Swordfish (2001)

An intro where John Travolta discusses an alternate take on "Dog Day Afternoon" with Don Cheadle... Bold. The immediate twist is quite titillating, though and sets up what is undeniably a very cool flick.

Another thing it does well is tension. There are some excellent build-ups (particularly early on) that keep you on the edge of your seat. They even have a lot of originality and tongue-in-cheek during scenes. Always a welcome feeling during movies.

Chemistry in the cast is excellent. Not only between Jackman and the brilliant Travolta, but also Hally Berry (never sexier than here) and aforementioned Jackman. It's particularly entertaining to see her flaunt her sexuality and self-assuredness one step too long and have Jackman toss her down a flight of stairs. Travolta as utterly cool and ruthless with the greater goal in mind, is always a treat.

Dominic Sena also creates a very nice "out of this world"-world, though he uses a lot of booty and titties with green filters and crap techno and rap in order to do so. But as a man, I suppose it would be ungrateful to whine over excess of booty.

The part of the daughter is a stupid and unnecessary. It's been done hundreds of times, adds very little to the story, and even less to the characters. Other than establishing the protagonist's motives as noble, which is nailed into the ground by making his ex a drug-addict pornstar that constantly neglects their child. And that his unlawfulness was naturally justified. So the point of travelling a yard is made with a Sherman M4. Why, oh why...

Furthermore they make Jackman into a bit much of a rugged macho-man to pass as a credible computer hacker. Particularly ambivalent as he is a whimpering pussy whenever there's action. And action is plenty. It is nicely portioned and quite entertaining a lot of the time, before it overshoots horribly towards the end.

That's mainly nitpicking a film that really doesn't take itself too seriously, though. It wants to be sleek, cool and entertaining. And it succeeds for most of its 96 minutes.

7/10
.

Green Hornet (2011)

Over the years, many different superheroes have assumed many different types and characters. Superman is your boring boyscout, Batman and Wolverine your dark, lonely antihero, and some are just playful and funny (Iron Man and Deadpool). So say hello to Britt Reid, aka the Green Hornet. He's a self-righteous, stupid and egotistical douche. With no powers and no other skills.

Had he been for a short while and grown, it would have been predictable but OK. But in the hands of the inept Seth Rogen he is actually an outright jerk throughout. And a jerk that has his Asian sidekick do everything from make his perfect coffee to kick his asses for him.

Though director Gondry does fail miserably in both casting and building of character, it is nowhere near his only mistake. I have no idea what he is trying to do with Cameron Diaz here. Naturally both men want her, so we get an unnecessary and annoying drama done to death there. But she wants none of them, adds nothing to any part of the story, and generally seems like she is doing a voiceover for Tom & Jerry skit. Awful.

The story lacks any originality, the characters are bad and Christoph Waltz looks like Hugo Weaving in "Priscilla - Queen of the Desert". And without a good cast, or even a decent villain, this is bad. It does have an awesome car, and the very capable Cato makes the prop-department exert some creativity. And dark green filters make a rather cool stylistic view. But when you have to point that out as a redeeming trait, there really isn't enough.

Not as bad as "Fantastic Four", but Seth Rogen might have done the opposite for Green Hornet that Ryan Reynolds did for Deadpool, though ironically the same that Ryan Reynolds did for Green Lantern. Stay away

2/10