Review of Firewall (2006) by Jeffl. — 17 Mar 2006
[***SPOILERS***] Security expert Harrison Ford is targeted by criminals (led by a cooly effective Paul Bettany) who threaten to kill his family (including wife Virginia Madsen) unless he helps them rob the very bank he has spent the last twenty years of his career protecting.
Ho-hum thriller nearly gets by on the strength of its admittedly intriguing premise. Problem is, for all the film's fixation on technology (cell phones, iPods, and even a pet-tracking device all play important roles), the plotting is all too rote and familiar.
It's also pretty hard to get too excited over scenes of Ford hunched over a computer, crunching numbers and hacking codes, no matter how much the generic suspense music swells on the soundtrack. Director Richard Loncraine, who directed Ian McKellen's brilliant Richard III in better days, stages the action competently but without much surprise.
Ford, craggy of face and more desperately in need of Indy IV than ever, does little to correct the career slide that started nearly a decade ago. If there's a genuine silver lining here, she goes by the name of Mary Lynn Rajskub.
This cute, offbeat character actress (she was in Sweet Home Alabama and Legally Blonde 2, and plays Chloe O' Brian on TV's 24) is terrific as Ford's faithful and beleagured secretary, and Loncraine is wise to give her a fairly generous amount of screen time.
That's more than can be said of veterans Robert Forster and Alan Arkin, two terrific actors given little of interest to do here.
This review of Firewall (2006) was written by Jeffl. on 17 Mar 2006.
Firewall has generally received mixed reviews.
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