Harrison Ford beats a man to death with a carafe. How do you not want to see that?
"Firewall" Review
Harrison Ford- Jack Stanfield
Paul Bettany- Bill Cox
Virginia Madsen- Beth Stanfield
Robert Patrick- Gary Mitchell
Robert Forster- Harry Romano
Mary Lynn Rajskub- Janet
Jimmy Bennett- Andrew Stanfield
Carly Schroeder- Sarah Stanfield
Alan Arkin- Arlin Forester
Directed by Richard Loncraine
Screenplay by Joe Forte
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Rated PG-13 for some intense sequences of violence
Runtime- 105 minutes
Website: http://firewallmovie.warnerbros.com/
You're being watched. Everything you do. Everything your family does. The watchers have gone through your garbage and found your shredded bank and credit card statements and taped them back together. They've infiltrated your personal computers and seen everything you've read and done electronically. Heck, they've even sent people to your house to talk with your family (you remember that chat your wife had with the Pizza Hut guy last Thursday? Of course you don't. But the Pizza Hut guy remembers every second of it. He wasn't there just to deliver pizza). And you have no idea it's happening. That's the beginning of Harrison Ford's new flick "Firewall," where Ford's computer expert Jack Stanfield and his family is the subject of just such an operation. The watchers, the bad guys, headed by soft spoken glove wearer and calculating Eurotrash scumbag Bill Cox (Paul Bettany), have concocted a diabolical plan to steal one hundred million dollars from Stanfield's bank and require Stanfield's "help" (the reason for the surveillance). So Cox and crew initiate their plan and kidnap the family and hold them hostage in their own home while Jack is forced to figure out a way to bypass the security system he created and get the cash. In typical thriller fashion, Stanfield wants no harm to come to his family, but he also doesn't want to give in to the criminals, so he doesn't make things easy for Cox (it wouldn't be much of a movie if all Ford did was say "Okay," did as he was asked, and they killed him. The movie would have been over in thirty minutes and we'd all be upset about how plausible it seems. Who, besides a trained killer ex-CIA Steven Seagal type, is going to try to not cooperate with machine gun toting hooligans?). The first segment of the flick goes back and forth, with Stanfield seeming to get the upper hand and then getting thrashed by the uber prepared Cox. It's not until the fifty minute mark or so when we realize that Jack Stanfield is about to become Han Solo, Indiana Jones, Jack Ryan, and Tommy Lillard and do what we all want Harrison to do (it's what we came to see): kick some butt. And that's exactly what he does. But does it all work out in the end?
"Firewall" is a supremely good movie. It's not the greatest flick ever made, nor is it the best movie that any of the main cast have done, but then it doesn't have to be. This is the kind of movie that's simply well executed entertainment, an experience that grabs the viewer by the shirt collar (or one of those big collars that winter coats have, and that's if you're one of those people who won't take his or her coat off in the theatre for no other reason than laziness) from the get go and won't let go. You'll try to doze off, the uppity nerd part of your brain wanting to zone off into something more "cool," like "Family Guy" quotes, or if you're one of those black turtleneck types who sit all slouched in the seat with your legs crossed muttering to yourself "Why won't Harry there do another "Working Girl?" but the movie won't let you. Even if you decide you hate it at the end (this reviewer likes "Firewall" very much. You can tell) you'll be mesmerized nonetheless.
The cast is excellent. Harrison Ford, running and moving like Danny Glover, is almost completely believable as a computer security expert. You're never really sure if Ford knows what he's talking about when he does the techno jargon, but you do totally believe him when he's concerned for the welfare of his family. And the man does manage to do the voice cracking half cry thing, which is always best when done by a great actor (like Ford). Ford shines when it's time to get physical and, again with the Danny Glover reference, when he bashes someone it just looks like it's going to hurt. Some people are going to compare his performance here to his performance in the 1997 flick "Air Force One," which is a fair comparison to a degree in the sense that, like in "AFO," Ford is a man hell bent on rescuing his family from bad guys. But in "AFO" he's the President of the United States and a combat vet. In "Firewall" he's a family man who looks like he can handle himself. If this is the kind of role Ford is going to continue on with, this reviewer will welcome it.
