Firewall
Screenplay written by: Joe Forte III
Actors: Harrison Ford, Paul Brittany, Jimmy Bennett, Virginia
Madsen
Directed by: Richard Loncraine
Rated: PG-13 (Sequences of intense violence)
Firewall
Screenplay written by: Joe Forte III
Actors: Harrison Ford, Paul Brittany, Jimmy Bennett, Virginia Madsen
Directed by: Richard Loncraine
Rated: PG-13 (Sequences of intense violence)
Jack Stanfield (Harrison Ford) has been a respected computer security manager at a Seattle bank who has safeguarded their data and accounts through his programming expertise for more than 20 years. Already feeling vulnerable because of a pending merger with another financial institution, Jack’s vulnerability worsens when a man mysteriously shows up at the bank loudly demanding repayment of $95,000 in gambling debts. What the upstanding corporate and family man doesn’t realize is that this is just beginning of a terrifying set-up to strong-arm him into finding the Achilles Heal of his own invulnerable system to transfer $100 million to an offshore bank account. He either does what the sophisticated team of ruthless men wants or he risks the lives of his wife (Virgina Madsen) and children that are being held hostage under surveillance for the ransom at a remote farmhouse. Everything he loves is about to be used against him.
He Said:
Harrison Ford plays such a good enraged victim, ala “Patriot Games” and “The Fugitive,” and that is just one of the reasons that “Firewall” is just a tad too familiar in plot-line and character. Yes, there were tense moments that had me gritting my teeth, especially when the bad guy proved his ruthlessness when he demonstrated that he could make a child suffer on his way to death. But despite feeling that the kidnappers and his team were capable of the most horrible deeds, I’m afraid that most of my own mind’s engagement in the film came from trying to remember ways to break through a firewall. Then failed escapes and other stock tension-building devices made the film way too predictable to be a gripping “action/adventure drama thriller.”
On the R&R Scale (1-10):
6 for script: A little too predictable.
7 for direction: Kept up the suspense and action.
8 for acting: Ford and Madsen.
6 for plot: Too familiar.
7 for entertainment value.
6.8 Overall
She Said:
When devoted company and family man, Jack Stanfield, said “You’ll get your money, when I get my family,” I realized that I had been there and done that before. Further, it was the same Harrison Ford that delivered that memory from the past. After that, my film experience with “Firewall” felt like a weaker replay of other suspense/action scenes from better Harrison Ford films. I say better because there were at least a couple of potential plot twists planted into “Firewall” (the gambling debt and infidelity question, for examples) that never got developed. Was it the writing or the direction that fell short in the follow-through that could have ratcheted up the tension and suspense better? However, bad guy Paul Brittany was as convincing as Harrison and Madsen were as the desperate parents. It seemed like a “C” plotline with “A” actors hired to carry it off.
On the R&R Scale (1-10):
5 for script: Been there, done that.
5 for direction: Didn’t develop scripted potential plot twists.
7 for acting: Ford and Madsen too good for the script.
5 for plot: Predictable.
6 for entertainment value
6.0 Overall
