Is it summer yet? Firewall, a run-of-the-mill thriller starring Harrison Ford on Air Force One repeat would have been an okay popcorn flick for July. Unfortunately, timing is everything.
Jack Stanfield (Ford) is the VP of Security at a prominent bank in Seattle. He has a beautiful home architected by his supportive and loving wife Beth (Madsen). They have a young son Andy (Bennett) and a rebellious teenage daughter Sarah (Schroeder). Jack goes to work one day and discovers that someone has stolen his identity and racked up $95,000 of gambling debt. He chalks it up as a minor irritation but doesn’t pay attention to it. When he meets a client named Bill Cox (Bettany) for a business dinner, he has no idea that his life is going to change.
Cox turns out to be a bank robber of the digital age. With the help of his minions, he holds Jack’s family hostage and forces Jack to help him break into the bank’s computer system and transfer $100 million to his offshore accounts. Jack resists and Cox threatens to kill his family. Reluctantly, Jack carries out the operation, only to finds that Cox has other plans for him and his family…
Ford hasn’t done much after Hollywood Homicide, the 2003 stinker with Josh Hartnett. Here, Ford cruises his way through the film – he could probably play Jack Stanfield with his eyes closed. He seems content to be doing this for money. Madsen (Sideways) also wastes her talent in this thriller. Her character has no depth and she’s reduced to playing the helpless mother/wife. The children are chess pieces – their personalities are superficial and it’s hard to care about them. Bettany (Wimbledon) also is wasted. His performance is dispassionately cold and monotonous. The supporting cast including Patrick (Walk the Line), Forster (Bounty Hunter), Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine) and Rajskub (Legally Blonde 2) don’t have much to do, but they serve the plot as needed.
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