Swordfish (Dominic Sena, 2001)

I have always had a weak spot for high-tech action films. Despite it being on television often I’ve never seen Swordfish before. About time for a viewing with at least some expectations, especially regarding the cast (Travolta, Jackman, Cheadle). I was in for a disappointment, a big disappointment.

The movie has a great start. We see how John Travolta is giving a monologue about Sidney Lumets Dog Day Afternoon. He turns out to be in the middle of a hostage situation as the main villain and in control of course. What follows next is perhaps one of the most beautiful explosion scenes I have ever seen. The whole scene is a flash forward and as a viewer you’re expecting the history and preparation for this situation in detail. Unfortunately the movie gets rather messy after this brilliant opening. Errr, extremely messy.

Travolta is Gabriel Shear, a big shot criminal working under an American senator who wants to get his hands on dirty money from the government (known as operation Swordfish under the DEA). For this job he needs a brilliant hacker. Since the best hacker in the world was caught at the border and assassinated (by Travolta his own men) he needs the second best, the good-hearted Stanley Jobson (Hugh Jackman). Jobson needs a lot of money to hire a lawyer to get visitation rights to see his daughter. Shear offers him ten million to crack a bunch of codes and algorithms and Jobson instantly believes that that’s all.

Alright, so to be blunt: this movie sucks. I cannot think of many positive elements except the opening. The storylines are unrealistic, unmotivated and don’t create the desired suspense. In between Travolta and Jackman is the beautiful Halle Berry (this movie is probably best known for her totally unnecessary nude scene topping her salary with half a million). Her role is to be both a potential love-interest and a snitch (or not?). Well, let me tell you, both roles don’t work, at all. I simply didn’t care about her and what might happen to her. Secondly, the whole computer hacking part of the movie makes no sense and makes that you lose interest in the objective. When Travolta out of the blue starts shooting in the streets from his car you know that the film went downhill and cannot be saved by anything.

The final twenty minutes is where this film really becomes a nightmare. All logic and suspense go overboard. We go back to the beginning in the bank, where everyone involved turns out to be a retard. What follows are 23451 plot twists, not one of them making sense if you ask me. Perhaps I am missing something, but this is simply a horrible film. Its screenplay comes from the mind of Skip Woods (well, let his first name be a warning) who also wrote Hitman (I believe I fell asleep during this film!). The Imdb tells us that he wrote the script for the 5^th Die Hard, I am already disappointed…

2/10

P.S. : For the nerds: the two hackers in this film are named Stanley Jobson and Axl Torvalds.

Showgirls (Paul Verhoeven, 1995)

Alright, I like some of the movies of fellow dutchman Paul Verhoeven. Basic Instinct has been a personal favourite for years now and I believe his Total Recall and Starship Troopers are hilarious. In 1995 (great movie year!) he made Showgirls, the erotic tale of a girl who wants to make it in Vegas. The critics were brutal: 14% fresh on rottentomatoes.com  and a 4.3 average on Imdb. In my memory this film was not that bad, now that I saw it a second time I see that I was wrong. Showgirls is not just ‘not bad’, it is great!

Nomi Malone (Elizabeth Berkley) is a girl like many others: young, beautiful and she wants to make a career in showbiz. She hikes to Vegas and starts working as a stripper. Through her friend, who is assisting the big star in the Stardust Hotel dance show, she gets in contact with people who recognize her dancing talent and see her as a great potential. She is invited for an audition (which results in a great scene, credits go to the ruthless Alan Richins, who reminded me of one of the many talent show jurors we see too much on television nowadays). Nomi gets hired and soon the rivalry and sexual encounters starts. She works her way up, but at what cost?

Okay ladies, I'm Tony Moss. I produce this show. Some of you have probably heard that I'm a prick - I am a prick. I got one interest here, and that's the show. I don't care whether you live or die. I want to see you dance and I want to see you smile. I can't use you if you can't smile, I can't use you if you can't show, I can't use you if you can't sell.

What Verhoeven did with this film is making it a satire in every possible way. Through the tough Nomi he shows us what it takes to make it in showbiz city and how superficial and numb one has to become to get there. This is illustrated by for instance the character James (Glenn Plummer) who is persistent to make a good dancer of Nomi. There is a striking scene in the film where Nomi, already a big star at this point, visits a show of James where he performs his real genuine dancing act. His act is shred to pieces by the discontent audience, they don’t want to see art, they want nudity! This last notion is one Verhoeven incorporated in his entire film, great satire I would say.

Another hilarious scene is where one of the dancers has her kids back in the dressing room. As her colleague is abusing her verbally one of the kids starts to cry, not over the violent tone, not over all the nude people around that might make her uncomfortable, no, she heard the F-word. The kid must be traumatized.

I can imagine why people see Showgirls as a bad movie. Its story and acting is over the top, but the director wants to tell us more with this than one might think. I believe that besides the satire within the film Verhoeven is using the protagonist and the world she is in as a metaphor for America and modern society. Completely superficial, commercial and merciless if it comes to working your way up to the top. The Jesus reference (present in almost every Verhoeven film) is illustrative: in flickering neon “Jesus is coming, soon”.

8.5/10