Firewall Review
by Homer Yen (homer_yen AT yahoo DOT com)February 19th, 2006
"Firewall" - Systems Failure
by Homer Yen
(c) 2005
Harrison Ford. Now here's a REAL man. I think
that there should be more heroes like him. He's
part loving father/husband, part business
builder, and all ready to rumble when his family
is held hostage.
But his talents and go to waste in this
uninspiring thriller about an ambitious bank
robber that kidnaps Harrison Ford's family and
holds them hostage in order to coerce our hero
into meeting his demands. "Firewall" is just one
of those late-winter films that doesn't do much
of anything other than to provide a minimum of dialogue and a minimum of action. It's really a
film where if you're just bored and feel the urge
to catch a movie, this isn't such a bad choice.
But watching the film is like going to work on a cloudy Monday morning. It just drags along, and
you feel like you need to make a stop at
Starbuck's. There's less tension in the action sequences, more tension hoping for something surprising to happen.
Harrison Ford plays Jack Stanfield, a very
tech-savvy security director for a mid-sized
banking chain. He is charged with protecting
their computers from being infiltrated from
outside hackers. He meets a potential client
named Bill Cox (Paul Bettany), but in films like
these where there's a hard-working family man
like Jack Stanfield, anybody with a foreign
accent may very well have something more dubious
in mind. And from the film's trailers, we know
that he isn't such a nice guy.
I mentioned before that the project seems
uninspiring. It's not so much that the actors
are bad. No, they're very good at their craft
and the success of this film will most likely
rely on the character interaction. But, the atmosphere just doesn't heighten the film. The weather is constantly gloomy and instead of
making the film more ominous, it makes the
viewing experience bleaker. The kidnapping scene seems very patchwork. It doesn't flow
seamlessly. It's like driving in pouring rain
with only the intermittent wipers on. You kind
of get an idea of what's ahead, but it's an
overall mess.
There are few notable sequences featuring the mom (played by Virginia Madsen) and her children who assemble several clever escapes. She does
everything she can do as the distraught mother.
One can always rely on Ford's charisma and charm.
He has this sort of natural ability to convey
concern or fear that is genuine. Ford has some
clever maneuvering to do in order to escape the surveillance that he is under. And I'm generally excited about the use of technology. It's
interesting to see new and creative methods of
using IPods and fax machines. And even dog
collars. One can never shrug off McGyver-like cleverness.
It's failing is in the development of the villain
and the henchman. All good thrillers require a
good villain. And this component is very underdeveloped. There are only mild attempts for character development. Bettany's crew is a
motley bunch that lacks good looks and apparently
good judgment. They bumble and stumble. Bettany
is less a criminal mastermind and more of a bully
who can't seem to get organized. This film
doesn't seem quite organized either. If the
greatest source of help for Harrison is a mid-70s Dodge clunker and a bewildered secretary, they
are in trouble. It's main saving grace is the
last 30 minutes, which will happily reassure us
that there are many more films in Harrison Ford's career ahead of him.
Grade: C
S: 0 out of 3
L: 2 out of 3
V: 3 out of 3
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Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
