Swordfish

REVIEW
Travolta hams it up as the suave, conceited leader of a gang of cyber-crooks who blackmail hunky ex-con Jackman into committing a dastardly hack job, all as a ruse to distract the cops from their true objective. An infuriatingly slow, unnecessarily talky crime thriller, Swordfish is notable only for an explosive opening, a spectacularly silly chase involving an airborne city bus, some crackling sexual tension between Jackman and Berry (who previously teamed for X-Men) and for the surprisingly protracted shot of Berry’s bodacious, bared boobs. Producer Joel Silver has delivered some hardcore testosterone-pumped hits before (Matrix, Die Hard), and director Seña managed to make parts of Gone in 60 Seconds fun. Yet, somehow, in collaborating on a seemingly sure-fire connect-the-dots formula flick like this, they’ve spawned a cold, limp fish indeed.