Credit: www.impawards.com
Director:
Richard Loncraine
Cast:
Harrison Ford……….Jack Stanfield
Paul Bettany……….Bill Cox
Virginia Madsen……….Beth Stanfield
Mary Lynn Rajskub……….Janet Stone
Robert Patrick……….Gary Mitchell
Robert Forster……….Alan Arkin
Carly Schroeder……….Sarah Stanfield
Jimmy Bennett……….Andy Stanfield
Warner Bros. Pictures presents Firewall. Written by Joe Forte. Running time: 120 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for some intense sequences of violence).
When Paul Bettany was making the press circuit rounds he couldn’t help but tell his interviewers about Harrison Ford and how the man is not confined to just making action or adventure pictures. Ford is a man who has his own genre. “The Harrison Ford Genre”. The distinguishing characteristic for this genre is pretty simple: a family man put in a no-win situation does whatever it takes to keep his family from bodily harm. Evidence of this can be found in Air Force One and Patriot Games.
Different performers have their own beliefs on what it means to be an actor. Some like to “get into character”, while others view acting as a way to earn a steady paycheck. Harrison Ford falls into the latter category. He could easily be doing carpentry work, just like he was before getting the role of that famous space swashbuckler Han Solo.
Taking a sabbatical of sorts, Indiana Jones hasn’t made a movie since 2003. Now he’s back doing what he does best, protecting his family from bad men. Firewall is the movie and it is a thriller that caters to a middle-aged audience, those who are in the mood to see Harrison Ford kill a guy with a carafe.
Thrillers need not be plausible to be entertaining. Most live for the moment anyway. Unless it was something truly special, you wouldn’t spend hours discussing the story with another person over a slice of apple pie. Firewall is like that. The movie takes an old plot – bad guys hold a family hostage and threaten them so that the husband will perform a task – and updates the story with technological advances. If only Bruce Willis had a freakin’ cell phone or iPOD back when he was thwarting terrorists (including Huey Lewis) instead of trying to Die Hard.
The plot is an easy to follow suspense yarn. Ford plays Jack Stanfield, an online security chief for a small banking chain in Seattle. Through a mutual friend he is introduced to a possible client named Bill Cox (Paul Bettany). Turns out the possible client had been watching Jack and his family for weeks. While they have a small drink, Cox’s men invade the Stanfields’ home and hold Ford’s wife (Virginia Madsen) and his two children, a young boy and teenage girl, hostage. All Cox wants is for Jack to hack into the bank’s computers and transfer funds from the bank’s most wealthy clients to offshore accounts.
Despite the movie’s popcorn flick mentality, the characters do have weight. Not much is known about Bill Cox, but both Jack and his wife play to their strengths. Since Jack is an expert in technology, he uses laptops, cell phones, fax machines, lapel mikes, and his daughter’s iPod, as he plays “MacGuyver” and tries to thwart Cox and get his family back. Madsen’s character was an architect, so, with some ingenuity, she tries to pull a great escape and get the kids out of the house. It also helps that she has a good deal of knowledge of the house. She designed it.
Harrison Ford’s acting is to be desired, though. It seems that in films where he or his family is in great peril his vocal delivery is all the same; there’s no change with the inflection. Virginia Madsen stays true to her character as she cries hysterically, yet is able to keep her head. Paul Bettany is cool and cruel as a British man who seems to have worked out the probability of what could happen if Jack tried this or attempted that. Big mistake.
Many will complain that a 63-year-old can’t manhandle guys half his age. In the movies anything is possible. So what if Ford is clever enough to hack into Cox’s offshore accounts or kill his captors with everyday household products. If John Glenn can go back into space, why should we put an age limit on kicking ass and taking names?
I am just a critic offering an opinion. But if I were directing this thriller I would have reversed the roles. Harrison Ford as the villain, Paul Bettany as the hero. As Bill Cox, Ford could be his cantankerous best as the aggressor. His world-weary look could also play to the strengths. Callous and uncaring, the looks his grizzled face could make as he saunters through the Stanfields’ home would be a sight to see.
