John Travolta's character in this movie goes on a bit of an extended rant during the opening credits about how the problem with Hollywood is that it produces nothing but crap. The reason for this, he says, is the lack of realism found in their movies, citing an old Al Pacino movie, Dog Day Afternoon methinks, as an example. Just not enough realism. Not enough of the bad guy shooting hostages in order to prove his point and get what he wants faster.
I do hope the irony about this little speech and the fact that they airlift a freakin' bus aren't lost on either writers, actors, director, or audience.
Swordfish, starring Travolta, Hugh Jackman, and Halle Berry, is the latest in consipracy, tech, internet-based thrillers. It stars Travolta as... umm... gee, y'know, it's hard to say without giving away much of the story. Suffice it to say, he's sort of an anti-terrorist terrorist (he terrorizes the terrorists, essentially), but in order to finance this mission of his and keep America safe from terrorists and their terror-filled plots, he needs money. A lot of money. A lot of money that's found in this long-forgotten U.S. slush-fund that's just been sitting around gathering interest for the past 15 years or so, if not longer. Enter Jackman's character, Stanley, who is hired by Travolta to crack into this system and transfer the funds to his account. Enter Berry as Travolta's confidante and the woman who pulls Jackman into this, and you've got the entire cast ready to go!
Unfortunately, the plot's a bit convoluted. It twists one too many times, and even these twists aren't all that surprising. I mean, let's face it, after The Matrix's interesting twist on reality and Fight Club's journey into the human mind, it's hard to surprise people these days. The last time I had a really good brain-fuck was when I saw The Game (go and rent it! it's well worth the time!) with Micheal Douglas and Sean Penn.
But maybe I'm being too critical (this movie isn't trying to fuck with your brain, after all). Maybe this movie was just trying to be clever when really all it needed was a credible plot with more than just one credible character (I speak of Jackman's role, if you were wondering). I know, I know, it's a thriller, whaddya expect? Well, thrills for one thing. This movie was sorely lacking in them. The only genuinely tense moment is right at the beginning of the movie, right before the first big explosion (one of the most impressive "booms" I've seen in a long time, I must say). After that, it was essentially all about watching Jackman and Travolta do their thing. At least they look like they're enjoying themselves, and that's a good thing for certain. Problem is, that's all this movie really has going for it. The scene with the bus (we've all seen it lift off in the promos) just didn't do it for me. I mean, I'm all for implausibilities in my movies, but that was pushing it even for me.
Don't get me wrong. I'm all for bad movies. Some are quite enjoyable (I had a ball when I saw Dungeons & Dragons despite the fact that it was a bad movie; The Evil Dead trilogy freakin' rocks, too), but this one bored me. It just wasn't exciting.
But, then again, I'm just a jaded film-goer who would like to see Hollywood produce more than just one or two good movies per year.