Swordfish

Okay, so Gone In 60 Seconds was too obsessed with coolness to be, well, any good, but give director Dominic Sena a break - he was working with producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Here, he isn't and the result is certainly a bit better. Sure, we're not over-burdened with character beats and the plot isn't exactly a masterclass in original storytelling, but as far as leave-your-brain-at-home summer fare goes, you could do a lot worse...

Though formerly one of the world's most skilled computer hackers, Stanley Jobson (Hugh Jackman) now lives a poor and crummy existence after a series of unsuccessful attempts to win custody of his daughter. When the mysterious Ginger (Berry) recruits him to do some hacking for Gabriel Shear (John Travolta), a charismatic terrorist the pay is too much to refuse, but Stanley soon finds he's in way over his head.

The main problem is that the majority of Swordfish fails to live up to the (honestly) quite staggering opening. We begin with Travolta's terrorist articulately and accurately waxing lyrical about Hollywood, Dog Day Afternoon and the problem with happy endings. Then, all of a sudden, Boom! We realise we’re in a hostage situation, things go horribly wrong and things turn explosive with a fairly-mindblowing Matrix-style 360 degree-rotating midtown explosion. What a way to open.

Afterwards, it's not that we descend into utter rubbish, it's just that we've been set up for something with a little more think-power than your average ka-blam fest. Paul Oakenfold's (instantly dated?) techno score throbs away, the action is occasionally exciting and often kinetic (the chase down an almost-vertical hillside), but its also mostly ludicrous (a car chase with rocket launchers...) and sometimes way, way over the top. Let’s not even discuss the helicopter bus finale...

Still, the cast still sizzles with sex appeal. Hugh Jackman shows Wolverine wasn't a fluke, John Travolta is superb as the charismatic, pop culture-quoting baddie ("before you can say Cat in the hat!") and Don Cheadle adds great support. As for Halle Berry, yes this is the movie where she was paid $500,000 to go topless. Worth it? Our survey says - Definitely!

A decent action picture that has a truly brilliant opening few minutes, but then gets a bit silly.