Firewall Reviews

Firewall has everything going against it. Bland acting, tired and improbable plot, and a horrendously negative critical reaction. Heck, the film doesn't even have anything to do with a firewall. But somehow, the film works. Firewall is not groundbreaking, or even recommendable, but it's certainly watchable, which is more than I initially expected.

Firewall explores a common nightmare of many adults- Identity thief. While this doesn't mean much to the technology-embracing generation of today, Firewall is certainly stressing enough at times to scare teens into being a bit more cautious with personal information.

Technology Executive Jack Stanfield has his life thrown into utter turmoil when he's hacked by villainous, web-savvy hackers. While ringleader Bill Cox threatens to kill Jack's family, Jack has no choice but to follow Cox's commands.

While seeing a man's life slowly fall apart may not seem particularly entertaining, Firewall is mostly watchable, if immensely flawed.

If you like your films to be logical, you should stay far away from Firewall. Improbable to the point of laughter, there's too much that characters get away with. Small leaps of faith are to be expected in most thrillers, but there is a limit, and Firewall exceeds it.

Some moments are quite exciting, and may be on the edge of your seat at times. Still, Firewall is hugely predictable, which eliminates much of the thrill Firewall strives to deliver.

Much of the predictability comes from the unoriginality of the production. And if not that, it's the undeveloped characters. Jack Stanfield gets the typical "Wants to save his family" tag that most father characters get. Bill Cox has the "Nasty Villain" tag and he has absolutely no personality. There's even a henchperson that eventually turns good. How cliched is that?

And because the characters are so bland, the actors can onlt do so much. Harrison Ford as Jack Stanfield lacks the franticness or emotion that he displayed so well in The Fugitive, which Firewall borrows heavily from. Paul Bettany as Bill Cox gets all the nastiness out of the things he does as opposed him seeming like a relatively nasty person. Other actors fare more or less the same- Mediocre.

The score by Alexandre Desplat is generic, but it works very well for the film. It's not a score I would want on my iPod, and while some parts of the score are screaming for more development, it serves the film well. In some ways, the score does an excellent job of reflecting the film; It's serviceable, but it's lack of uniqueness and it's generic qualities make it forgettable.

I know I'm pointing out a lot of flaws in Firewall. But you must understand that I don't hate Firewall. Actually, I almost like it. Still, it comes off as too much of a wannabe version of The Fugitive. As far as generic action thrillers go, you could do a lot worse than Firewall. But you could also do a lot better. Firewall is dumb fun, and nothing more than that.

Back in the 80's, Harrison Ford was one of the most amazing actors and most of his movies ended up being some huge success (Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Blade Runner (1982), Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)). Of course, those days are long gone but I still have a weak spot for him and I try to watch his more recent movies whenever I get the opportunity. And indeed, the fact that Ford is not the star he used to be is pretty obvious when watching this flick. Where should I start? The story was rather preposterous and Ford was completely unbelievable but, still, thanks to his eternal charisma, he managed to make the whole thing still kind of watchable and, surprisingly, I was rather entertained throughout the whole duration. It does help when the bad guy is portrayed by the always dependable Paul Bettany (what happened to him actually? It seems that he never really managed to break through in a big way). To conclude, it remains an average, unoriginal and predictable flick but it was still rather entertaining and it is actually worth a look, especially if you are a fan of Harrison Ford like me.

Really good and so intense. A great performance from Harrison Ford, he rocks! Only two bad things about it; Harrison Ford is too old to be a father in this movie-and a too predictable ending. Apart from that a great movie!

once again, ford plays the man who is forced to become the hero.
Predictable? Yes. Unrealistic: For sure. Entertaining: Admitably, yes.

Another typical modern Harrison Ford disaster. Predictable from beginning to end. Bank Fraud? The only believable fraud in this movie was trying to convince us that an online security bank consultant can turn himself into Rambo.