Big, loud, excessive, violent, silly. All these words describe the new action thriller Swordfish. This picture also has the distinct honor of being the first high profile movie of the summer to get the almighty R rating. Is Swordfish terrible? I wouldn't say that. Just rather forgettable.

Hugh Jackman (X-Men) plays Stanley, a reclusive computer hacker who is offered a job by the films colorful villain, (played to the diabolical hilt by John Travolta) The gig will earn Jackman a King's ransom if he can break into a top security computer system and wreak havoc. As the film progresses, we begin to learn more and more about the true identity of Travolta's character, Gabriel--while, Stanley is primarily interested in being reunited with his young daughter who is stuck in a mess of her own.

Swordfish opens with one of the coolest explosion sequences I've ever scene, and kind of steadily goes down hill from there. The special effects used here are creative to say the least. In fact, I was really compelled by the first quarter of Swordfish, but then the film unravels into usual Jerry Bruckheimer type fare (Bruckheimer has nothing to do with the picture). This isn't surprising considering this movie was directed by Dominic Sena who made last year's Gone in 60 Seconds. He keeps Swordfish moving at a taut pace, but the double crosses become tiresome and predictable. The film is also a bit disjointed and often absurd. It takes it's cue from many other films including Arlington Road, Hackers, Anti-Trust and many others. And while the film is action packed, the characters are never developed enough to care about.

The performances are solid. Jackman is charismatic, but is never really able to supply the sympathetic tone this role needs to connect with the audience. Travolta really hams it up as the bad guy--bringing to mind his turn in Broken Arrow. He spends most of the film making references to other movies and complaining about the crap that Hollywood churns out. Well Mr. Travolta, Swordfish is no masterpiece. I really liked Halle Berry's turn as a sexy siren who works at Gabriel's side. Although her identity was painfully obvious to me, I found her extremely likable. She seemed much more at home here than she did in last year's X-Men.

Swordfish is what I like to call dumb entertainment--the cinematic equivalent of fast food. Upon reflection, there is plenty in this picture that doesn't really make sense. Still, the action is plentiful and there's no shortage of bullets, explosions, car chases, and flying buses. Not a bad way to spend an hour and a half.