Swordfish

Great movie

John Travolta made at least 3 action movies from 1994 - 2001. The 1994 Quentin Tarantino PULP FICTION with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 96. The 1997 John Woo FACE OFF with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 82. Then in 2001 he teamed up with Halle Berry and Hugh Jackman to make SWORDFISH. The critics panned it (Rotten Tomatoes 26) and only 59 percent of the audience liked it. Now all 3 films have received 4K restorations. In my opinion both FACEOFF and PULP FICTION while good are too long. PULP FICTION, if done by any director other than Tarantino would probably have been panned for the language. Which leads me to this underrated gem SWORDFISH. It's a tight 99 minutes. The film probably has one of the best action film openings ever made. Twist and turns throughout. Even Halle Berry made cinema news by accepting additional monies to appear partially nude. Then ARROW decided to lovingly scan the original 35mm camera negative in 4K/16 bit resolution and color graded it at Duplitech under the approval of Director Dominic Senna. Of the three restorations, this may be the biggest improvement over all previous formats. The sound is lossless DTS 5.1 (for purist there is also the original lossless stereo track). Were the elements available for DOLBY ATMOS? I don't know. However the sound does not disappoint. If you are a fan this is a MUST OWN! If you have never seen SWORDFISH before this is definitely the format to watch!

Swordfish has in my opinion one of the best openings to a movie I have ever seen. The writing here is so superb, I think it should have been worthy of an Oscar nomination for John Travolta just for this scene alone. It introduces the character of Gabriel played by Travolta. At first you don't really know what is going on just that Gabriel is here starting to talk about Hollywood movies. As the dialogue progresses you begin to hear Gabriel discussing his distaste for movies lack of realism. He then moves into discussing the movie Dog Day Afternoon. And what would happen if Pacino really wanted to get away with the money he stole from the bank in the movie. Gabriel talks about what if Pacino started killing hostages left and right. How long would it take for the city to reverse is policies on hostage negotiation. It is then revealed that Gabriel has taken hostages and is in the middle of a bank heist of his own. Not to give too much more away for people who haven't seen Swordfish but the beginning ends with an amazing explosion that will rock your home theater system into overdrive along with some amazing visual photography. The character of Gabriel is my favorite Travolta performance of all-time. He plays a character who is always many steps ahead of everyone else in the entire movie. Until the ending you never really know who Gabriel really is, only that he is a bad guy. And he's a bad guy you really like. You are always left guessing at what the motive is behind all of his actions, but he goes on to talk much about misdirection. Throughout the entire movie this is always a reoccurring theme to keep you guessing at what happens next. The rest of the cast is absolutely perfect. Hugh Jackman plays the part of Stanley Jobson who is an computer hacker who no longer is allowed anywhere near a computer and is living in a trailer working a dead-end job. Halle Berry plays the roll of Ginger, who like Gabriel, as the movie goes on you never are too sure of who she really is. All that you are lead to know is that she is with Gabriel and her job is to bring Stanley in because Gabriel wants his computer skills for a job he needs done. Don Cheadle plays the role of J.T. Roberts who worked for the FBI and was the man who arrested Stanley and is the reason he is no longer allowed near a computer. Also following Stanley's arrest, Stanley lost custody of his daughter thanks to Roberts. Roberts now is now on the trail of Gabriel and the one trying to put together what Gabriel needs Stanley to do for him. Lastly, Sam Shepard plays the roll of Senator Reisman. I won't go too deep into what his roll is in the movie as it might give too much away to those who haven't seen it. Just know he plays a very important role. I will say that action movies are by far my favorite type of movie and this movie is a perfect example of why. This movie features everything you will look for in an action movie; guns, car chases (with a beatuiful TVR Tuscan I might add), explosions, beautiful women, and even a bus dangling from a helicopter while flying through L.A. The movie also has a visual look to it that I can't put quite into words. It has some type of yellowish lens filter on some scenes and a cool blueish, purplish, greenish filter on other scenes. You really have to see it, it just gives the movie its own feeling that I have never seen before and I absolutely love it. And I never want another movie to use it because looking at it just reminds me this is Swordfish. The other thing I must bring up is this films AMAZING soundtrack Swordfish . It was created by popular techno artist Paul Oakenfold. I have never heard a soundtrack like this in my life. It just fits the entire look of the movie so amazingly and will also give your home theater system a workout as well. Finally I will talk about the Blu-Ray itself. The picture quality here is reference quality. Its that good. It also features a 5.1 Dolby Digital track which is a bit older than today's current DTS HD tracks but it still sounds very phenomenal. Just sit back and log on, hack in, go anywhere, and steal everything with Swordfish.

This 4K transfer looks great, crystal clear, crisp, and the HDR/DV is spot on. The colors are very vibrant and really pop, there's a lot more detail in the picture than what the blu ray ever could handle. The audio is pretty good here as well but there's no Atmos so don't expect that, the DTS still sounds amazing though. Some new features as well but nothing groundbreaking, I would only go into this for the PQ/AQ upgrades. Swordfish was never a great film but it's a fun film, a product of its time. Arrow did a great job here with this mainstream Warner catalogue title. Let's see if Battlefield Earth will get the same treatment lol.

Great 4K movie and extras!

