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Firewall
Warner Bros.


5.5

based on 38 reviews
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based on 37 votes
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FILM:

Wimbledon

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for some intense sequences of violence

Starring Harrison Ford, Paul Bettany, Virginia Madsen, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Robert Patrick, Robert Forster, and Alan Arkin

A bank security expert (Ford) and his family find themselves in jeopardy when a ruthless criminal mastermind (Bettany) attempts to infiltrate the bank’s computer system.

GENRE(S):	Action \| Crime \| Drama \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Joe Forte
DIRECTED BY:	Richard Loncraine
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: June 6, 2006 Theatrical: February 10, 2006
RUNNING TIME:	105 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

ReelViews James Berardinelli

A thriller with enough of the right ingredients to provide a couple hours of escapism.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

An ingenious attempt to update an old plot with new technology, and it is made with competence, skillful acting, and the ability to make us feel cleverer about digital stuff than we really are.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Kate Taylor

Overall, it's a satisfying example of the classic thriller, with a nifty digital update for these times.

Newsweek David Ansen

There's almost nothing you haven't seen before in this slick, preposterous, but occasionally exciting thriller. An angry Ford absorbs, and dishes out, massive punishment for a fellow his age, while Virginia Madsen is sadly wasted as his wife.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

It's the wrestling match between the banker and the bad guy that fuels the audience's adrenaline.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

This movie, an efficient time-passer at least until the plot starts obsessing over the fate of the family dog, is more into gadgets than people.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

There's just not enough of Forster, who has a small role as Ford's work colleague and confidant. ..Sometimes star quality shines out from the corners of a movie, and not from the center.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

The amount of enjoyment one gets out of the Harrison Ford crime-action thriller Firewall depends on one's tolerance for watching thugs terrify an innocent family for most of the movie.

Variety Brian Lowry

Firewall begins slowly, exhibits hints of promise in the middle and then descends into silliness.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

The director, Richard Loncraine, doesn't generate much tension in Firewall's first half...The standard-issue climax is pretty exciting, though.

Time Richard Schickel

To make something like Firewall good, you have to make it at least a little bit new--or add more than an unending patter of rain and techno-talk.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

As a thriller, Firewall is flabby and familiar.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Ford, soon to be eligible for Medicare, gives his entire performance without losing his breath or changing his expression, and Bettany, a British actor whose pasty complexion won him the role of Silas the Albino in the coming "The Da Vinci Code," is an apt tormentor cum foil of his prey.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

Everything here is a known quantity except one question that could have been inspired by a Tootsie Roll Pop commercial: How many twists does it take to finally, at long last, get to the predictable ending?

USA Today Claudia Puig

Firewall might be worth renting on an inclement weekend when the pickings are slim. It does have some tense moments - even if some of the technical plot points don't quite scan. But, overall, it just feels like a rehash.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

It disrespects Seattle. Not only is this yet another filmed-in-Vancouver movie that's supposed to be set here, it takes place in a blinding rainstorm of the kind only a Hollywood rain machine can make. As we all know, it never rains like that in Seattle.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

For though it is a reasonable facsimile of a successful thriller, this film (named after a barrier that protects computers from hackers) never manages to be more than mildly effective.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Manages to entertain mildly only because it traffics in all the familiar action-movie clichés, giving moviegoers ample opportunity to test their action-movie I.Q.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

I like it for the thing it is, a reasonably solid B movie, and I like it as one in the continuum of bizarre Ford vehicles that combine high-stakes action with household horror.

LA Weekly John Patterson

We spend too much time with the kidnappers - a veritable Geek Squad of undifferentiated techies - as each successive escape attempt is foiled and our eyes are warped by abundant shots of computer screens and grainy surveillance-camera footage.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

Firewall’s predictable second half betrays the film's early promise.

Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman

It starts off with a slick split-screen bang, but this high tech heist thriller is like a For Dummies guide to the genre.

Slate Dana Stevens

One of the many disappointments of Firewall is how it squanders its own cast. Good character actors, including Robert Forster and Alan Arkin, are wasted--literally, in some cases, as the body count piles up.

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

Harrison Ford carries this talky, formulaic thriller by virtue of his authority, culled from years in front of the camera, but his performance can't obscure the obvious plot machinations.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

A movie like this needs a suave, amoral villain, so here's Paul Bettany.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Although a happy ending is preordained, at least Joe Forte's script takes the less-obvious route there.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

For a while, Firewall whips up the accordant dollops of suspense and dread, but it's not long before the timely issue of identity theft takes a backseat to old-fashioned Hollywood villainy, unnecessary (and nonsensical) red herrings, and STUFF THAT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

Firewall does more to destroy my desire to see a new Indiana Jones movie than anything the aging process could conjure.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

It's disconcerting to see Virginia Madsen, who was so marvelous in her 2004 comeback role in "Sideways" reduced to playing the terrified wife here.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

As used cars go, the latest and possibly last Harrison Ford thriller, Firewall, is no deal: It runs rough, stalls frequently, smells like the stale sweat of four dozen older movies, and handles like a blind mule.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Flagging energy isn't the only issue here; Ford has become enslaved in his own cliches.

