In Swordfish (2001), John Travolta plays Gabriel Shear, the ex-spy who recruits hacker Stanley Jobson.
Gabriel Shear is a charismatic and ruthless former intelligence operative who assembles a team to steal money from a secret government account. To break into the protected system, he recruits Stanley Jobson, a talented computer hacker played by Hugh Jackman.
The casting places Travolta at the center of the film’s criminal operation while Jackman’s character supplies the technical expertise. Halle Berry plays Ginger Knowles, who helps bring Jobson into Shear’s plan. The film combines cybercrime, espionage, and action-thriller conventions rather than presenting hacking as a realistic technical tutorial.
The film’s title refers to the classified operation and the financial target at the heart of the plot. Swordfish was directed by Dominic Sena and released in 2001. John Travolta’s role is Gabriel Shear; Hugh Jackman’s role is Stanley Jobson, so the actors are easy to confuse in questions about the film’s hacker team.