Swordfish: The Art of Deception

Studio: Warner Bros.
Starring: John Travolta (The Punisher, Face/Off) as Gabriel, Hugh Jackman (X-Men Trilogy, The Prestige) as Stanley Jobson, Halle Berry (Gothica, X-Men Trilogy) as Ginger Knowles, Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda, Ocean’s Trilogy) as J.T. Roberts
Directed By: Dominic Sena (Gone in 60 Seconds)

The Story
Stanley Jobson (Jackman) is having a hard time. He’s just got out of jail, his ex-wife has a court order banning him from visiting his daughter, has a crap job, and is broke. Life ain’t good at all, but when charismatic covert agent, Gabriel (Travolta) offers him $10 million if he can hack into a secret government slush fund to steal $9.5 billion, things go from bad to worse.

Gabriel needs the money to fight globel terrorism and will stop at nothing to achieve his goal, even strapping 15 pounds of ball bearing and 20 pounds of C-4 to innocent civilian hostages and kidnapping Stanley’s 10-year-old daughter to get what he wants. He strongly believes in fighting terror with terror, and wars cost money. Stanley reluctantly helps, all the while being pursued by special agent Roberts (Cheadle) and seduced by Gabriel’s squeeze, Ginger (Berry).

Swordfish [Blu-ray] has many interesting twists and surprises. My favourite is the chase involving the police and aerial bus, which, incidentally, was not CGI, but very real. This film received a lot of flack and the release was even delayed in the U.K. because the original theatrical release date (mid-September 2001) was overshadowed by the horrendous attacks in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington. Fighting terror with terror doesn’t seem so outlandish now, does it? It also received a bit of flack over Halle Berry whipping her puppies out. $250,000 a pop, wasn’t it?

If you like good, fast action, you’ll love this. I did. The movie runs for 100 minutes. I give it 8/10.

The Visuals
As per usual, Warner opted for a VC-1 encode, as opposed to a superior AVC video encode. You’d never tell, though, because the images are beautiful. Skin colors are spot on. Close up detail is superb, as are distant city shots. There is often a soft golden glow, but this is the intent of the filmmaker. Shadow detail is very good. This is a clear step up from the standard definition DVD. This merits an 8/10.

The Audio
If any movie was deserving of a great lossless Dolby Tru-HD or PCM soundtrack, it was Swordfish, especially the “walking claymore mine” explosion at the beginning, or the huge machine gun being fired by Travolta’s character.

Unfortunately, all we have is DD5.1 @ 640 kbps. True, it’s a great mix, but I wonder what it would have sounded like in DTHD at maybe 10 times the bandwidth. I think they’d still be peeling me off the ceiling. Panning is accurate and all channels are used vigorously. Dialogue is never drowned out and gunfire sounded real.

I only hope when Warner goes BD exclusive on June 1st this title will be considered for an audio overhaul. After heating I Am Legend’s superb DTHD soundtrack, I know Warner can do it and do it well. Here’s hoping. For now, I’ll give it 7/10.

The Extras
Basically, all the supplements from the previous DVD are enclosed here, including those that you had to enter a passcode to access.

First, we have an audio commentary by director Dominic Sena. Next, we have HBO First Look: Swordfish, basically a PR piece featuring input rom everyone on board. An enjoyable watch, and it runs for 15 minutes in standard definition.

Next, we have Effects in Focus: The Flying Bus. This 8-minute featurette shows how the flying bus sequence was filmed.Only shown in S/D. Swordfish: In Conversation is almost 13 minutes of cast and crew interviews, also in S/D.

There are 2 alternative endings with optional commentary by the director shown in standard definition, as well as the theatrical trailer, still in S/D.

Finally, we have the Planet Rock Club Reel music video by D.J. Paul Oakenfold. Being an admirer of Mr. Oakenfold for many years, I actually did warm-up DJ at the Ministry of Sound in London one night he was performing), I can appreciate this music track. I know many Americans will not (Dixie Chicks, anyone?).

A good collection of extras. I just wish that they were in hi-def. I give it 6/10.

Overall Impact
I really enjoyed Swordfish. The action, twists, and that explosion – WOW. Great visuals, good audio, and good extras – highly recommended. I give it an 8/10 total.

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