Explosive
Summary
Swordfish remains a fun if silly techno thriller with some crazy action and John Travolta on fine form. It looks and sounds faultless on 4K but it’s too bad there wasn’t much new in terms of special features.
Plot: There exists a world within our world. A world beneath what we call cyberspace. A world protected by firewalls, passwords and the most advanced security systems. In this world we hide our deepest secrets, our most incriminating information, and of course, a whole lot of money. This is the world of “Swordfish.” The world’s most dangerous spy is hired by the CIA to coerce a computer hacker recently released from prison to help steal $6 billion in unused government funds.
Review: I recently picked up the new 4K of Swordfish from Arrow video as I only ever had the film on DVD; it doesn’t get talked about much these days but still holds up as a sexy techno thriller.
Swordfish has John Travolta on sparkling form as a mysterious Eurotrash inspired “villain” with his hilarious hairdo and flashy sports cars where he is out to save the world from terrorists… despite the fact he just might be one too. I love his opening monologue about Hollywood which foreshadows the film’s finale about misdirection.
I think what people remember most about this movie is Halle Barry who gives a revealing performance and you’re never quite sure whose side she is on.
At just over 90 minutes Swordfish is perfectly paced with a story packed with twists and some spectacular action scenes, especially the finale when the bus becomes airborne.
I loved the techno-inspired soundtrack by Paul Oakenfold and even after several years I still listen to it regularly; the score also works well and adds to the excitement during the climactic action sequence in the city.
Hugh Jackman gave a very sympathetic performance although his character does some unbelievably stupid things at times. For example, when they are robbing the bank and he decides to screw the bad guys over at the last minute thus endangering the life of his child; I found that very hard to swallow and it took me out of the story a little.
The film always looked great, but in 4K the colours are vibrant and pop off the screen. It’s the best Swordfish has ever looked, and the music nearly burst my speakers with its deep bass. This is a movie born for this format and really benefits from it.
There are some archive special features, but we get a few new ones:
- Audio Commentaryfeaturing Dominic Sena
- NEW Soundtrack Hacker – Interview with Paul Oakenfold(HD 12:31)
- NEW How to Design a Tech Heist Interview with Production Designer Jeff Mann(HD 20:49)
- HBO First Look: Swordfish(SD 15:02)
- Effects in Focus: The Flying Bus(SD 8:14)
- Planet Rock Club Reel(SD 4:11)
- Swordfish: In Conversation(SD 12:47)
- Alternate Ending 1 w/ optional Dominic Sena Commentary(SD 3:48)
- Alternate Ending 2 w/ optional Dominic Sena Commentary(SD 2:08)
- Theatrical Trailer(HD 2:12)
I enjoyed the interview with Paul Oakenfold where he discusses how he always wanted to create music for films; he also mentions meeting Michael Mann for Ready, Steady, Go which was used in Collateral. The How to Design a Heist Interview is also fascinating, but the rest of the features we’ve seen before. Alternate Endings are one of the reasons I still buy physical media; I love seeing what could have been and seeing how they tried several ending for this movie but I believe the one they used was the correct one. Director Dominic Sena didn’t like the ending where Stan (Jackman) manages to hack into Gabriel’s accounts as it made Gabriel look unprepared and he was always one step ahead of Stan.
Overall, Swordfish is still an entertaining and rather sleazy techno thriller with some awesome music and spectacular action scenes. The film was made for 4K and there are enough special features to keep you entertained even if there isn’t much that’s new.