'Swordfish' opens with what at first appears to be a bank robbery going horribly wrong; the police pull a hostage wearing an explosive jacket away from one of the criminals and she explodes causing major damage. We then jump back four days and see a computer hacker arrested coming into the United States; he is then killed while in FBI custody. A second hacker, Stanley Jobson, is approached by a beautiful woman, Ginger Knowles, and offered a job… at first he declines as he will be sent to jail if he so much as touches a computer but when offered $100,000 just to discuss the job he can't say no. After a rather extreme test of his skills he finds that his potential employer, Gabriel Shear, will pay him ten million dollars if he helps him steal over nine billion dollars from secret government slush funds. Shear states that he intends to use the money to fund a private war on terrorism. Things soon get very dangerous for Stanley; the FBI are closing in on him and Shear's backer wants to shut down the operation permanently. If that weren't enough it appears that Ginger is an undercover DEA agent.This film starts well with an intriguing prologue and the story provides plenty of action and excitement from start to finish. There are numerous explosions and shooting scenes as well as other tense moments. There are however moments that don't look that real; the first explosion may have looked great when the film was new but the CGI enhancements are fairly obvious and the hacking scenes are fairly painful to watch even people like me who know nothing about hacking know it wouldn't look like that… it was hard to believe Stanley was even typing rather than just pressing keys rather fast! At least the shootout while driving through LA was pretty cool and the way a bus was carried by a Skycrane helicopter was impressive. The cast did a solid job; Hugh Jackman was solid as Stanley, John Travolta hammed it up delightfully as Shear and Halle Berry impressed as Ginger… even if her topless sunbathing scene was an entirely gratuitous excuse to show her bare breasts. While his role wasn't that large Don Cheadle was fine as FBI Agent J.T. Roberts, it is a pity his role wasn't larger. Overall this is a decent enough action film which it entertaining if you can suspend your disbelief and ignore a few obvious flaws.

"Stanley" (Hugh Jackman) is a world-class hacker who has recently been tried in a court-of-law and put on a probation which not only requires him to notify the law prior to leaving the state of Texas but also forbids him to use any computer devices as well. Not only that, but his wife has left him and taken their daughter to Los Angeles. Things are pretty bad. As a result he settles for a low-wage job in Midland and does the best that he can. However, one day a beautiful woman named "Ginger" (Halle Berry) comes to his home and offers him a sizable portion of money just to simply meet with her employer. Although he is reluctant at first he realizes that he cannot turn down the money being offered and goes to Los Angeles for the meeting. It's then that he meets a mysterious person named "Gabriel" (John Travolta) who essentially makes him an offer that he cannot refuse. What Stanley doesn't realize, however, is that both Gabriel and Ginger have secrets which are yet to be revealed and that the job is much more dangerous than he initially suspects. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an entertaining film mainly because of the action and suspense. Additionally, the presence of Halle Berry certainly didn't hurt either. Unfortunately, the plot lacked the necessary realism which resulted in some incredibly unbelievable scenes. Only in Hollywood. Yet in spite of it all I still found this film to be somewhat entertaining and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Now this is what I call a movie, a proper high octane action movie! The opening sequence sets the scene for the whole movie, with a matrix like 360 degree panoramic slow mo, but not of someone kicking someone else. Oh no! This is a 2 zillion frames per second, or maybe less I don't know, shot of an exploding bomb, one filled with ball bearings which zoom out at you. Turn the volume up because the sound accompliment is awesome, making full use of the dolby 5.1 format, great stuff. Like I said, this sets the scene for the rest of the movie, complete with guns, gals, explosions and all the rest of the essential elements of a great action flick. The plot thickens nicely, the acting of John Travolta is great for the role, and the performance of Halle Berry is what you would expect of an Oscar winner. I bought it the day it came out. I highly recommend you add it to your collection too!

This is a preposterous load of tosh, with Hugh Jackman as an IT expert being suborned by John Travolta to hack into hidden CIA cash reserves (for the best of reasons, obviously). The plot twists and turns, (is JT and bad guy? A good guy? A bad good guy? what?), Halle Berry is gorgeous as the cinematic eye candy, Hugh struggles to do what's right, and Vinnie Jones is utterly crap as a hard man (as usual...). If you like crime thrillers, you will love the roller coaster ride. A firm favourite - I've probably watched it into double figures by now.Music throughout is by Paul Oakenfold and is great. Halle Berry is great in this film and it does have an interesting twist at the end.. Would really recommend this film to buy as you will watch it again. Really good film to watch.