10 Awesome Opening Scenes In Otherwise Terrible Action Movies

It's Danny Zuko and Wolverine in a movie about hacking! What more could you possibly want?

2001's Swordfish centres around Hugh Jackman's character Stanley, a gifted hacker who is recruited by crime boss Gabriel (John Travolta) to steal billions of dollars from government slush funds.

Rather than open on a gunfight or even with Stanley tapping away at his computer, the movie begins with Travolta monologuing about the state of modern American cinema.

In his speech, Gabriel derides the lack of realism in movies, citing Al Pacino film Dog Day Afternoon as an example. He talks about how the villains could have gotten away with their plan if they'd just started murdering their hostages.

This leads to a scene not long after where Gabriel uses a bomb strapped to a hostage to kill some police officers.

Had Swordfish not turned into one of the cliché-riddled brain-numbers that Travolta railed against, this scene might have been the prelude to a gamechanger.

Unfortunately, this is precisely what happens. The action is unambitious, the dialogue is frustrating, and there's little to distinguish it from the thousands of other landfill thrillers chucked out by Hollywood every year.