“Firewall” is a thriller without the thrills, a hostage flick without the tension, and a heist movie with a neutered heist. The film is filled with well-worn action-thriller cliches that will make audiences leave the theater feeling that they’ve seen the movie before.
Harrison Ford plays Jack Stanfied, a typical American, business, and family man. He comes complete with two kids, a beautiful architect wife (Virginia Madsen) and an adorable dog named Rusty. He lives in a waterfront house and works as the chief of network security at a Seattle bank.
Jack’s world gets turned upside down when bad-guy Bill Cox (Paul Bettany) and three thugs hold his family hostage. In order to save his family, Jack must aid Cox in his master plan to rob the bank.
Cox has masterminded cinema’s most boring bank heist. Instead of safe-cracking and subterfuge, Cox’s scheme involves hacking into the bank’s computers and shifting millions of dollars into an offshore account.
Watching characters hack into computers and steal millions of virtual dollars doesn’t amount to much tension. Director Richard Loncraine’s liberal use of ominous orchestral music can’t make scenes of keyboard typing interesting.
Ford is far from memorable in “Firewall,” and it’s frustrating to see him simply walk through the movie, especially when we’ve seen him deliver excellent performances in classics such as “The Fugitive.” Bettany plays a generic villain; he’s a genius, he’s cruel and he’s entirely forgettable.
The majority of the plot relies on uninteresting gadgetry and technobable. The movie’s tacked-on, “action-packed” ending falls short of exciting, mostly because we all know what’s going to happen. Ford and Bettany’s carefully choreographed final fight scene packs no punch.
“Firewall” is a mindless, predictable, middle-of-the-road thriller. It adds nothing to an already saturated genre. It may hold the audience’s interests, but it is ultimately forgettable.

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