Movie Review

Firewall

"Firewall" is another flick in which Harrison Ford can basically stretch his Ford-isms. He again plays a family man, this time named Jack Stanfield, a computer security specialist for Landrock Pacific bank. He is a loving husband and father to his wife Beth (Virginia Madsen) and their two children, and is technically proficient at his job at the bank. Vaults are no longer the key to success for security anymore; computers are. Money is now tapered out by ones and zeros, and I would imagine the firewall is the security system surrounding that binary code, which is the reason Bill Cox (Paul Bettany) has decided to take Jack's family hostage.

Disguising himself as a businessman, Cox allows himself to get close to Jack, holding Jack's family over his head so that he'll do anything asked of him. Cox wants one-hundred million dollars from the bank and he wants Jack to get it for him. The only problem is that the bank has merged with another bank and a new security system has been put in place, where equipment Jack needs has been recently moved off-site. Not to mention that the other bank's security expert, Gary Mitchell (Robert Patrick), is a rival of Jacks who is just waiting for him to screw up. With every other option blocked by Cox, Jack finds himself trying to re-compensate for the lack of integral equipment, as well as trying to save his family before it's too late.

If you can say one thing for "Firewall,? it's that the thriller is pretty easy to follow because we can see everything coming. Not a good sign for a thriller, but then again, one coming out in February is never a good sign anyway. This is yet another one of those early-year flicks that is just going through the motions rather than throwing out an entertaining time at the movies. It's too bad because this flick actually looked promising from the trailer. Harrison Ford. Paul Bettany. Virginia Madsen. A story about how computers that hold information to our entire lives can be suddenly turned against us in a fraction of a second. This movie comes up with some pretty nifty uses for I-pods and remote-car controllers, only after a while the techno stuff is dropped for more of a straight-forward thriller. It goes without saying that an escape attempt, some tricks, a turn of the tables, and a final fight between Ford and Bettany ensue.

What hampers the movie even more (aside from one scene involving peanuts) is the suspense and danger levels stay pretty grounded, with everything happening in its own predictable and conventional fashion. The actual heist is pretty dead too, with a lot of key-pad punching but not much in the way of opposition to give Jack and Bill a hard time. Luckily the second half, in which Jack finally starts to kick some ass and turn the tables on his captors, at least gives us some decent action to chew on.

The acting is pretty standard, but then again, so is the script. Ford gives another one of his gruff portrayals of an American "everyman" caught-up in an evil plot. He still looks to be in pretty decent shape here, although it may soon be time to hang up the "action hero" act, possibly after doing "Indiana Jones 4.? Bettany tries his best to create some kind of tension, sneering and softly-threatening his way through the role. Bill is a crafty guy, but for most of the film, he, along with the rest of the villains, feels paper-thin; we learn little about them other than the fact they want money. It just seems like a waste of a talented actor to give him such a one-dimensional villain. Madsen probably comes through the best here, showing a strong "motherly" figure in Beth. Fans of the television show "24" will also like seeing Mary Lynn Rajskub, who plays Chloe on the show, in this movie. This is an actress with a lot of pluck, and it?s really hard not to like her.

Overall "Firewall" is your usual Harrison Ford story, complete with family and one-dimensional villains. The cast is good and the movie is not without a few scenes of kick-ass pleasure, but there isn't really enough to lift it past being just another predictable thriller. This might be good as a rental, but it's not worth going to the theater for it.

Craig's Grade: C

A	10.9%
B	41.8%
C	31.8%
D	15.3%
F	0.3%