Empire Tony Horkins

Covers disappointingly predictable territory for an actor of Ford's skills and reputation.

Premiere John Migliore

Clichés are often a big part of what makes suspense films enjoyable. But Firewall goes out of its way to promise something more than business as usual, and then makes no attempt whatsoever to deliver.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

The kind of thriller whose ridiculous climax hinges on a hitherto undisclosed GPS tracking device in a dog's collar - an appropriate touch in a movie that's more than a little flea-ridden itself.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

The charismatic Rajskub, who played a prickly computer geek on TV's "24," has nothing to do as Jack's loyal secretary.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

Its execution is stultifying, laughable and ultimately a little offensive.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Before Firewall crumbles into foolishness, Harrison Ford and Paul Bettany make an oft-recycled plot look like a stylish model that just rolled out of a showroom.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Firewall is a witless entertainment, and a derivative one, too; it's everything listless about Hollywood in February, everything discardable about the genre in general.

The average user rating for this movie is 5.5 (out of 10) based on 37 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Stuart G gave it a5:
Ford will die in this role but he's what keeps the often hard- to- swallow story plodding forward-- at times it is suspenseful. Technology is the other familiar character (no nomination here however).

Jared B. gave it a9:
"Firewall" gives new meaning to the term "action film." This movie did what so many others in this genre have failed to do. It kept my interest the whole two hours it ran. Richard Loncraine, who had never directed a thriller before, does an absolutely wonderful job. Harrison Ford is incredible. Paul Bettany is one of the creepiest bad guys I've seen in the movies for a long time. My only problem is that the other robbers were, for the most part, too silly to be taken seriously. If you are in the mood for an edge-of-your-seat movie, rent "Firewall" and get ready for a wild ride.

Guy! gave it an8:
Smart, violent, and completely thrilling from start to finish. Sadly though, I think this was Harrison Fords' last stand in the cinema. He never ceased to amaze us, did he? Nonetheless, his skill and performance was too good to describe.

Jeremy W. gave it an8:
Involving, interesting thriller that sucks you in and takes you for a ride. A lot of fun.

Tony B. gave it a4:
Just because you won't believe a minute of this cliche-ridden piece of fluff doesn't mean you'll be bored. Sad to say, though, this is probably the worst Harrison Ford film to come down the pike in quite a while. What a waste of Virginia Madsen, but at least Mary Lynn Rajskub got some good screen time.

Chris B. gave it a9:
Incredibly funny!

Mark B. gave it a6:
Proving once again Ecclesiastes' claim that there's nothing new under the sun, this passable but forgettable actioner plays like a techno-geek update of one of Humphrey Bogart's last films, the 1955 thriller The Desperate Hours, in which Bogey and his gang of criminals hold an all-American family hostage in their home. This time out, Harrison Ford plays Fredric March's old role of the desperate but intrepid father, but the stakes have definitely been raised: ruthless Paul Bettany wants Ford to use his computer skills to drain money from the bank Ford's an executive at so Bettany can donate millions and millions to the Salvation Army. (Just kidding.) One of Desperate Hours' most pungent throwaway moments came when the understandably stressed March, who was forced to continue going to his office as though nothing were going on at home, is asked by an observant co-employee if he's all right and if there's anything he can do, and March snaps, "You can mind your own business!" Such behavior, while understandable under the circumsatances, is nevertheless unpleasant to watch, and one of the main problems with Firewall is that Ford is forced to behave this way ALL MOVIE LONG. Despite this and an acutely been-there-done-that final confrontation that belies the intriguing technological hooks that precede it, this manages to be surprisingly watchable in light of all the Adventures In Unwatchability that Ford has bludgeoned us innocent moviegoers with over the past few years: What Lies Beneath, K:19 The Widowmaker, Sabrina, Hollywood Homicide and the spew-inducing Random Hearts. (Hell, in comparison to the last three, Firewall is Raiders of the Lost Ark and Witness combined!) The energetic music score by Alexandre Desplat, which often makes the movie seem more exciting than it is, helps a bit; a really appealing supporting performance by MaryLynn Rajskub (who constantly makes her arrogant character on TV's 24 surprisingly sympathetic and fun to watch) helps even more. Given how she's frequently treated in this film, both the character and the actress deserve a promotion and raise--and quick!

Firewall Warner Bros.

Firewall
Warner Bros.