Swordfish
© James C. Hess
Here's the thing: Money, as in Money, as in how much the founders of Microsoft collectively have, holds no appeal to him. So instead of laying computer code that could roundhouse Microsoft, Linux, Netscape, and that crowd into a week past oblivion, he lays code that does, well, lazy stuff.
Now what does that mean? An example: When this fellow found out I wrote he sat down and built, in one afternoon (one verrry short afternoon) a software program that he claimed could chunk out premise after premise.
And the point of this is, I asked, when he finished.
Well, he said. You take the premise--which is the hard part of writing, I think--and fill in the details.
It is, I confess, a clever thing, this lazy program. But, still, I like to do things the hard way.
Put bluntly: I like to come up with my own ideas, writing-wise. And I don't like a computer invading my turf in this way.
I lost track of this fellow a few years back, but I still wonder whatever came of him?
After watching "Swordfish" I have a feeling of sorts I know.
A nasty feeling, at that:
He went to Hollywood with his program and is grinding out script after script.
Including, in some fashion, the aforementioned "Swordfish".
"Swordfish", to be harsh, is a nasty, nasty bit of cinematic wetwork. (That, for whatever it may be worth, is a compliment. Yes: A compliment.) "Swordfish" could have been a skillful, artful, intriguing effort. The sort of film, done right, that leaves the viewer oozing in their movie theater seat because they can't get up. They can't get up because the film they just witnessed is the cinematic equivalent of an E-ticket ride at DisneyWorld.
That is what "Swordfish" could have been, should have been.
But it isn't.
What it is is. . .
Hmm. Can I come up with polite euphimisms to describe this thing? Not likely. And my need for profanity is understandable. It is. There is not one character in "Swordfish" who is someone you want to know. Of course the reason for this is simple: The hero really isn't a hero and the villains aren't really villains.
Because of this ambiguity, then, one sits in the dark and counts down until they can leave and avoid being really frustrated at laying seven and five to sit through this nonsense.
