Firewall (2006, HD DVD)

I think we all loved (or love) Harrison Ford as the swashbuckling, laser gun tooting space pilot in Star Wars, and the action adventure explorer in the Steven Spielberg s Indiana Jones movies starting with The Raiders of The Lost Ark. Back then mid s through mid s he was young and somewhat handsome, but used looking in all the right places. But, time has not been Mr. Ford s friend; he has aged like we all do, and it really shows on his face. So now he is somewhat less creditable (I m being kind here) as the last action hero even if he is pumped up on testosterone in an effort to save his American nuclear family from a hail of bullets as is the case in 2006 s Firewall.

Directed by Richard Loncraine (My House in Umbria, Wimbledon) Firewall is nauseatingly formulaic, implausible, and well, just plain boring. Jack Stanfield (Ford) is the Vice President of network security at a mid-sized Seattle Washington bank so of course in almost every exterior shot, it s raining. Jack has the typical white suburban life, a nice expensive house, a nice expensive boat, a doting wife, Beth, portrayed Virginia Madsen (The Hot Spot, Ghosts of Mississippi, Sideways) who of course has a career of her own as an architect. And Jack has two children: 10-year-old Jimmy portrayed by Andy Stanfield (Everwood) who is annoying little cuss; and 15-year-old blonde Sarah, portrayed by Carly Schroeder (Port Charles, Lizzie McGuire) who is also an annoying little cuss and is the type of spoiled brat who sardonically calls her father by his first name.

Jack s bank is in the middle of a merger and he is contemplating a move somewhere else. As he is discussing the particulars with one Bill Cox portrayed by Paul Bettany (Dogville, Master and Commander: The Far Side of The World, The Da Vinci Code), his family is being assaulted and kidnapped by Bill s associates. In exchange for Jack s help in robbing the bank of ten million dollars, they will let Jack s family go.

So Jack does the impossible and gets them the money, after firing his secretary Janet portrayed by Mary Lynn Rajskub (24, Gilmore Girls, Little Miss Sunshine), and bringing suspicion to himself. It s all part of Bill s carefully choreographed plan to frame Jack for the theft, paint him as unstable, kill him, and then of course get away with the money. But of course Jack has other plans.

My Thoughts

Half way through Firewall I was bored; there was nothing to look forward to, and I had nothing invested in any of the characters, who were all cut from the same-ole, same-ole bland mold I have grown tired of. The actors, no matter how accomplished, sail through their product placement electronics infused scenes, scarcely taking note of their privileged surroundings, the absurdity of the script, or the glaring inconsistencies in plot. Most of the time it feels as though they too are bored with the movie and only want it to end; was it possible for Carly Schroeder, little blonde Sarah to be any more bored with her role as the overly privileged, spoiled little blonde? Even when she was running for her life, she acted as like she was doing her nails in front of the television.

And does it really rain that much in Seattle, or did the director take artistic liberty with the weather? Firewall is clearly intended to be a bit of mindless entertainment, and in that is succeeded all too well. The only problem is that Firewall was not at all exciting; it was a mind numbing bore. With that in mind take Firewall for what it worth: a background piece you can occasionally glance at while you are doing something else.

Movie Details:

Principle Actors: Harrison Ford, Paul Bettany, Virginia Madsen, Jimmy Bennett, Mary Lynn Rajskub
Director: Richard Loncraine
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Dubbed, Subtitled, Color, Dolby, Widescreen, NTSC
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only.
Number of Discs: (1)
Rating: PG-13 for strong language, and violence.
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Release Date: June 6, 2006
Run Time: 104 Minutes
DVD Features: Available Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
o Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
o "Firewall Decoded: A Conversation with Harrison Ford and Richard Loncraine"
o "Firewall: Writing a Thriller" featurette
o Theatrical Trailer