Film Review With Sam Larner

Firewall

Firewall is a 2006 American film starring Harrison Ford as a bank security manager whose family are kidnapped by a criminal determined to steal $5 million. So how does it rate?

Well, firstly, it is absolute standard fare in every single way. It’s 100 minutes long, it was made for $50 million and it took $82 million. It stars Paul Bettany as the criminal mastermind who hopes to steal from the bank. He does a perfectly fine job in this role although he is effectively playing himself.

A slight problem with the film is that Harrison Ford growls his way through it like Clint Eastwood without access to Lemsip. It starts off just being annoying but by the end it becomes amusing as Ford delivers every line with his own ridiculous growl. This includes the line “Don’t hurt the dog.” which I thought was rather good.

Another problem is that the plot is just so generic. Main character's family kidnapped, he has to do some bad things to get them back, it all ends happily. I mean it’s not the most original of stories. This isn’t a major problem if all you want is a mindless couple of hours however it does make you wonder why the needed to spend as much as $50 million on it.

It’s not a terrible movie by any means but what’s most striking is its complete mediocrity. This film is Stoke City, Birmingham, toast and cricket all rolled into one, it’s fine but it’s no more than that, passable but not astonishing. I would really only advise it as a watching experience if it happens to be on TV when you’re there. In short it is the filmic equivalent of the Gaelic shrug.