Harrison Ford Hacks This Firewall

I enjoy a well thought out, intelligent techno-thriller. You know the kind of movie I'm talking about - where modern technology is the weapon of choice for the bad guys. When done well, you are treated to an exciting thriller, one where the bad guys are smart, relying on technology over guns to do their dirty work for them. If done really well, then you have a good guy at least as smart as the bad guy. And when the lives of the kind, loving wife, two kids, and the dog are at stake, you have all the elements for an entertaining movie.

Firewall delivers on all accounts.

Harrison Ford plays pretty much the same character he's played a bunch of times before. Professional, dependable, loving family man, Jack Stanfield is the IT Security Director at a small, but successful bank. His job is to keep the bank's data secure. Each night he comes home to his young wife Beth (ok - unrealistically much too young for him, but this is the way it is in the movies) played by Virginia Madsen. There are two kids - both kind of bratty, and a very cute dog.

One day, things go badly for the Stanfield family. While Jack's at work dealing with a potential merger, his family is taken hostage. Why? Because they're about to be used as leverage. Bill Cox, played by Paul Bettany, has decided that Jack's just the guy he needs to access the bank's database, and electronically divert $100 million. I love this scenario. It is so much "cooler" than the old fashioned kind of bank robbery. Where you get into the vault, or hold up a teller who has to fill a bag with money. Electronically diverting money can be achieved in seconds, with nobody seeing a thing.

It should be a slam dunk. After all, Jack built the bank's security system; if anyone can hack into it, he can, right? Well, of course that's not the way it works in Hollywood. Things go awry, and plans have to be altered.

For the rest of movie we get to watch Jack do what Harrison Ford is so good at doing: turning angst and stress into exciting, Hollywood moments. There are high tech devices, chase scenes, a bit of murder, some attempts at escape, and some good old fashioned fisticuffs.

For an hour and 45 minutes, I was on the edge of my seat. Always wondering how Jack was going to get out of this mess, and save his family. There was plenty of action to keep the movie's pace, and lots of loud, dramatic music to go along with the action. Actually the music during the action scenes was a bit too loud for me, I was glad to be watching at home where I could lower the volume for those scenes, then turn it back up for the dialogue scenes.

All of the actors did a fine job. It was especially fun to see Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe from 24) playing Jack's secretary, Janet. Janet has the same personality as Chloe, so fans of 24 will probably enjoy her role. The fact that her boss's name in this movie is Jack makes it even more fun, especially when she gets pulled into his mess.

Alan Arkin had a teeny, tiny role as the bank's president. I would have liked to have seen more of him. The only two characters I really couldn't stand were the two bratty kids. 8 year old Andy (Jimmy Bennett) and 14 year old Sarah (Carly Shroeder) bicker constantly and treat each other with no respect whatsoever. Sarah treats her parents just as badly. Of course, once the family is faced with real danger, they do pull together and manage to behave themselves, but I just didn't like how nasty those kids were, before tragedy struck. Rusty, however, is one adorable pooch, and always behaves himself.


Overall, this was a pretty exciting movie. I wouldn't say it was the most believable movie I've ever seen, but techno-thrillers rarely are full of realism. Fans of Harrison Ford will enjoy this movie. So will computer geeks (like myself) and anyone who enjoys a fast-paced, exciting thriller. Rated PG-13 for violence, I'd leave the kids home for this one.