Swordfish is an Ugly, Stupid Movie

What went wrong, apparently, was Dominic Sena. He directed the movie. What I didn't realize at that time is that his prior credits were Gone in 60 Seconds and a bunch of Janet Jackson videos. Ugh. Wouldn't it be an act of humanity to put some sort of a warning sticker on the box?

The movie is dark and ugly. The opening segment concludes with a woman caught in a bomb detonation and shredded by shrapnel. The carnage is presented in "bullet time" hyper slow-mo. I think it's objectionable to mutilate people graphically just because it looks cool.

The story is stupid. Only a moron would believe that when Customs detains a person for interrogation, they are left alone in a room where they can slip out the door and sneak away. In the world of Swordfish you have to believe not only that, but also that Customs also will leave all of their luggage in that unlocked room.

The movie proudly proclaims itself an anti-morality tale. In the opening dialog, shot fuzzy and out-of-focus due to incompetence (probaby the director's, I'm sure the cameraperson was just doing what they were told), Travolta is told that the bad guy always has to lose in Hollywood movies. That doesn't happen here. In Swordfish all the bad guys get away with it: the antagonist and the filmmaker.