Art imitates life

HOLLYWOOD WOULD never get tired of its cops and robbers routine, or would it? Car chases that make you freak, a bus full of hostages crashing into skyscrapers (Yes, a bus air-jacked by terrorists), jingoistic anti-America terrorists, codes and hackers thrown-in for good measure to give it that contemporary feel, oodles of style and pizzazz. John Travolta. Hugh Jackman. Halle Berry. Need say more?

That's the Warner Bros package for the season - it's called `Swordfish'. Just the (right or wrong purely lies in your mind) movie for the terror-stricken world! Needless to say, we all like it when we see action explosion on the big screen.

Hollywood's biggest disaster flicks have been the biggest of hits. The obsession is so much that we have spoofs even on disaster movies. So much that people watching `Evolution' on the day of the Chennai quake thought that the cinema hall `rocked' with special effects as posters on the wall screamed: ``Have a nice end of the world''!

It is another story that Hollywood has suspended a few of its disaster projects after the September 11 stranger-than- Hollwood- fiction WTC attacks. `Swordfish' itself was taken off the theatres in the U.S.

Jackie Chan-Chris Tucker starrer `Rush Hour-2' had shots of WTC and the skyline removed from its trailers. Arnie's `Collateral Damage' is postponed to next year. `Spiderman' is hanging loose with no WTC to crawl on to.

Warner incidentally conducted a focus group study of audience response for `Swordfish' in the city last month.

Encouraged by the positive response, Warner is all set to let loose the latest Travolta action flick in the city.

Incidentally, and interestingly, Travolta plays the dangerous mafia terrorist leader Gabriel Shear who keeps saying throughout that people are bored of happy endings.

His beautiful partner in crime Ginger (Halle Berry) gets a reluctant hacker Stanley Jobson (Hugh Jackman) to do the job - to build a worm, sneak it into `World Banc' and swindle billions that would aid terrorism (``Because wars cost money''). That's Operation Swordfish for you.

Think it's impossible? Well, magic is too. But there's always logic to magic. ``Misdirection,'' as Gabriel Shear puts it.

By Sudhish Kamath

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Section  : Entertainment