History Film / Swordfish

* ConversationalTroping: In the opening scene, Gabriel is discussing EndingTropes with Stanley and Agent Roberts. He compares the hostage situation he is leading with the one in ''Film/DogDayAfternoon'', and argues that it would be [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome more realistic]] if the hostage takers in that movie would have been [[KickTheDog much more cruel]], killing multiple hostages from the start, and [[TheBadGuyWins getting away with the money]]. Stanley and Roberts argue that audiences will expect a HappyEnding, and that [[TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin the bad guy can't win]] to force home AnAesop that crime doesn't pay. Of course, they're trying to invoke it because they don't want Gabriel to do just that to his hostages. [[spoiler:It's all foreshadowing to this film's ending, in which Gabriel does get the money and wins.]]

* ActorAllusion: Creator/VinnieJones' character does not says much, but the scene in which he talks the most is [[Film/{{Snatch}} a rather verbose "don't be a hero" spiel he tells some hostages]].

* SkyHeist: During the climatic bank robbery, Gabriel Shear arranges for his crew and hostages to be transported to an airport in a bus he prepared, but the destination is just a misdirection. His real escape strategy is to have a helicopter fly over the bus while it is driving, hook its cables to the bus's modified frame, and lift the whole thing away from the police convoy (unfortunately the flight gets complicated when the cables start breaking...).

* LogoGag: The studio's logos at the start of the film appear flickering like on a cheap video camera.

* [[SurprisinglyGoodForeignLanguage Surprisingly Good German]]: The supposedly Finnish hacker speaks German like he was born or, at least, lived a long time there. His lawyer isn't too bad, either.

* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler:Gabriel Shear and Ginger Knowles fake their own deaths and get away rich, evading justice. They use the money to fund a worldwide anti-terrorism campaign.]] Although in the alternate ending on the DVD, it becomes PyrrhicVillainy. [[spoiler:After the bad guys fake their deaths, Stanley Jobson is shown in a cafe with his daughter and using a laptop to [[InvoluntaryCharityDonation steal all their money and donate it to charity]], so the bad guys end up having to leave the country completely broke.]]

** A copy of Creator/WilliamGibson's '''''Literature/{{Neuromancer}}''''' is on the floor of Holly's room.

* HollywoodHacking: The dialogue describing the actual hacking is pure technobabble. The "hacking" shown in the beginning is nothing more than a linux file directory being shown scrolling over and over again.

** "Password: Swordfish" is the tagline/unofficial title of the film and the official title in Germany and Russia. [[MarketBasedTitle In Latin America the title]] is "Swordfish: Access Authorized", which also brings up this trope.

* ConversationalTroping: In the opening scene, Gabriel is discussing EndingTropes with Stanley and Agent Roberts. He compares the hostage situation he is leading with the one in ''Film/DogDayAfternoon'', and argues that it would be [[RealityEnsues more realistic]] if the hostage takers in that movie would have been [[KickTheDog much more cruel]], killing multiple hostages from the start, and [[TheBadGuyWins getting away with the money]]. Stanley and Roberts argue that audiences will expect a HappyEnding, and that [[TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin the bad guy can't win]] to force home AnAesop that crime doesn't pay. Of course, they're trying to invoke it because they don't want Gabriel to do just that to his hostages. [[spoiler:It's all foreshadowing to this film's ending, in which Gabriel does get the money and wins.]]

* HateSink: Stanley's ex-wife manages to be the most unpleasant character in the film. Dominic Sena told Creator/DreaDeMatteo, "Make the audience hate you right away."

* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: While his opening spiel about ''Film/DogDayAfternoon'' foreshadows a lot about Gabriel, [[spoiler:especially the fact that he wins]], he doesn't seems to recall that the film was BasedOnATrueStory and a product of its time and thus the reason Sonny didn't "won" was because the ''real'' "Sonny" didn't won, and Sonny didn't "started killing hostages right off the bat" like Gabriel proposes both because the real "Sonny" didn't do it and because doing so [[KickTheDog would completely annihilate any sympathy the audience was supposed to have for Sonny]].

* HateSink: Stanley's ex-wife manages to be the most unpleasant character in the film. Dominic Sena told Drea [=de Matteo=], "Make the audience hate you right away."

* RenegadeSplinterFaction: Black Cell, a covert government agency created to protect America at any cost. [[spoiler:Already going extreme lengths, Gabriel (who leads the unit) goes full renegade when he kills the senator overseeing the unit. Even after this, they operate by their original mandate.]]

* VillainOpeningScene: The movie opens with Gabriel monologuing about the changes he would do to ''Film/DogDayAfternoon'' to make it a film where Sonny [[TheBadGuyWins wins]]. It involves an escalation in brutality on Sonny's part [[ProveIAmNotBluffing to scare the cops into complying.]]

* VillainOpeningScene: The movie opens with Gabriel monologuing about the changes he would do to ''Film/DogDayAfternoon'' to make it a film where Sonny [[TheBadGuyWins wins]]. It involves an escalation in brutality on Sonny's part [[ProveThatImNotBluffing to scare the cops into complying.]]

''Swordfish'' is a 2001 hacker film directed by Dominic Sena, starring Creator/JohnTravolta, ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'' actors Creator/HughJackman and Creator/HalleBerry (and future X-actor, Vinnie Jones), along with the future [[Film/IronMan2 War Machine]], Creator/DonCheadle. Creator/DreaDeMatteo briefly stars as Stanley's ex-wife.