Swordfish
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: June 8, 2001 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
32
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
14
Negative:
15
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
40
Mr. ShowbizCody Clark
Swordfish is exactly the kind of nominally high-octane actioner that breeds legions of apologists who will encourage you to "check your brain at the door" before seeing it. Read full review
20
Washington PostDesson Thomson
An action opera designed to elicit Beavis and Butt-head-level appreciation. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleBob Graham
This lurid thriller comes to life in fits and starts, and then sinks into the bog of its own cleverness once again. Read full review
40
SlateDavid Edelstein
By the third big climax the audience started to get impatient with the movie's pointless zigs and zags. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
So fast, sleek and riveting it almost makes you expect miracles -- which never materialize. Read full review
20
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Nobody really cares about the plot, least of all the filmmakers. Read full review
38
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
It's hard to say with certainty whether it's insufficient plot or insufficient interpretation that's responsible for Travolta's waxwork performance.
50
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
The action is constant, often pointless, definitely gratuitous, and breathlessly fun. Read full review
20
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Turns into a meticulously choreographed bang-by-the-numbers action fantasy that I would accuse of peddling evil if the film weren't so dumb and incoherent. Read full review
10
L.A. WeeklyManohla Dargis
The cinema of morons made by morons for morons, Swordfish is everything you expect but worse. Read full review
20
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Exhibits rank incompetence on every level. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Ridiculous but occasionally fun. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Another in a long line of middling movies for Travolta, who must have been so stunned to regain his stardom with "Pulp Fiction" that he hasn't stopped working since. Read full review
20
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Nutty paranoid thriller. Read full review
60
New Times (L.A.)Luke Y. Thompson
If you like stuff breaking in THX, Swordfish delivers like no other this year. Bring earplugs. Read full review
20
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
An ugly exercise in big-budget carnage.
50
VarietyTodd McCarthy
A half-absorbing, half-ridiculous techno-thriller that often goes too far in search of audience-rousing effects. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeJay Carr
A high-impact, high-powered mess that raises the bar for over-the-topness.
63
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
The liveliest and most engaging time killer to come out of Hollywood in a long while. It's junk, to be sure, but it is superbly made junk.
25
New York PostJonathan Foreman
It's a film that reeks of stupidity and cynicism, one that makes you feel soiled just to have sat through it. Read full review
88
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
A souped-up roadster of a film, a relentless action flick that looks great and moves with more grace and speed than seems possible.
40
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Noisy and obnoxious, this flashy action picture is so hell-bent on seeming smart that it fairly forces you to think about how fundamentally stupid it is. Read full review
20
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
A kind of dirty fairy tale in which people with nasty attitudes inhabit a trash-talking, macho world of fast cars and complaisant women. Read full review
42
Portland OregonianKim Morgan
Jinxed itself into being nothing but an inane popcorn flick pretending to be edgy. Read full review
50
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
A slick, cynical, nasty piece of heist-film plotting that hides its more obvious logical gaps in techno-babble and distracting spectacles of wanton violence and big explosions. Read full review
30
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
The story -- is just what fills in the gaps between slow-motion fireballs, Matrix-style frozen mayhem, and Halle Berry's notoriously undraped breasts. Read full review
12
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
About 45 minutes into Swordfish, the picture degenerates permanently from drivel to sleaze (only a short drop). Read full review
20
Film.comSean Means
John, John, John -- one more bad-guy role in a bad movie and you're going to need another comeback. Read full review
38
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Not all cartoon violence; there's cartoon nudity, too. Berry was paid a well-publicized $500,000 bonus to bare her breasts in the movie. Read full review
40
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Feels like every other action thriller we've seen in the past three years, only it's more annoying -- and, in some cases, more appalling -- because it's trying so hard to distinguish itself. Read full review
50
USA TodayMike Clark
So much luck is pressed with an absurdly overblown finale that 60 seconds will likely be Swordfish's shelf life after a couple of noisy opening weekends. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It's skillfully mounted and fitfully intriguing, but weaves such a tangled web that at the end I defy anyone in the audience to explain the exact loyalties and motives of the leading characters. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
A good movie? Hardly. But more than enough to pass a dog day afternoon. Read full review
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