This is not a review of the movie itself (there are other comments and reviews in this one and the dvd version) but a review of the video transfer of this Blu Ray. This is a good looking transfer in 1080p/VC-1 video, colors are very well saturated, blacks are rock solid and the contrast is really good. The audio is in English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and encoded at 640kbps. It has a lot of sorround effects specially in the beggining with the 'Matrix'-esque "girl with bomb explodes" sequence. That sequence in particular is the one you can display to show your blu ray player. The bottom line... it is a nice (but not excellent) action film that will look good in Blu Ray, specially beign one of the first who came out.

Pretty fun early 2000s movie about hacking and such. Got a few X Men in there too

Halle Berry in 4k. Also another great John Travolta acting and action movie. And did I mention....Halle Berry in 4k.

Zuallererst mal: ich habe den Film im Kino als unsäglich langweilig empfunden, eben einer dieser Streifen bei denen man rausgeht und eigentlich nur sagen kann "nette Action" weil einem nix anderes einfällt. Mag es meiner derzeitigen Obsession Hugh Jackman betreffend zuzuschreiben sein, ich habe mir die DVD zu Gemüte geführt. Brillant! Ich muß völlig neben mir gewesen sein als ich den Film im Kino gesehen habe! Die Geiselszene gleich zu Beginn des Films ist packend, rasant und technisch hochkarätig ins Bild gesetzt. Der Rundumshot á la "Matrix" ist grossartig und die Tatsache, daß gleich zu Beginn klar gemacht wird, daß die Grenzen zwischen Gut und Böse meistens fliessend sind und man eigentlich nur das Unerwartete erwarten kann ist programmatisch für den Film. Im weiteren Verlauf muß die wirklich ungewöhnliche Bus/Lastenhelikopter Szene erwähnt werden die für sich genommen auch schon phantastisch ist. Leider bleiben die Darsteller ein wenig dahinter zurück. Travolta spielt seine generische Schurkenrolle, slick, suave und etwas durchgeknallt. Berry zeigt was sie hat, Eye Candy für die männlichen Wesen, aber die computergewandte Gespielin/Undercoveragentin nimmt man ihr nicht ab. Jackman ist offensichtlich so überwältig neben seinem Idol (O-Ton Jackman) John Travolta spielen zu dürfen, daß er außer in der berühmt/berüchtigten Hacken-unter-erschwerten-Bedingungen-Szene eher mässig agiert. Richtig toll ist dagegen Camryn Grimes in der Nebenrolle als Stanley Jobsons (Jackman) 10-jährige Tochter Holly. Screentime: vielleicht 5 Minuten. Schade eigentlich. Bemerkenswert fand ich auch den Soundtrack: fetzig, aggressiv und eingängig. Musik wie man sie in einem Cabrio bei 140 km/h auf dem Pacific Highway No.1 hören sollte. ;o) Ein Minus für den Film: die übertriebene Verwendung von Farbfiltern. Ich kann mir nicht vorstellen, daß ganz Kalifornien in Gelb, Braun und Grün schwelgt. Soviel zu dem Film selbst. Die DVD Edition ist jedoch der Überflieger. Hier gibt es neben den üblichen Featurettes über die Visual FX und ein paar Sprechblasen des Cast wahre Juwelen zu finden, entweder als DVD-Rom oder wenn man einen DVD mit Titelanwahl hat auch direkt am TV (Tracks 6 + 10-19): weitere kurze aber witzige Interview-"Schnippsel" des Cast, ein Musikvideo UND... ein absolut mega-spassiger Mitschnitt eines Auftritts von Jackman und Travolta in der australischen Talkshow "Rove live". Wenn die drei (der Moderator ist mindestens genauso witzig) loslegen, bleibt kein Auge trocken. Travolta animiert Jackman sogar dazu mit ihm gemeinsam kurz ein Duett aus "Grease" anzustimmen... mit Jackman als Sandy! Wobei sich herausstellt, daß Jackman zu recht z.Zt. den "Boy From Oz" am Broadway gibt. Alles in allem, warum sitzt ihr noch hier und surft nicht schon lange um euch die DVD zu bestellen?

Stanley Jobson is a former master hacker, who must stay clean or face the probability of going back to prison. Stanley is approached by the mysterious Gabriel Shear who offers him $10 Million dollars for one last hacking job, which he accepts and then finds himself caught in the middle of a complex web of intrigue involving several covert agencies and a Nine-Billion-Dollar government slush fund. This movie has everything- action, suspense, lots of money, Lap-top computers, explosions- bomb vests, gunfire, beautiful women, a precious young daughter, DEA, Operation Swordfish, a powerful super computer, FBI, corrupt Senator, yes a flying bus, mad man and a brilliant computer hacker. Swordfish is one amazing movie.

Esta genial

I am truly thrilled to have this movie in my collection again! It is a genuine delight. John Travolta, Hugh Jackman and Halle Barry are at their best. The movie is a tightly-woven thrill ride with a few wild curves. I love, especially, the moral ambiguity, which allows the watcher to determine who is the protagonist, the antagonist, and the victims. Director Dominic Sena keeps the pace lively but not too quick, allowing the characters to develop organically before the next action set piece. Travolta chews up every scene he's in; he owns this movie and his casting makes it work. Jackson, Barry and even Don Cheadle, do remarkable work and push along the story to its very exciting final twist. Anyone who hates or pans this movie is, in my opinion, probably expecting the expected. This movie is not that. Sena has thrown out all the rules to create an incredible film that, even 18 years after its release, is still very interesting and relevant. The Blu-ray edition is contains a few extras that only add to the experience of a movie you'll want to watch over and over again.

Buena película.