With all due disrespect to Freddie Prinze Jr., John Travolta is fast becoming the new harbinger of bad cinema. Even the slightest presence of Travolta these days seems to indicate that a movie won't just be mediocre, it'll be downright terrible.

For example, of the 15 films released since his big comeback in 1994's "Pulp Fiction," only a handful could even be categorized as good (including "Get Shorty"), while more than half would be lucky to be categorized as mediocre (such as last year's pathetic "Lucky Numbers" and the sorry sci-fi epic "Battlefield Earth").

It's almost as if Travolta is trying to get to the top of the list of "How Can We Miss You If You Won't Go Away?" stars. Has he stopped looking for material that might revive his increasingly nonexistent career?

"Swordfish" is a preposterous, unpleasantly violent techno-thriller, which may not be quite as unwatchable as his last couple of movies. But it dares viewers to compare it to "The Matrix," "Dog Day Afternoon" and Quentin Tarantino's sometimes painfully hip movies, which is a pretty dumb move.

As for Travolta, he stars as Gabriel, a shadowy anarchist of sorts, who is trying to siphon off billions of dollars in funds from a covert government agency. To that end, he needs a first-rate hacker, and ex-con Stanley Jobson (Hugh Jackman) seems to fit that bill.

Gabriel tries using his money and his sexy assistant (Halle Berry) to entice Stan into helping him. When that strategy fails, he promises to help Stan get back his estranged daughter (Camryn Grimes, from TV's "The Young and the Restless")

Meanwhile, Stan is being tracked by a federal agent (Don Cheadle), who wants to use him to get to his real target: Gabriel, of course.

Screenwriter/co-producer Skip Woods' plot is a lot more involved than this brief description indicates, but frankly, it doesn't make a lick of sense, and you're better off not knowing any more about it.

Suffice to say that "Swordfish" is not nearly as clever as it seems to think it is, while director Dominic Sena ("Gone in Sixty Seconds") deliberately swipes bits from better movies, and the overly busy, jittery camera seems to suggest that it was performed by an overcaffeinated Chihuahua.

Not that the performances are any better. Travolta's has the quirk of gritting his teeth through his dialogue, and Berry is required to do little more than stand around in various stages of undress. Even her "X-Men" co-star Jackman can't impress here, nor can the talented supporting cast (including Cheadle, who's slumming in this trash).

"Swordfish" is rated R for graphic violence (including gunplay and explosive mayhem), use of strong profanity and crude sexual slang terms, brief female nudity, brief simulated sex and brief gore. Running time: 97 minutes.

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E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com