Film Review

Harrison Ford hasn't made a movie in a few years. His last one, Hollywood Homicide, a buddy-cop movie with Ashton Kuchner, was so bad I think he had to take a break in order to protect his career! Firewall is not exactly going to redeem him, but it's a start, or at least a return to business as usual.

Here he is playing the family-man caught in a crisis (Airforce One, and most of his other films) this time a bank security expert whose family is taken hostage until he steals $100 million. Here he is getting beaten up, here he is getting threatened, here he is taking all kinds of crap and then...here he is turning the tables and taking on the crooks at their own game. It's Harrison Ford with is stiff upper-lip "I'm not taking this anymore and now you're gonna get it" look--fighting, shooting, and of course protecting his family. The film actually closes with him and his wife, two kids and dog walking around a bend in a country lane as the sun rises on them--and I'm not kidding.

Firewall is a classic popcorn movie--it is not meant to make you think, it's all about Harrsion as everyman hero and kicking butt. If you want a couple of hours of belief suspension movie action you could do worse than Firewall. Virginia Madsen (Sideways) is wasted as his wife, and Paul Bettany as the cold-blooded mastermind crook is a bit of a bore, but then again, its all supposed to be about Harrison anyway. This will tide us over until Indiana Jones IV.