Swordfish
January 2002 Reviewed by: Anthony Di Marco Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

Joel Silver usually produces well-crafted and exciting action yarns. Films like Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, and The Matrix have the distinction of sporting well-written scripts and charismatic leads, which lends credibility to some admittedly far-fetched plotlines. Also, Silver’s films don’t offend an audience’s intelligence, since many of them wink an eye at their own fantastic plots. When my mood calls for it, I truly enjoy Joel Silver’s films. Unlike the films of Jerry Bruckheimer, their quality allows me to sit back and relax without feeling battered by an onslaught of excessive nonsense.

Swordfish has no such quality. In fact, if it weren't for the credits, I would've guessed Mr. Bruckheimer was behind this egregious piece of garbage. As an audience we’re asked to invest in characters that aren’t likable, moral, or particularly human. We're left with superficial and unsympathetic pretty faces with no appeal. Undoubtedly better writing would have helped. The script is fashioned from overused one-liners and melodramatic attempts at sincere emotion. When Stanley Jobson (Jackman) goes to meet his estranged daughter, we get wooden acting and soap-opera sentimentality, which seems a far departure from his solid role as Wolverine. When Gabriel Shear preaches about patriotism and self-sacrifice, I see the one-note Travolta ripping himself off from countless other bad-guy roles. Even the typically reliable Don Cheadle (Traffic, Boogie Nights) fails miserably as a mundane cop.

If you think the action and explosions in Swordfish are enough to balance its uninspiring characters, you likely haven’t sat through it. Poorly choreographed car chases, completely incoherent pseudo computer science, and heavy-handed attempts at instilling tension sink many of the film’s pivotal scenes. One of the worst of these is a scene involving Stan as he creates his encryption-eating worm. It makes me wonder if the film’s technology consultant also found himself drinking wine and dancing about while working on complex computer code.

If you discount the overdone visual style and cinematography, the pictures and audio on Swordfish are better than it deserves. Images are pretty sharp and well balanced while the Dolby Digital soundtrack has nice range and enough explosions to keep synapses temporarily tranquilized. Christopher Young’s music is also better than this embarrassment warrants. And in some instances, it resembles those memorable orchestrations Michael Kamen has penned for other Silver films.

Extras are OK and include a commentary by Dominic Sena, which surprisingly only confirms my negative feelings for the film. Behind-the-scenes logistical problems, off-the-cuff script revisions, and Joel Silver’s input on explosions and sound-pressure levels, rather than on the story, give evidence of fundamental problems with this production. Ironically, I enjoyed the commentary more than the film! Alternate endings prove to be incredibly dull, though they may have been more interesting had I liked the film.

Who knows why Joel Silver felt he needed to plagiarize from the Jerry Bruckheimer book of lackluster flicks, why he figured that Dominic Sena (Gone in Sixty Seconds) was a good choice to direct, or why he believed Skip Woods’ script was a winner. All I can hope for is a speedy recovery from whatever creative crisis the talented producer is going through and pray its effects aren’t permanent.

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