It’s a pity that Harrison Ford is looking so old but playing considerably younger than he is, along with a beautiful wife (Virginia Madsen) and two young children – he was 63 when he made Firewall.  Still, he has some vigour, which he needs here because he is the target of a ruthless gang who take his family hostage so that he will break into the bank’s computer system and transfer $100,000,000 into their bank account.  Computer fraud on the largest scale.

Ford is Jack, the security officer for a bank that is involved in a merger and this is the time that the criminals take advantage of the changes to hack in.  The bank actually has quite a character actor staff to good effect: Alan Arkin as the owner, Robert Patrick in charge of the merger, Mary Lynn Rajskub as a secretary and Robert Forster as a consultor.  But, in cast terms, the standout is Paul Bettany as one of the most ruthless of British criminals on the US screen (and there have been so many of them over the decades).  Bettany plays elegantly spoken, but with a sense of menace that can be both charming and unforgiving.

The film builds up quite a bit of tension as to what Jack can actually do, especially since any trick he tries is almost immediately discovered.  But, not the last one, which leads to a big confrontation and the inevitable happy ending which, given the suspense during the process of stealing the money, seems more than a little rushed and twee.

Film buffs will be recalling how these stories have been used before, like the Desperate Hours for a family held in their home by a gang and Swordfish where John Travolta brought in Hugh Jackman to do the same kind of hacking. 

Firewall is an entertainment, no more, no less.

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