This film has a great start. Travolta delivers a smug but intelligent, knowing, movie-reverential monologue, following which there is a terrific action sequence, then the rest of the film is told in flashback.
Which is where the wonderful sharpness of the opening comes to an end. What follows is a relatively standard action suspense thriller, wildly improbable in many respects, and with an ending which is so full of unexplained "Get out of Jail free" moments that you watch the closing credits thinking, "Huh?" There's a vastly improbable sequence where Jackman is running down a cliff (honest, guv), followed by a batch of secret service blokes, and it takes them about 10 minutes to reach the bottom. Which probably explains how the bloke who stayed with the car got there before them.
Travolta's brilliant getaway plan involves hooking a bus up to a helicopter and flying it to freedom over the city (because, of course, the police don't have any helicopters of their own - at least, according to Swordfish they don't - all pursuit by the authorities is strictly ground-based).
Which is not to say that there aren't good things to savour.
Travolta as the heavy is an acquired taste, but it's one I've acquired. You can feel his physical enjoyment coming off the screen.
Jackman oozes sincerity in every frame he's in.
The girl playing his daughter is good.
Miss Berry is, as always, hot, and more so in the underwear scene than in the display of boobage scene.
This film scores a 7 because I'm a bloke. If I was a woman, and Halle's hotness wasn't a factor, I'd score it a 6.
5 out of 7 found this helpful