WELCOME BACK SOME THINK HIS CAREER NEEDS A LIFT, BUT JOHN TRAVOLTA FEELS DIFFERENTLY.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Writer

It's summer, so time for another John Travolta movie to come around.

Just don't call it another John Travolta comeback.

In the twisty, twisted action thriller ``Swordfish,'' Travolta plays a deceptively amoral, dangerously ruthless and formidably clever international plotter named Gabriel Shear who's trying to steal billions of dollars from a secret government slush fund.

The film's got shocking violence, logistically awesome set pieces, ``Matrix''-like effects, exciting (really) computer super-hacking, Halle Berry with no top on and a number of bizarre but intriguing speeches that Travolta, wearing swept-back ``Pulp Fiction'' hair and an attention-demanding soul patch, delivers with the actorly relish that has become as much of a specialty in his post-``Pulp'' career as disco dancing was during his ``Saturday Night Fever'' salad days.

In other words, ``Swordfish'' has enough elements that should make it a summer hit. And at this point in his career, as he often has in the past, Travolta could really use a perceived success at the very least.

The actor is coming off of one of the worst box-office years a major movie star could conceivably suffer. His pet project, ``Battlefield Earth,'' based on the cheesy science fiction novel by Travolta's late spiritual leader, Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, was hooted off of screens and won numerous citations as the worst film of 2000. Producer Travolta's appearance as a grungy, stilt-shoed alien with bad dreadlocks and tubes dangling from his nose got its own share of critical attention, too.

But at least ``Battlefield'' was made for a price. Travolta's other 2000 release, ``Lucky Numbers,'' was an expensive black comedy that misfired even worse than the sci-fi disaster did, despite being directed by the usually reliable Nora Ephron, with whom Travolta had made the charming 1996 romantic fantasy hit ``Michael.''

No more Mr. Nice Guy

Thus, much career profile rides on ``Swordfish's'' fins. And there's one unnerving similarity between the new film and last year's debacles: In all three, Travolta plays a pretty despicable individual.

But while most contemporary movie superstars follow the conventional wisdom that audiences prefer likable characters, Travolta points out that he's done all right playing bad guys throughout his career - from the high school bully in 1976's ``Carrie'' to his career-reviving ``Pulp'' hit man through the outright evil types of ``Broken Arrow'' and ``Face/Off.''

``Because maybe I know they like me,'' Travolta says slyly, when asked why he doesn't worry about people hating his movie characters. ``You know, it was common for a lot of major stars in the early film days, like James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart, to do villains and good guys. Now, it is less accepted, although I seem to be breaking some ground on that.

``But it's a wonderful opportunity to be able to do a 'Michael' or a 'Phenomenon' and then go to a 'Face/Off' or a 'Swordfish.' These are good things, although some consider them high risks. But I take them because those risks have actually worked for me before.''

Perhaps the riskiest thing about ``Swordfish's'' Shear is the ambiguity of his motives. The international crime ring he apparently runs is murderously set on its goals - early on, he and his minions blow an innocent bystander to pieces to prove to the cops that they mean business - but at one point Shear begins to emphasize a goofball anti-terrorist philosophy. He wants to steal the dirty government money to be able to fight the Osama bin Ladens of the world with equivalent firepower. And if a few civilians are killed to facilitate vengeance against terrorists who kill hundreds or thousands, Shear shrugs it off as the price of doing business.

So, is he a good bad guy or a bad good guy? It's an interesting question, but perhaps not the kind of morally knotty one that the core audience for escapist summer violence wish to be troubled by.

Travolta claims it was the big draw for him, though.

``I did like his ambivalence,'' Travolta, clean-shaven and flatteringly trimmer than we've seen him for some while, acknowledges. ``Do you sacrifice a few to save a bunch? Do you fight fire with fire? These are questions that are fascinating because there is an art to those questions. Gabriel brings up some incredible points. Now, whether you agree with the way he attacks those concepts is another thing.''

