FIREWALL / Richard Loncraine (2006)

February 8th, 2006 by Scott Marks

Firewall (2006)

Directed by: Richard Loncraine

Written by: Joe Forte

Genres: Crime, Drama, Thriller

Cast: Harrison Ford, Paul Bettany, Virginia Madsen, Carly Schroeder, Jimmy Bennett, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Gail Ann Lewis, Robert Patrick, Robert Forster, Alan Arkin, Matthew Currie Holmes, Candus Churchill, David Lewis, Zahf Paroo, Pat Jenkinson

Aspect Ratio: 2.35 : 1

Running Time: 105 min.

Kidnapping goes high-tech and petrified action hero Harrison Ford is again given an opportunity to display his A-to-B emotional range. Not only did Blade Runner prove that there was plenty of room (and need) for quality science fiction in Lucas-Land, it also presented Ford with his most challenging and convincing part to date: a robot.

Firewall is basically The Desperate Hours updated for the computer set. Ford plays a high-powered banker whose family is held hostage and will not be released unlesshe agrees to electronically siphon millions to an offshore account. According to the script, all you need to become a highwayman on the Information Superhighway is an iPod and a crucial part from a fax machine.

Ford is fitted with electronic surveillance equipment, so the e-crooks can monitor his every move, and sent off to work where his actions puzzle co-workers. It doesn’t help that the day before, a goon from a collection agency showed up demanding $95,000 for on-line gambling debts. Through it all, Ford staunchly displays two modes of expression: pained and more pained. There is a scene early on where Ford sits in a boardroom with Robert Patrick, Robert Forester and Alan Arkin and I couldn’t help but wonder if these three superior actors goofed on Harry when he got up to go the bathroom.

As the leader of a gang of articulate, well-groomed and family-friendly urban terrorists, Paul Bettany is the type of villain you don’t take seriously until he makes an example of one of his mates. All I could think of while watching his performance was how superb Alan Rickman was when given a similar character in Die Hard. Virginia Madsen probably netted more from this film than it cost to make Sideways. It is disheartening to see such a talented actress being given so little to work with.

Ford is rapidly approaching Charles Bronson territory. The studios he aligns himself with may be more prestigious and their level of technical expertise strictly first cabin, but the decayed formula smells just the same. Not unlike Bronson, Indy Solo is a theorem; if there was no Harrison Ford, one would have been invented. He’ll be 65 when Indiana Jones strikes back next summer with one last last crusade. (Raiders of the Lost Bladder?) If Spielberg’s smart, he’ll amputate Ford and reattach Sean Connery.

The last twenty minutes of Firewall provide non-stop guffaws. Ford’s scenes opposite a dog would make Lassie leave home. When all is said and done, the film presented one burning question: Why kidnap the family pet? I can understand holding a sick kid hostage. How else is beginner screenwriter Joe Forte expected to shamefully wring bargain basement pathos? Surprisingly, the reason Fido goes along for the ride is actually substantiated. Too bad when it comes down to execution, the filmmakers who roll over and play dead.

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