# Swordfish

Swordfish is a 2001 film in which the world's most dangerous spy is hired by the CIA to coerce a computer hacker recently released from prison to help steal billions in unused government funds.
    Directed by Dominic Sena. Written by Skip Woods.

## Gabriel

* You know what the problem with Hollywood is? They make shit. Unbelievable, unremarkable shit. Now I'm not some grungy wannabe filmmaker that's searching for existentialism through a haze of bong smoke or something. No, it's easy to pick apart bad acting, short-sighted directing, and a purely moronic stringing together of words that many of the studios term as "prose". No, I'm talking about the lack of realism. Realism; not a pervasive element in today's modern American cinematic vision. Take Dog Day Afternoon, for example. Arguably Pacino's best work, short of Scarface and Godfather Part 1, of course. Masterpiece of directing, easily Lumet's best. The cinematography, the acting, the screenplay, all top-notch. But... they didn't push the envelope. Now what if in Dog Day, Sonny REALLY wanted to get away with it? What if - now here's the tricky part - what if he started killing hostages right away? No mercy, no quarter. "Meet our demands or the pretty blonde in the bellbottoms gets it the back of the head." Bam, splat! What, still no bus? Come on! How many innocent victims splattered across a window would it take to have the city reverse its policy on hostage situations? And this is 1976; there's no CNN, there's no CNBC, there's no internet! Now fast forward to today, present time, same situation. How quickly would the modern media make a frenzy over this? In a matter of hours, it'd be biggest story from Boston to Budapest! Ten hostages die, twenty, thirty; bam bam, right after another, all caught in high-def, computer-enhanced, color corrected. You can practically taste the brain matter. All for what? A bus, a plane? A couple of million dollars that's federally insured? I don't think so. Just a thought. I mean, it's not within the realm of conventional cinema... but what if?
* I have been told that the best crackers in the world can do this under 60 minutes but unfortunately I need someone who can do this under 60 seconds.
* It's kinda like masturbation without the payoff.

## Other

* Stanley: Nothing is impossible.
* Axel Torvalds: He exists in a world beyond your world. What we only fantasize, he does. He lives a life where nothing is beyond him. But you know what? It's all a facade. For all his charm and charisma, his wealth, his expensive toys... he's a driven, unflinching, calculating machine. He takes what he wants, when he wants... and disappears.
* Ginger: Surprised that a girl with an IQ over seventy can give you a hard on?

## Dialogue

    Gabriel: Stanley, I'm about to do something that is against my better judgement. I'm going to tell you who I am.
    Stanley: Don't bother. I already know who you are.
    Gabriel: Really? You see I think that you think I'm a bank robber. But that's not the truth. The truth is I'm just like you.
    Stanley: You're a murderer.
    Gabriel: Indeed I am and worse, much worse.
    Stanley: It's not gonna end like this.
    Gabriel: Oh, come on, Stan. Not everything ends the way you think it should. Besides, audiences love happy endings.
    Gabriel: Have you ever heard of Harry Houdini? Well he wasn't like today's magicians who are only interested in television ratings. He was an artist. He could make an elephant disappear in the middle of a theater filled with people, and do you know how he did that? Misdirection.
    Stanley: What the fuck are you talking about?
    Gabriel: Misdirection. What the eyes see and the ears hear, the mind believes.
    Stanley: And you are?
    Ginger: I'm Ginger.
    Stanley: Where's Gilligan?
    Ginger: You're not too good at this golf thing, are you, Stan?
    Stanley: You're fucking up my chi.
    Stanley: War? Who are we at war with?
    Gabriel: Anyone who impinges on America's freedom. Terrorist states, Stanley. Someone must bring their war to them. They bomb a church, we bomb 10. They hijack a plane, we take out an airport. They execute American tourist, we tactically nuke an entire city. Our job is to make terrorism so horrific that is becomes unthinkable to attack Americans.
    Roberts: How do I find this guy?
    Axel Torvalds: You don't find him; he finds you.
    Stanley: What are you still doing here? Look, I'm beginning to lose my sense of humor about all this.
    Ginger: Ok, then I'll cut to the chase. If you want a chance in hell at getting your daughter back you better listen up. Unless of course, you want to stay here, in this loser existence, while your daughter grows up to be a fluffer in her new daddy's videos.
    Stanley: Do me the courtesy of not confusing your own childhood with my daughter's.
    Gabriel: Big Stan! Nice suit.
    Stanley: Thanks.
    Gabriel: They say it's the suit that makes the man.
    Stanley: Buy it?
    Gabriel: Hope not!
    Ginger: You know, you should really have let me buy you a suit, Stanley.
    Stanley: I'm happy with what I'm wearing, thank you.
    Ginger: Ignorance is bliss.
    Marco: [looks at Stanley while packing away a rocket launcher] What?
    [pauses then looks to a hostage]
    Marco: I know what you're thinking. You're thinking: If that launcher was a suppository, would that bad man stick it up my ass? Well, you eyeball me once more boy,
    [puts a handgun to the hostage's head]
    Marco: and i'll stick it so far up your ass you'll be begging me for this bullet.
    Gabriel: Twenty. [looks at Ginger] She dying Stanley.
    Stanley: Shut the FUCK up!
    [Stanley is going to drive Gabriel's car during a shoot-out with the police]
    Stanley: I can't drive this thing!
    Gabriel: Learn!
    Stanley: How can you justify all this?
    Gabriel: You're not looking at the big picture Stan. Here's a scenario. You have the power to cure all the world's diseases but the price for this is that you must kill a single innocent child, could you kill that child Stanley?
    Stanley: No.
    Gabriel: You disappoint me, it's the greatest good.
    Stanley: Well how about 10 innocents?
    Gabriel: Now you're gettin' it, how about a hundred - how about a THOUSAND? Not to save the world but to preserve our way of life.
    Stanley: No man has the right to make that decision; you're no different from any other terrorist.
    Gabriel: No, you're wrong Stanley. Thousands die every day for no reason at all, where's your bleeding heart for them? You give your twenty dollars to Greenpeace every year thinking you're changing the world? What countries will harbor terrorists when they realize the consequences of what I'll do? Did you know that I can buy nuclear warheads in Minsk for forty million each? Hell, I'd buy half a dozen and even get a discount!
    Gabriel: You tried to kill me. You've misplaced your loyalty, Senator, you've sold out America. Patriotism does not have a four-year shelf-life, but unfortunately politicians do. [Gabriel pulls out a gun]
    Senator Reisman: Now what are you gonna do with that?
    Gabriel: Thomas Jefferson once shot a man on the White House lawn for treason.
    Senator Reisman: Now hold the phone, Thomas Jefferson... (Gabriel shoots the Senator)

## Taglines

* Log on. Hack in. Go anywhere. Steal everything.
* Once you know the password you can go anywhere.
* Log In. Log Out. Leg It!
* Password Accepted
* Log On. Hack In. Go Anywhere. Get Everything.

## Cast

* John Travolta — Gabriel Shear
* Hugh Jackman — Stanley Jobson
* Halle Berry — Ginger Knowles
* Don Cheadle — Agent J.T. Roberts
* Sam Shepard — Senator James Reisman
* Vinnie Jones — Marco

## External links

* Swordfish quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* Swordfish at Rotten Tomatoes