Plenty of action in this movie to keep you awake, but one doesn't leave the theater with any special feeling like a good movie leaves you with. Hardly thought provoking. It's difficult to 'attach' yourself to any of the characters (well except maybe for the dog). Why the movie is entitled 'Firewall' is mystery to me.

Harrison Ford heads up the 'perfect family'. Successful businessman and husband, good looking wife, son, daughter and a dog. Ford's secretary is one of the main characters from the TV show 24, you know the girl that always looks like she is in pain (and probably is).

There are some problems with the storyline. How for instance did Ford reverse 10,000 thefts of $10,000 from the banks top 10,000 customers with just 4 hand typed commands? The original theft was for 100Million, but apparently only 80 million was stolen and subsequently returned. Why did the cops usher the 'getaway car' away when responding to a bank robbery at the airport, especially since Ford ran to it looking stressed? Not very believable.

My wife liked the movie, so for non techies the inevitable errors are apparently of no consequence. I did like the portrayal of Ford as a very competent technical manager who had his wings clipped as a consequence of an unfriendly merger, very believable, I felt his pain.

None of the good guys got hurt too bad while all the baddies got what was coming to them. The dog was rescued like you'd expect with any 'good movie', all together now.... ahhhhhh.

I saw that 'Firewall' was coming on TV a couple of nights ago and wanted to catch Harrison Ford in action, as I'm a huge fan of his and I had not seen this. I have to say I was fairly entertained by the film. The plot is not so much different from the other films of this genre, but what stands apart from the rest is Harrison Ford's and the antagonist, Bill Cox's very real performances and some clever twists.

Computer security specialist Jack Stanfield (Harrison Ford) works for the Seattle-based Landrock Pacific Bank. A trusted top-ranking executive, he has built his career and reputation on designing the most effective anti-theft computer systems in the industry, protecting the bank's financial holdings from the constant threat of increasingly sophisticated internet hackers with his complex network of tracers, access codes and firewalls. His regular life is put into turmoil after his family taken is taken hostage by Bill Cox and his cronies.

Even though most of the story was predictable, that doesn't mean it wasn't entertaining. It has everything you can ask - big explosions, smart thinking actors, great acting (only by Harrison Ford and Paul Bettany). Cox played by Paul Bettany was very unnerving as the calm, cold, collected and clever villain. He was ruthless in killing his own men to make his point. I mean that is fairly common in this genre, still it was pretty good. Jack's repeated attempts to try and save his family along with the money was good to see. You could look at his eyes and you can see how much he loves his family and how scared he is for them and really wants their safety more than anything. The little kid, Andy with the allergy and Jack's secretary, Janet Stone played by Mary Lynn Rajkub are also very good. The climax with the burning car was not so believable. But even so, this is a more than average thriller that you would want to see. A rating of 5.6 on IMDb? I am shocked. Come on people, this is so much better than that. I really enjoyed the movie immensely.

7/10

A disappointingly routine Hollywood thriller in which genuine thrills are few and far between, the script is hackneyed and there's a general tired feeling to the proceedings. Harrison Ford, looking way too old to be playing a family man with two young kids, stars as a software security expert coerced into carrying out a virtual bank robbery with the aid of a villainous gang. There are a few moments of interest here and there along the way as Ford attempts to extricate himself from the situation, but by the end it's turned into a virtual reprise of AIR FORCE ONE with the star taking on various machine-gun wielding thugs and somehow coming off the better.

Much of the blame can be laid on the script, which displays a real paucity of imagination when it comes to detailing suspenseful and/or original situations. Supposedly sympathetic characters – such as the peanut-allergic kid – come across as nothing more than whiny brats and Ford is so unenthused that he barely bothers giving a proper performance, instead sleepwalking through his part.

While it's fun to see Virginia Madsen (ALIEN) back on screen again, her character is left on the sidelines and the only actor who comes away giving anything like a half decent performance is Paul Bettany, whose British villain is far too much of a nice guy to be imposing in any case. The kid-friendly rating means that much of the violence and impact are sanitised and safe and aside from the novel use of a pickaxe in one scene there's hardly anything to remember this by.