Swordfish (2001)

A secretive renegade counter-terrorist co-opts the world's greatest hacker (who is trying to stay clean) to steal billions in US Government dirty money.

Director:

Dominic Sena

Writer:

Skip Woods

Stars:

John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry

4 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Travolta	...	Gabriel Shear
Hugh Jackman	...	Stanley Jobson
Halle Berry	...	Ginger Knowles
Don Cheadle	...	Agent J.T. Roberts
Sam Shepard	...	Senator James Reisman
Vinnie Jones	...	Marco
Drea de Matteo	...	Melissa
Rudolf Martin	...	Axl Torvalds
Zach Grenier	...	Assistant Director Bill Joy
Camryn Grimes	...	Holly Jobson
Angelo Pagan	...	Torres (as Angelo Pagán)
Chic Daniel	...	SWAT Leader
Kirk B.R. Woller	...	Axel's Lawyer
Carmen Argenziano	...	Agent
Tim DeKay	...	Agent

Storyline

When the DEA shut down its dummy corporation operation codenamed SWORDFISH in 1986, they had generated $400 million which they let sit around; fifteen years of compound interest has swelled it to $9.5 billion. A covert counter-terrorist unit called Black Cell, headed by the duplicitious and suave Gabriel Shear, wants the money to help finance their raise-the-stakes vengeance war against international terrorism, but it's all locked away behind super-encryption. He brings in convicted hacker Stanley Jobson, who only wants to see his daughter Holly again but can't afford the legal fees, to slice into the government mainframes and get the money.

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Plot Keywords:

computer | terrorism | falling from height | lens flare | nonlinear timeline | 

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Taglines:

Log On. Hack In. Go Anywhere. Get Everything.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, language and some sexuality/nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official Site [us]

Country:

USA Australia

Language:

English German

Release Date:

8 June 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Passwort: Swordfish

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$80,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$220,064 (Austria) (2 November 2001)

Gross:

$30,393,888 (Europe) (16 November 2001)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jonathan Krane Group, NPV Entertainment, Silver Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

At one point during Stanley's attempt to hack into the Department of Defense database, his screen shows six numbers that appear to be IP addresses. (The first is 213.225.312.5.) The numbers between decimal points in an IP address, called "octets", are decimal representations of 8-bit numbers (8 binary digits of either 0 or 1). Therefore, the range of decimal numbers for an octet is 0 to 255, because 11111111 in binary is 255 in decimal. The IP addresses on Stanley's screen each contain one octet higher than 255 (such as 312 in the first example), which is apparently the filmmakers' way of ensuring that no one's real IP address appeared.

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Goofs

When Stanley enters decryption code on the screen we see about 10 lines of code on the first shot. When the camera returns a couple of seconds later, the same 10 lines are being reproduced.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Gabriel: You know what the problem with Hollywood is? They make shit. Unbelievable, unremarkable shit. Now I'm not some grungy wannabe filmmaker that's searching for existentialism through a haze of bong smoke or something. No, it's easy to pick apart bad acting, short-sighted directing, and a purely moronic stringing together of words that many of the studios term as "prose". No, I'm talking about the lack of realism. Realism; not a pervasive element in today's modern American cinematic ...

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Crazy Credits

The opening studio logos for Warner Bros and Village Roadshow Productions flicker as if they were on a problematic computer screen. Other than those logos and the movie's title, there are no opening credits.

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Connections

Featured in Spike's Guys Choice (2009)

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Soundtracks

"Get Out of My Life Now"
Written by Paul Oakenfold, Andy Gray and Steve Sacre
Performed by Paul Oakenfold and amoebaassassin
Courtesy of London-Sire Records

User Reviews

Log on, Tap in, and Drop Down for Action with Two Boobs and a Babe

After a stint in prison, handsome computer hacker Hugh Jackman (as Stanley Jobson) wants to see his daughter, but her scummy mother warns him to stay away from the girl. While working on his golf swing, Mr. Jackman is contacted by sexy Halle Barry (as Ginger Knowles), who offers Jackman an assignment hacking a billion dollar account called "Swordfish" for home-grown terrorist John Travolta (as Gabriel Shear). If he can hack into the billions, Jackman is promised $10,000,000 and access to his daughter. Jackman, who apparently works best while receiving oral sex ordered by Mr. Travolta at gunpoint, accepts the job.

Director Dominic Sena opens with Travolta talking what turns out to be an action-packed Los Angeles hostage situation.

Then, the story flashes back four days, and is told chronologically. The opening is nicely done, and the film is filled with action. The story doesn't hang together quite as well, however. You're left filling in some of the blanks by yourself. For example, if Jackman didn't shoot down a certain helicopter, just figure it would have hovered around town until someone did. By the way, this is the film for which Ms. Berry received a $500,000 bonus for exposing her breasts. That's $250,000 per boob, folks, and it's over quickly. Conversely, Travolta was paid $20,000,000 and keeps his shirt on. Go figure.

***** Swordfish (6/4/01) Dominic Sena ~ Hugh Jackman, John Travolta, Halle Berry, Don Cheadle