Paul Bettany is the villain, channeling a more morose Alan Rickman in his character Bill Cox. You're not given much in the way of background on him, other than he's a professional criminal with a vicious killer streak and that Bill Cox is probably not his real name. It's the kind of role that could be done on television by Mitch Pillegi (he's a bad guy, a scumbag, he's willing to kill members of his own criminal team to get what he wants, he wears leather gloves all of the time) and be considered solely a job. Bettany works well with Ford and manages to shoot out that pathos when necessary. And he's European, so he's got that evil European thing going for him. It could have been terrible, just another villain, but Bettany makes it work.
Virginia Madsen plays Beth Stanfield, the matriarch of the Stanfield clan. She's an architect and a doting mother. She's at home with the kids (the kids have the week off from school, some kind of socialist holiday or some such) when the deal goes down. She isn't given much to do besides scream, look concerned, and get her hands tied behind her back and her mouth gagged with clear tape (since when do kidnappers use clear tape to gag people in movies? Aren't they supposed to use duct tape? Isn't that some kind of rule?), but she does it well. She does get to do a few physical things, but her job is basically to stay with the kids and hope her husband figures out how to save them. Yeah, she could have gone all kung fu on the machine gun guys, maybe stabbed one of them in the neck with a protractor, but do we always need to see that?
Robert Patrick, the T-1000 himself, makes an appearance as the head of the bank merger that Stanfield's company is going through. Much like Madsen, he doesn't have much to do other than be upset and be Robert Patrick, but, again, like all decent actors, what he's given he does well. He's a bit of a computer expert himself, and he's about as believable as Ford in the computer area. Robert Forster shows up as Ford's buddy Harry Romano, and he does what Forster always does. His character is featured in quite the story swerve. Mary Lynn Rajskub does a good job as Ford's personal assistant Janette. She does the quirky thing and all that. And she does the uncomfortable hug from the boss look well, too. Everyone is just sort of there as background filler. The bad guys are, well, the bad guys. The kids, Andrew (Jimmy Bennett) and Sarah (Carly Schroeder), do the precocious kids in peril thing, and the siblings who annoy one another thing, and they follow their mother in the bound and gagged thing. Andrew is given a little more personality than his sister, and he does get to participate in some very chilling scenes with Bill Cox. Peanut allergies suck. And lets not forget Alan Arkin, now a professional old man, doing a decent job as the bank president Arlin Forester. This little role helps him give back to the world after his tenure in that absolutely awful A&E court show "100 Centre Street."
Richard Loncraine should get some kudos for making a straightforward movie (it didn't look promising at the beginning, as the opening credits surveillance montage is all hip and edgy. Thankfully that ended quickly). Real stunts, very little noticeable CG, and good action stuff. You can't ask for much more. He's managed to make the kind of movie everyone says they should make more of and then they don't go see. If he wants to join Ford in making more of these kinds of flicks he has this reviewer's blessing. And he included a goofy Christian rock concert in a church in there. We always like to see that.
Damn right you should see "Firewall." Moviemakers need to make more flicks like this. Good stuff that isn't boring. Who cares if it's "plausible?" It's not like Denise Richards is in there as a nuclear scientist or something.
Go see it. You'll love it.
The 411: “Firewall” is the return of Harrison Ford kicking some serious butt when his family is kidnapped and he is forced to do the twisted bidding of scumbag criminals. Paul Bettany is great as the antagonist, it’s an action movie that’s an action movie and nothing else (always a plus), and it’s the kind of movie you can get behind because it’s watchable. And more people should use carafes as weapons. They’re big enough to do some serious damage.
