Swordfish

A souped-up roadster of a film, a relentless action flick that looks great and moves with more grace and speed than seems possible.

So much luck is pressed with an absurdly overblown finale that 60 seconds will likely be Swordfish's shelf life after a couple of noisy opening weekends.

So fast, sleek and riveting it almost makes you expect miracles -- which never materialize.

Another in a long line of middling movies for Travolta, who must have been so stunned to regain his stardom with "Pulp Fiction" that he hasn't stopped working since.

It's a film that reeks of stupidity and cynicism, one that makes you feel soiled just to have sat through it.

Exhibits rank incompetence on every level.

The cinema of morons made by morons for morons, Swordfish is everything you expect but worse.

Greetings from Lithuania. "Swordfish" (2001) is my guilty pleasure heist flick that I did enjoy back in 2001 when it was released and upon revisiting it in 2026 on stunning 4K UHD release by Arrow videos. If one does get to chance to watch this film on this brand new restoration by Arrow then do so, as picture quality is amazing. Back to the film - it is not a great one by any means and it is one of those films from back in the day when internet was on rising and tech. stuff was a plot device. Looking at it in 2026 it is cringe worthy, but this film still hold for me due it is excellent pacing (at running time 1 h 35 min it never draggs). It is fun, fast paced, with solid performances by everyone except of Travolta. Ending is exciting and memorable heist set piece. Overall, "Swordfish" is not a great film, but I do enjoy it quite a lot due to its pacing and share entertainment value. A surprisingly fun flick.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

C’est un film décidément très étonnant, tellement étonnant que ce soit au début ou à la toute fin, on reste gros Jean comme devant : on n’a en effet rien pigé à cette espèce d’arnaque à la con menée par un génie du crime mégalomane et omniscient… pour la bonne cause (ou pas) à l’insu du plein gré de margoulins qui tirent plus ou moins quelque grosse ficelle… ou pas ! C’est un peu à cet égard comme la Casa de Papel : ça part dans tous les sens n’importe quand, n’importe comment… pourvu que ça continue de rebondir ici et là : car peu importe le flacon, pourvu qu’on ait l’ivresse ! le scénariste a donc picolé comme un ouf et sniffé aussi beaucoup trop de colle… Mais Travolta est là, il cabotine avec bonheur et application. Ce serait quelqu’un d’autre, j’aurais trouvé cela insupportable… mais c’est Travolta, il sait cabotiner mieux qu’un cabot expert, c’est un vrai troll en fait ! du début à la fin. Il est brillant et charismatique. L’autre andouille Jackman n’avait pas encore pris un paquet de produits pour sa gonflette : on le reconnaît donc à peine ! il est ici le dindon de la farce, juste un poil énervant. On peut regretter d’ailleurs la guimauve ridicule de ce papa divorcé (franchement, on s’en bat les couilles de sa morveuse !). La bombe afro-américaine est bien sûr la Berry que certains ont cru apercevoir aux halles (mais ils étaient bourrés) : super sexy, ça fait plaisir ! Enfin, la réalisation (aux couleurs saturées) est parfois un peu trop coupée (mais rien d’alarmant) ; les effets speciaux ne sont pas toujours irréprochables (mais rien d’inquiétant) ; le spectacle reste en tout cas au rendez-vous. C’est un film vraiment distrayant… mais beaucoup trop bordélique et pas crédible pour un dollar. On dirait du Tom Clancy… qui a trop picolé.

Not sure much of this film makes sense but it's entertaining and well-acted.

Arriving at the tail end of Hollywood's naïve fascination with the imaginary lifestyles of the underworld’s most glamorous hackers, Swordfish is an utterly ludicrous daydream without even the hint of a connection to reality. It's loaded with stars - Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry and John Travolta (of all people) take the leads, with supporting shots from Don Cheadle and Vinnie Jones - but terribly acted and thoroughly stiff, narrow and postured. The plot stabs in all directions without hitting anything substantial, more wrapped up in looking cool than going anywhere, and has its priorities so far out of whack that it actually expects the audience to deify the same character that's shown casually slaughtering dozens of innocents in the very first scene. As vapid, cheesy, overindulgent mind-numbers go, it's a real jewel.