A covert counter-terrorist unit called Black Cell led by Gabriel Shear wants the money to help finance their war against international terrorism, but it's all locked away. Gabriel brings in convicted hacker Stanley Jobson to help him.
When the daughter of a well-known and well-respected base commander is murdered, an undercover detective is summoned to look into the matter and finds a slew of cover-ups at West Point.
Director:
Simon West
Stars:
John Travolta,
Madeleine Stowe,
James Cromwell
A D.E.A. Agent investigates the disappearance of a legendary Army Ranger Drill Sergeant and several of his cadets during a training exercise gone severely awry.
Director:
John McTiernan
Stars:
John Travolta,
Samuel L. Jackson,
Connie Nielsen
In order to foil an extortion plot, an FBI agent undergoes a facial transplant surgery and assumes the identity and physical appearance of a terrorist, but the plan turns from bad to worse when the same terrorist impersonates the FBI agent.
A firefighter, injured and trapped in a burning building, has flashbacks of his life as he drifts in and out of consciousness. Meanwhile, fellow firefighters led by the Chief attempt to rescue him.
Director:
Jay Russell
Stars:
Joaquin Phoenix,
John Travolta,
Jacinda Barrett
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.Written by
Jeff Cross <blackjac_1998@yahoo.com>
The scene in which the bus is swung, was actually shot by hiring a group of people to sit in a bus, in front of a blue screen, while they swung the bus from a crane. According to the Stunt Coordinators, the same effect could have been portrayed for half the cost. See more »
Goofs
Most references to cryptography and computer security, and the ease with which they can be defeated, are fantasy. The filmmakers did this so as not to enable criminals. See more »
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 ...
See more »
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. See more »
Alternate Versions
Alternate television takes were shot for the scene with Ginger at the pool (she wears a bikini) and where Stanley hacks into the main frame of the Departement of Defense (Helga is not there). See more »
In the opening sequence of the movie, John Travolta laments the lack of realism in the Hollywood movie industry. As this over the top movie races through its seemingly endless scenes of gratuitous violence, overkill and overacting, I could only wonder at the illogical hypocrisy of this argument.
The absurd plotline, surprisingly there is one, merely provides a mechanism for delivering pointless car chases, gunfights and explosions, even Halle Berry's much publicised topless scene was so shameless gratuitous and unappealling, I couldn't see what the fuss was about. And as for the hip techno-gadgetry that underlines the movie, I wonder whether the production team had any semblance of an idea of what goes on the hacking world, I mean can you imagine Kevin Mitnick hacking into the FBI mainframe in 60 seconds with a gun at his head and a blonde between his legs?
When Travolta reveals the motive for his maniacal tendencies - to hit back hard at terrorists who threaten the good old US of A, I cringed at the prospect of American Neanderthals whooping in support.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for High Octance adventure movies, but when they're made as awfully as Swordfish, they deserve to be left as a warning to other directors.
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In the opening sequence of the movie, John Travolta laments the lack of realism in the Hollywood movie industry. As this over the top movie races through its seemingly endless scenes of gratuitous violence, overkill and overacting, I could only wonder at the illogical hypocrisy of this argument.
The absurd plotline, surprisingly there is one, merely provides a mechanism for delivering pointless car chases, gunfights and explosions, even Halle Berry's much publicised topless scene was so shameless gratuitous and unappealling, I couldn't see what the fuss was about. And as for the hip techno-gadgetry that underlines the movie, I wonder whether the production team had any semblance of an idea of what goes on the hacking world, I mean can you imagine Kevin Mitnick hacking into the FBI mainframe in 60 seconds with a gun at his head and a blonde between his legs?
When Travolta reveals the motive for his maniacal tendencies - to hit back hard at terrorists who threaten the good old US of A, I cringed at the prospect of American Neanderthals whooping in support.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for High Octance adventure movies, but when they're made as awfully as Swordfish, they deserve to be left as a warning to other directors.