Travolta and Jackman are Fun in the Early-2000’s Actioner ‘Swordfish’

Action movies usually provide escapism and intrigue, but many don’t date themselves as well as “Swordfish,” directed by Dominic Sena. The movie was released in 2001 and is a natural outpouring of Internet craze which was brimming since Y2K. It features Hugh Jackman playing a slick hacker and John Travolta—also slick—playing a man with loose morals but strong ethics who wants to wage war on terrorists who would attack America. “Swordfish” feels like it could have come out of the wounds of America post 9/11, but it didn’t. It came out 3 months prior. And yet at times the film suffers, possibly because it takes on too much. However, it gets enough right in its run-time to exhibit staying power, especially amidst the burgeoning Internet culture it was keen to comment on. 

“Swordfish” is quick to get to the punch and strews its cast with A-listers aplenty. It starts with an odd sermon by its villain, Gabriel (Travolta) on how movies aren’t realistic and insult audiences with banal endings. The irony of the scene (especially how wrong he gets “Dog Day Afternoon”) sets up a pictures that wants to play with misdirection to the nth degree. But the film gets us intrigued by its flashy production value (ie Travolta’s sleek, non-conventional suit and futuristic-looking cigar lighter), and by explaining how movies usually end (“it’s a morality tale… the bad guy has to go down”)—and its intent to subvert that. 

A Tale of Two Movies

Sena’s film wants to be big and bold, and I feel the production and screenplay by Writer Skip Woods wants to be two things at once. On the one hand, it dives us headfirst into a world of intrigue, cybercrime, and fancy gadgets, yet feels wholly intimate and small. And then on the other hand, the film’s $102M budget comes crashing through with stunts, car chases, shootouts, and a daring ending that sometimes feels like as though they don’t gel with the film’s other elements. It wants to give Travolta’s Gabriel imperative but tries too hard, and it wants to make Hackman’s Stanley Jobson not just an uber professional, but sexy. The film succeeds well. It doesn’t hurt Jackman was the it man of the time, filming “Swordfish,” “X-Men,” “Someone Like You,” and “Kate & Leopold” all within 2 years. 

“Swordfish” has enthralling scenes and it’s clear the production team spent their stunt budget well. The film’s computer hacking scene—where Jobson cracks into the Department of Defense with a gun to his head while a woman pleasures him—comes off more professionally than it should. And a chase scene between Hackman and the great Don Cheadle, the two tumbling down an endless sand dune toward the Los Angeles surf, stands out as a unique stunt I haven’t seen before. And yet other sequences sometimes threaten to take “Swordfish” out of its secret hacker land and into Michael Bay territory, especially a car chase full of assault rifle bursts and crowded streets. Yet Sena reels it in. He aligns Hackman with a surreptitious (ally?) of Gabriel’s (Halle Berry), even though it seems at times the cinematography team likes Balle undressing a little too much. 

Captures the Internet Craze Well

Of course, “Swordfish” is full of cliche, but do we go to action movies for otherwise? Hackman plays the part well and this is an interesting role for him, especially given the rom-coms he starred in at the time along with “X-Men,” also with Berry. This movie is barely out of the ‘90s; and of course even though Jobson went to jail for hacking crimes, he has ethics and did it to fight illegal government surveillance. He has a nightmare of an ex-wife (Drea de Matteo) and is fighting to get his daughter (an excellent Camryn Grimes) back.

The film also tries too hard with Gabriel. He commits vicious acts, yet his explanation for this is to “protect American freedoms.” Yet when he tells Stanley in the third act that he exists because “Americans take their freedoms for granted,” it kind of falls the wrong way. I wish Woods and Sena had come up with a better, more imperative reason for Gabriel’s existence. This film was intended to be a blockbuster, yet I don’t think it’s a popcorn film. It has something to say—especially in its relationship between Gabriel and Stanley—and is effective entertainment. 

A Solid Action Film

All-in-all, “Swordfish” is a good film. It’s a guilty pleasure and reeks of the early 2000s with all the computer fear and intrigue society had with high-tech toys which are now commonplace. It feels dated to watch its computer graphics now (savvy for the time), yet its action sequences, one liners (which are funny), and climax make it stick. Jobson and Gabriel are interesting characters, and it was nice to see Travolta play a role that wasn’t entirely evil off of “Face Off” and “Broken Arrow,” and for Hackman to play a role that wasn’t a rom-com. It has a good cast and plenty of action, even if it tries to explain its motives a little too much. And along the way, its meta-aware critique of Hollywood scripts—while acting out one—was a welcome angle. Without Travolta guiding the way the movie might have been farcical. However, he pulls it off and leave a fun film in his wake, even “Swordfish” never fares as well financially and critically as it had hoped.