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Swordfish

Generally unfavorable reviews
Based on 33 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 39 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller
Written by: Skip Woods
Directed by: Dominic Sena
Release Date:
Theatrical: June 8, 2001
DVD: October 30, 2001
Running Time: 99 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for violence, language and some sexuality/nudity
Starring John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Don Cheadle, Vinnie Jones, Camryn Grimes, and Sam Shepard
A dark counter-espionage action thriller about power, money, sacrifice and 21st-century breaking and entering. (Warner Brothers)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
A souped-up roadster of a film, a relentless action flick that looks great and moves with more grace and speed than seems possible.
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
A good movie? Hardly. But more than enough to pass a dog day afternoon.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
It's skillfully mounted and fitfully intriguing, but weaves such a tangled web that at the end I defy anyone in the audience to explain the exact loyalties and motives of the leading characters.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
The liveliest and most engaging time killer to come out of Hollywood in a long while. It's junk, to be sure, but it is superbly made junk.
New Times (L.A.) Luke Y. Thompson
If you like stuff breaking in THX, Swordfish delivers like no other this year. Bring earplugs.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
A half-absorbing, half-ridiculous techno-thriller that often goes too far in search of audience-rousing effects.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
A high-impact, high-powered mess that raises the bar for over-the-topness.
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
So fast, sleek and riveting it almost makes you expect miracles -- which never materialize.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
The action is constant, often pointless, definitely gratuitous, and breathlessly fun.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
A slick, cynical, nasty piece of heist-film plotting that hides its more obvious logical gaps in techno-babble and distracting spectacles of wanton violence and big explosions.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
So much luck is pressed with an absurdly overblown finale that 60 seconds will likely be Swordfish's shelf life after a couple of noisy opening weekends.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan
Jinxed itself into being nothing but an inane popcorn flick pretending to be edgy.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Noisy and obnoxious, this flashy action picture is so hell-bent on seeming smart that it fairly forces you to think about how fundamentally stupid it is.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Feels like every other action thriller we've seen in the past three years, only it's more annoying -- and, in some cases, more appalling -- because it's trying so hard to distinguish itself.
Read Full Review >Slate David Edelstein
By the third big climax the audience started to get impatient with the movie's pointless zigs and zags.
Read Full Review >Mr. Showbiz Cody Clark
Swordfish is exactly the kind of nominally high-octane actioner that breeds legions of apologists who will encourage you to "check your brain at the door" before seeing it.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine Peter Rainer
Another in a long line of middling movies for Travolta, who must have been so stunned to regain his stardom with "Pulp Fiction" that he hasn't stopped working since.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
It's hard to say with certainty whether it's insufficient plot or insufficient interpretation that's responsible for Travolta's waxwork performance.
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Not all cartoon violence; there's cartoon nudity, too. Berry was paid a well-publicized $500,000 bonus to bare her breasts in the movie.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Michael Atkinson
The story -- is just what fills in the gaps between slow-motion fireballs, Matrix-style frozen mayhem, and Halle Berry's notoriously undraped breasts.
Read Full Review >New York Post Jonathan Foreman
It's a film that reeks of stupidity and cynicism, one that makes you feel soiled just to have sat through it.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham
This lurid thriller comes to life in fits and starts, and then sinks into the bog of its own cleverness once again.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
An action opera designed to elicit Beavis and Butt-head-level appreciation.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
Turns into a meticulously choreographed bang-by-the-numbers action fantasy that I would accuse of peddling evil if the film weren't so dumb and incoherent.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
Nobody really cares about the plot, least of all the filmmakers.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
An ugly exercise in big-budget carnage.
Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
A kind of dirty fairy tale in which people with nasty attitudes inhabit a trash-talking, macho world of fast cars and complaisant women.
Read Full Review >Film.com Sean Means
John, John, John -- one more bad-guy role in a bad movie and you're going to need another comeback.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
About 45 minutes into Swordfish, the picture degenerates permanently from drivel to sleaze (only a short drop).
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Manohla Dargis
The cinema of morons made by morons for morons, Swordfish is everything you expect but worse.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.3 (out of 10) based on 39 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
[Anonymous] gave it a6:
There are thrills to be had, like the Chopper carrying the bus in the air and THe car chase with the TVR. There's also the club-esque attitude of the atmosphere, and a sleek stylish feel, with a house soundtrack to match. Unfortunately, horrendously incoherent writing and atrocious dialogue, ultimately derail Swordfish from being good, rendering it an incoherent mess with worthy moments and a touch of style. Overall, maybe worth a watch, if you can enjoy the grimness and the junkish attitude.
Frank O. gave it a5:
A convoluted plot that I did not understand, waste of good talent on this flick... a nice rental but I would not pay full price to see it.
chetan sa gave it an8:
Very cool awesome movie .
Prophecy gave it a 10:
How can you not like this movie it makes you think "whats really going on" troughout the whole lenght i guess some ppl are insulted that a 15 year old actually understands it while a 25+ is to stupid to understand the depth to this story.
Brittany gave it a 10:
Best movie I have seen in a long time... Gets people thinking about all the freaks protecting us....
Jef rtt gave it a 10:
Good movie ***** out of *****
Navid gave it a 10:
Very good movie. It had both action packed scences and also story line which will keep you thinking if he was justified for what he was doing or not. i.e do ends justify the means.
