CNS Movie Review: Firewall.

Firewall

By Harry Forbes
Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) -- What happens to bank security executive Jack Stanfield makes regular identity theft look like shoplifting at Wal-Mart on the crime scale.

"Firewall" (Warner Bros.) is a tense, noirish thriller that starts, as thrillers often do, in the most ordinary way. Jack (Harrison Ford) lives a well-ordered suburban life with his architect wife, Beth (Virginia Madsen), and two young children, Sarah (Carly Schroeder) and Andy (Jimmy Bennett).

Trouble is brewing at the bank, however, as a multinational corporation, Accuwest, is about to absorb them. Concerns about the impending merger are exacerbated by an angry visit from a collection agent insisting that Jack, who's never gambled, has racked up a $95,000 gambling debt.

Meanwhile, Beth opens the door at home for an expected pizza delivery man, only to find herself and her kids roughed up, bound and gagged, and their house instantly rigged with surveillance cameras. Meanwhile, Jack is having drinks with his office colleague, Harry (Robert Forster), and an entrepreneur, Bill Cox (Paul Bettany), who's after Jack's services for his new company.

When Jack gets into his car moments later, Cox pops into the backseat, pulls out a gun and produces a cell-phone photo of the captive family. Jack is now in their power, and expected to find a flaw in the computer system's firewall -- that he designed -- and transfer millions into an offshore account.

Cox demands Jack go to work, fully wired with audio and video bugs, so his every action will be monitored. Jack tries to evade the tapping, but is discovered. Accuwest honcho Gary Mitchell (Robert Patrick) is also keeping a suspicious eye on him, making Jack's enforced larceny all the more difficult.

In any case, Cox soon shows up in person, and forces Jack to fire his trusty gal Friday, Janet (Mary Lynn Rajskub).

Jack and Beth make every effort to escape their predicament, but each time they are thwarted.

There are inevitable plot improbabilities, but on the whole "Firewall" delivers solid suspense and director Richard Loncraine sustains a white-knuckle pace throughout.

Ford makes you believe his plight all the way, and Bettany -- soon to portray the albino monk-assassin in "The Da Vinci Code" -- gets some practice as a very bad villain indeed. He even coolly offers young Andy a cookie, knowing full well it contains peanuts, to which the boy is severely allergic.

Though the tension may be too protracted for many, the violence is handled with relative discretion. The scenes of the family being manhandled are hard to watch, but more for what's implied. The screen images are dispatched quickly with fast cutting, and they are never tortured or sexually abused, as in a less tasteful film.

Some viewers may be put off by the slightly patronizing depiction of Janet's nerdy, unwanted suitor who happens to be a born-again Christian.

There are some inevitable killings along the way, but on the whole this is an enjoyable "Desperate Hours" for the cyberspace age, playing on our worst fears about privacy and security.

The film contains some profanity, rough and crude language, violence, intense suspense and murder. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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Forbes is director of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

END

Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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