Hey folks, Harry here with a report from Dabbler in the Woods regarding SWORDFISH, which he seemed to completely dig. The trailer makes it out to be another dumb bang bang KABOOOOM flick, but apparently (and hopefully) there seems to be more. I suspected as much... A spy inside Warners named Agent Smith, told me that this was going to be a surprise hit and that Travolta will rebound with it.... Hopeful wishing... or has the comeback kid bounced up with no case of road rash? We'll see this summer... BEWARE OF SPOILERS...

Hey Harry,

Just got back from SWORDFISH in Pasadena. Here's my review

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This is definitely going to be a big movie when it comes out. The trailer alone sells most of what Swordfish is about. It's not the usual action flick that comes out every summer, like Gone in 60 Seconds or whatever, no, Swordfish actually has some brains behind it. I can tell you right away what kind of hype I had for this movie. Now, having had the chance to see this movie before its release was a big treat. I really had some big expectations for this movie and it didn't disappoint. This version of the movie tonight was mostly finished. Of course, not all of the special effects were done yet, but overall it looked like the final product (even the person introducing the movie mentioned it was).

Remember the scene in the trailer that is towards the end when there's a big explosion and cop cars go flying in a Matrix sort-of camera style? In the movie it happens within the first ten minutes, which ultimately sets up the amount and quality of action that follows in the movie. There are movies whose action scenes are pretty mindless and filled with sheer of eye candy. For example, Charlie's Angels is one of those movie where the eye candy (explosions; you know the deal) is more important than story and believability. Swordfish doesn't necessarily do this. All of its action sequences have a point beneath them (even if it involves high-wire gun play where a dozen people die). Said sequences are very well done and play out beautifully, even though you can sense they are a little bit contrived (but hell, it's fun).

Swordfish's opening pulls you directly into the main character's head; how and what he thinks. Gabriel (played by John Travolta in a new bad ass look) is not the average bad guy. He knows his stuff well, even if the odds are very much against him. Swordfish starts in the future when the robbery happens (beginning climax). For the first fifteen minutes we don't really know for sure what and why things happen as they do. The movie goes back three days before the big event to set up how it all came to be. It properly introduces the main characters (besides Gabriel) who are Stanley Jobson (Hugh Jackman), Ginger (Halle Berry), and FBI detective Roberts (Don Cheadle).

Stanley Jobson, according to this movie, is supposed to be the world's best hacker as I understood it. Detective Roberts busted him a couple of years ago for hacking (what else) into a federal database. He spend time in prison, lost his daughter to the drugged-out wife, and now slacks off in Texas hitting golf balls from on top of his trailer. This is where Ginger comes in. Gabriel sent her to make Stanley consider (and agree of course) taking on a job that'd pay him $10 million (and even be able to regain custody of his daughter). Slowly but surely, Stanley takes on the job to hack into a mainframe and extract $9 billion of unused government funds (a figure growing since the late 80s when Operation: Swordfish was set up). Gabriel goes into a lot of the technical stuff that mainly involves Operation: Swordfish and a secret government service force. Much of the technicalities sound intriguing but are easily forgotten. A little over an hour after the of basic set-up that didn't always move as fast as it should've, we're back with the bank robbery.

What follows resembles Dog Day Afternoon a bit. In the beginning, Gabriel even addressed the movie. At first, we don't know who he's talking to (add to that the focus-pulling every five seconds). After he's done with his analysis of the movie and what happened in it (for example, Gabriel argued about the way it ended), we see he's sitting in a cafe talking to Roberts and Jobson. So that was kind of an interesting way to start a movie that also deals with a large robbery (but in this one everything is different and better planned out). The big action sequence that follows involves a buss and a freight helicopter. It starts out very well and is exciting to watch. The problems are that it is too long and becomes ridiculous over time. The helicopter flies through L.A. downtown with four great harnesses holding the buss. Something always goes wrong and when it does here, it's just too much to take in and to consider the possibility of it being believable enough.

Swordfish ends on a high note. You know how the bad guys never get away with it in the end? "Not everything ends the way you think it should," Gabriel says to Stanley before he and his gang are leaving for way out (airborne style). Like Houdini fooled audiences by making an elephant disappear, Gabriel manages to trick Stanley, the cops, and the audiences into believing he and his gang are dead. In no way can I possibly reveal the ending, but lets just say it's a bit different than most (and a little confusing as well, but why not).

I think Dominic Sena really took off with Swordfish to make it stand out more than Gone in 60 Seconds. Granted, the story and action was better. It's rating, which is going to be R for nudity, language, and violence (I'm sure), is also an indicator that he wanted to make a movie that's not among the lame PG-13 guidelines. Skip Woods, who wrote Swordfish, seems like the kind of guy who'll write action regardless of the budget. Since Richard Donner produced this movie, I guess it worked out for the best. The acting was very solid; nothing wrong there. With all of the hype surrounding Swordfish, I really think it could make some mad money. Maybe, just maybe, it can get Travolta's screen presence and such off the ground. I was into Swordfish for more than 3/4 of the time, which constitutes that it wasn't all perfect (for my taste). And did I tell you about what Halle Berry does one hour into the movie? Look at what the trailer is trying to tease you with. Anyway, I really enjoyed Swordfish, even though it had some minor flaws.

- DITA is waiting for his share of the $9 billion.

Dabbler In The Arts