Swordfish (HD-DVD)
Picture: B
Sound: B Extras: C Film: C-
Dominic Sena is a Music Video director whose work is
especially associated with Janet Jackson, helmed the overrated Kalifornia
and unnecessary remake of Gone In 60 Seconds, but producer Joel Silver
is always trying to get anyone and everyone who even begins to set off his
built-in “hip/slick” radar. Not that
all his films have been winners, but he does go all out when he makes them. A big producer since the 1980s, Swordfish
(2001) was his last production before the events of 9/11 changed the genre for
good.
Hugh Jackman is the dangerous criminal agent the CIA wants
to coax into helping them into cyberspace and get unused funds for reasons
unknown. John Travolta, Jackman’s X-Men
co-star Halle Berry, Don Cheadle, Sam Shepard and Vinnie Jones round out the
main cast as explosions and an obsession with computer screens compete with a
very bad attempt at shuffling the story out of beginning-middle-end order that
could not be Pulp Fiction on its best day. Furthermore, this was the peak of a very pathetic series of
would-be action films about computer hacking that never worked. Its box office failure and 9/11 finally
brought an end to the tired-on-arrival cycle.
As for the film, Miss Berry delivers her famous topless scene, but the
Skip Woods script is a mess and the film has dated even worse than expected,
more apparent in HD!
The film’s portrayal of the CIA is never believable and
this was the point where Travolta’s second wind as a big star started to
dim. As soon as we are told Jackman’s
character cannot touch a PC again, we know he will have his hands all over them
faster than a crackhead in a supermarket full of filled vials. The kind of chemistry the actors should
generate falls flat in Sena’s narrative and character-challenged hands. At 99 minutes, it just goes on and on and
on.
The digital High Definition 1080p 2.35 X 1 image was shot
in Super 35mm and then digitized, distorted and color altered throughout. Ironically, since the opening of the film
approximates an analog video signal with adjustment troubles, that gives one an
idea of what to expect throughout.
Cinematographer Paul Cameron does a competent shooting job, but nothing
to get excited about. It is easier to
watch a scope image, even a generic one, in a 16 X 9/1.78 X 1 frame versus the
older standard definition TV ratio of 1.33 X 1. The Dolby Digital Plus is about on par with better DTS tracks in
thickness, but the 5.1 mix is so squared off and boring, that even DTS HD would
not improve on this much. The
Christopher Young/Paul Oakenfold score is so mechanical as to be corny. Both performance aspects do outdo the
regular DVD in the performance department, but for a film that has dated more
quickly than expected, better Warner issue this in HD now than later.
Extras include those on the regular DVD, including
commentary by Sena, two alternate endings that would have made no difference,
the trailer, cast/crew interviews and three featurettes. For fans of the actors only, if that.
- Nicholas Sheffo
