Firewall - Preview & US reaction
Preview by Jack Foley
IT’S been a while since we’ve had anything to look forward to from Harrison Ford but Firewall, his latest thriller, places him in familiar territory – that of a man pushed to desperate limits to protect his family.
Directed by Richard Loncraine (of Wimbledon fame), the film finds Ford as a bank security expert, Jack Stanfield, whose specialty is designing infallible theft-proof financial computer systems.
When a ruthless criminal (Paul Bettany) kidnaps his family, Jack is forced to find a flaw in his own system in order to help them steal $100 million – or else his wife and children will die.
Yet as the stakes get higher, Jack resolves to fight back, entering into a battle of wits with the criminals that tests each men’s resolve to the absolute edge.
From its trailer alone, this Warner Bros thriller looks to be an alternative take on Die Hard and Ransom, with shades of Patriot Games and Air Force One thrown in. Ford looks to be on good form as the determined father and husband, while Bettany appears as suave and sophisticated as they come as the Brit villain.
What’s more, there is a strong support cast, including Virginia Madsen as Ford’s wife and Robert Patrick as a company rival who becomes suspicious of Ford’s activities.
“This is a movie about vulnerability,” explains Firewall’s screenwriter, Joe Forte. “The idea that someone evil could attach himself to you and worm his way into your life like that both fascinated me and creeped me out,” he added.
Ford, too, felt the thriller had some very contemporary lessons for its audiences, especially in an age that has become reliant on computers and where identity theft is the number one crime.
“People’s belief that their computers are secure is far from the truth,” says the actor, who is still hoping to begin work on a fourth Indiana Jones adventure soon. “It only depends upon someone having a clear ambition, plus the expertise and energy to break into your system, as well as a compelling reason to do it. I think most people are safe only because they simply don’t have things the bad guys want.”
The film opened in US cinemas on February 10 and met with lukewarm reviews.
The Washington Post, for instance, wrote that ‘as we watch Ford reprise his trademark mannerisms, we no longer enjoy the ring of familiarity. We just hear the tolling of a bell – Ford’s’.
While Newsday felt that ‘director Richard Loncraine and writer Joe Forte inject fatty layers of false leads, techno-babble and dull-witted tension into what is essentially a generic hostage machine’.
Similarly unimpressed was Entertainment Weekly, which wrote: “If you feel like you’ve seen it before, it’s because you have – action heroes beating the crap out of people in the pious name of protecting their loved ones.”
While the Philadelphia Inquirer opined: “It’s not long before the timely issue of identity theft takes a backseat to old-fashioned Hollywood villainy, unnecessary (and nonsensical) red herrings, and stuff that doesn’t make sense.”
But the New York Observer had a good time, insisting that ‘it kept me alert, terrified and royally entertained’.
And Efilmcritic wrote that ‘for those who enjoy big dumb fun every now and again to clear out the senses, Firewall offers some terrific entertainment in the moments before it begins to confuse itself’.
But the generally indifferent attitude towards it was summed up by Variety, which concluded: “Beyond Paul Bettany’s suave villain, there’s not much to distinguish what amounts to an old-fashioned “B” picture, except perhaps its unusually overwrought score.”