Swordfish (2001)
Directed by Dominic Sena
Rogue agent Gabriel Shear is determined to get his mitts on $9 billion stashed in a secret Drug Enforcement Administration account. He wants the cash to fight terrorism, but lacks the computer skills necessary to hack into the government mainframe. Enter Stanley Jobson, a n'er-do-well encryption expert who can log into anything.
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What critics compared Swordfish to
There is supposed to be dumb fun here: Writers Rhett Rheese and Paul Wernick are basically pumping steroids into 2001’s Swordfish, ripping off a bigger check for destruction to the order of folks with skills, wealth or both who use anonymity to right wrongs.
The recent James Bond film “Skyfall” was visually spectacular and dramatically effective (as that formula goes), but its depiction of the Internet was standard-issue paranoia, thematically indistinguishable from that found in the circa-2000 wave of silly hacker movies like “Swordfish,” “Antitrust” and “Enemy of the State”: It’s a magical device or plot shortcut, used by bad guys to penetrate the free world’s intelligence agencies and blow stuff up.
Yet Jackson turns out a clever performance, despite some corny scenes, as does Don Cheadle (Traffic) and ex-soccer player Vinnie Jones (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels).
Vinnie Jones, the Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels soccer player-turned-actor, says very little (as usual), letting his demeanor do all the talking.