Better shape up

When Travolta gets fascinated by a film's concept, there's little that will keep him away from it. This has contributed to the up-and-down nature of his career, his widely fluctuating salaries and (sometimes outrageous) perks packages, and - perhaps most significantly - his quarter-century longevity in the always evolving movie business.

``I've made about 18 pictures with John,'' says Travolta's longtime manager and producer, Jonathan D. Krane, ``and with a guy with his broad range, I always have to look for an idea or a script that has a very interesting role. This guy likes to play different characters in every movie. It's not easy to find even a good script, let alone with something we can work on to make it interesting for him.''

While this sounds like a perfect explanation for both Travolta's ability to change with audience tastes and why he's repeatedly spent years out of box-office favor, Krane insists that the latter is a function of his astonishing, back-to-back musical successes in the late 1970s.

``He's judged by a different standard,'' Krane insists. ``You've got to remember that when John started starring in movies, 'Saturday Night Fever' marked a change of culture and 'Grease' was so big that, every time he's had a picture that's performed less than expected since, it's been looked at in a more exaggerated way than other movie stars'. That's why I kind of laugh at how many times everybody talks about 'John's comeback.' He's proven himself, over 25 years, to be able to open and sustain a picture in almost any genre.''

True. But about the c-word ...

``Comebacks are very entertaining to me,'' Travolta says with a chuckle. ``After I did 'Saturday Night Fever' and 'Grease,' I did 'Moment by Moment' (a heatless 1978 romance with Lily Tomlin) and it was, 'Get outta here, you're finished!' I came back the next year with 'Urban Cowboy' and it's, 'Hey, he's back!' Then the next year I did 'Blow Out' and it was, 'Didn't make any money, beat it!' Then 'Staying Alive' made some money, and I was kind of OK again.

``It's when I made 'Look Who's Talking' (1989) that they started calling me the Comeback Kid: 'He's in a hit again, on the cover of Premiere.' But then I did two more of them and I'm outta here again. But in 1994, 'Pulp Fiction,' 'He's back!' Y'see, it's so dramatic, these spikes that I get, that I can't quite denote them. But I do know one little fact: If people really like you, they tend to be more upset with you when you do something they don't like.''

'Battle' ax

No love-hate relationship was really perceivable in ``Battlefield Earth's'' reception. While brushing off suggestions that anti-Scientology prejudice played a part in the blisteringly negative response to the film, Travolta has insisted for the past year that his baby was misunderstood by contemporary viewers. He is still noting that such universally certified classics as ``It's a Wonderful Life'' and ``2001: A Space Odyssey'' were dismissed upon their initial releases - without acknowledging that there's a difference between films that may be too challenging for their time and flat-out bad ones.

``Look, every movie I've been a part of has had mixed reviews; some more than others, so I can't argue that,'' Travolta says. ``Even 'Pulp Fiction,' which got all those Academy Award nominations, was still attacked. I'm not going to debate the values that each project has to deliver. But if it delivers something, that's valuable.

``I felt satisfied,'' he says of ``Battlefield.'' ``Each movie has a different, valuable final product that you're looking for. Getting something that you want done made in this town? It's almost never done, and I actually got to produce and control this. Wow! That was cool.''

Early critical response to ``Swordfish'' is, well, mixed. But however well it does financially, John Travolta's happy imperviousness is unlikely to be affected.

``After 'Moment by Moment' 23 years ago, I put an end to taking it personally,'' he says of box-office fortunes. ``I said, 'I didn't sink the Titanic; why am I being treated like I caused an airplane crash?' I couldn't go from being the biggest star in the world, Academy Award nomination, 'the best thing that's happened since Valentino,' into oblivion. So I made a decision then that I had to put this into perspective, and for the rest of my life it's been this interesting series of ups and downs.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) CODE WORD: `SWORDFISH'

Summer means time for a John Travolta flick... this year, he's an international crime ring operator

(2) Travolta, left, takes Hugh Jackman for the ride of his life in ``Swordfish.''