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Swordfish
Warner Bros.


7.3

based on 33 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 39 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA 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)

GENRE(S):	Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Skip Woods
DIRECTED BY:	Dominic Sena
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: October 30, 2001 Video: October 30, 2001 Theatrical: June 8, 2001
RUNNING TIME:	99 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

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.

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.

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.

Variety Todd McCarthy

A half-absorbing, half-ridiculous techno-thriller that often goes too far in search of audience-rousing effects.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

A high-impact, high-powered mess that raises the bar for over-the-topness.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Ridiculous but occasionally fun.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

So fast, sleek and riveting it almost makes you expect miracles -- which never materialize.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

The action is constant, often pointless, definitely gratuitous, and breathlessly fun.

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.

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.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

Jinxed itself into being nothing but an inane popcorn flick pretending to be edgy.

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.

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.

Slate David Edelstein

By the third big climax the audience started to get impatient with the movie's pointless zigs and zags.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

An action opera designed to elicit Beavis and Butt-head-level appreciation.

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.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Nobody really cares about the plot, least of all the filmmakers.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Exhibits rank incompetence on every level.

Newsweek David Ansen

Nutty paranoid thriller.

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.

Film.com Sean Means

John, John, John -- one more bad-guy role in a bad movie and you're going to need another comeback.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

About 45 minutes into Swordfish, the picture degenerates permanently from drivel to sleaze (only a short drop).

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

The cinema of morons made by morons for morons, Swordfish is everything you expect but worse.

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.

Swordfish Warner Bros.

Swordfish
Warner Bros.