemplifies the movie. It's over-the-top, sleazy, indulgent, incoherent and utterly preposterous Ð but mildly entertaining if you have nothing better to do.
(c) Copyright 2001