Firewall
By: Mark Runyon | Category: On DVD | 07/05/06 | 07:16 PM
 |  |  Grade: D+ | Genre: Action/Suspense
Summary: Basically, it's a film that treads over ground we've seen hundreds of times to date and offers up nothing new for us to sink our teeth into. The goal seems to sufficiently vegetate the audience rather than intrigue them.
Its truly sad when once great actors become synonymous with bland filmmaking. Instead of being gracefully put out to pasture, they overstay their welcome, going through the motions without feeling and completely devoid of heart. Harrison Ford set the standard for tense action thrillers with nail biters like Patriot Games and The Fugitive yet these days he's a paycheck player, getting plugged in as the lead in the latest tepid action feature on the market. Remember stellar, gripping films like Hollywood Homicide, Six Days Seven Nights and K19: The Widowmaker? I didn't think so. The latest stink bomb is Firewall, pulling out all the formulas and wallowing in its own mediocrity. Shouldn't there be a mandate that guys like Ford, DeNiro and Pacino can't soil their brilliant body of work, slumming it in every half-baked project that gets green lighted through Hollywood? |
With Firewall, we get yet another high tech bank robbery where the protagonist's family is used as collateral. Jack (Harrison Ford) works as the head of network security for a large multi-national on the verge of a plunging head first into high profile merger. Jack is sharp, seeing customer fraud not simply a cost of doing business, but rather as a seamless side of the business the customer should never be aware of. One day, a collection's agent comes calling, saying that our buddy Jack has racked up close to a 100 grand in gambling debts. This strikes Jack as peculiar since he wouldn't know a straight flush from a mercy flush.
 | | | Firewall | | Starring: Harrison Ford, Paul Bettany, Virginia Madsen, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Robert Patrick & Robert Forster | | Director: Richard Loncraine |
| | View the Trailer (Quicktime) |
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While the issue of identity theft is being explored, Jack meets with a man presenting himself as a potential employer of Jack's services. Before he knows it, Jack's being held at gunpoint, watching helplessly as his wife (the poorly used Virginia Madsen) and two children squirm on the couch bound and gagged. Our mystery man, Bill Cox (Paul Bettany), doesn't make his intentions immediately clear, but Jack's position telegraphs the plots movements. We're in for a good ol' fashion bank robbery -- 21st century style. Cox bugs Jack's every word and glance until Jack is his flesh and blood puppet. We find out Jack is being tasked to funnel $10,000 from the bank's 10,000 richest customers into Cox's offshore account. How many times are the going to repackage this same stale movie? From here you can probably spell out the remainder of the film yourself. A feeble escape attempt is made, but ultimately thwarted. Etc, etc, ad nauseum to infinity.
The film has its moments, but the tension and suspense can be described as slight at best. Since you spot every move long before it's executed, it's hard to get too keyed up by any of the plot's trivial contrivances. Basically, it's a film that treads over ground we've seen hundreds of times to date and offers up nothing new for us to sink our teeth into. The goal seems to sufficiently vegetate the audience rather than intrigue them, spurring on the thought process like the savvy Inside Man. If you are stuck on a transatlantic flight and you can pass the time watching Firewall or eyeing the fat slob across the aisle try to wedge himself into those comfy coach seats, I'd opt for the movie. Otherwise, please choose to torture yourself in some other satisfying fashion.
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