Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Harrison Ford has made many movies during his career that have ended up being very popular. I have seen and enjoyed most of them and tend to see his new movies as soon as I can. I’ve been wanting to see Firewall since I first saw the trailer a few months ago.

Jack Stanfield had been in charge of security at a bank in Seattle for many years. The bank was in the process of merging with a larger one and Jack wasn’t really happy about the merger and didn’t like Gary, the man that could be his new boss. Jack and a coworker met with Bill Cox one evening. During the meeting, a group of armed men broke into Jack’s house and took his wife Beth and their two children, Sarah and Andrew, hostage. Bill turned up in Jack’s car with a gun. It wasn’t until the next day that Jack found out what Bill and his men wanted. They planned to rob the bank and needed Jack to do something to get past the security. If Jack did what they wanted, Bill would let him and his family go. Jack started plotting how to save his family without doing what Bill wanted.

Firewall was a thriller that wasn’t really anything new and was predictable for the most part. Certain elements from the movie did remind me of some others. More than once I thought how the movie reminded me of other ones. The family of someone being used by bank robbers was done in Bandits, though that movie was much more light hearted overall and even funny at times. A family being used to manipulate a man was done for a different reason in Hostage. There were just minor similarities between Firewall and those movies which didn’t really bother me though it would have been nice if the movie was a bit more original. Harrison Ford has even been in a movie that had him battling against bad guys to save his family in Air Force One. The situation was different in that movie, but it ultimately had Ford fighting the villains in his attempt to keep his family safe. People that like Ford will probably enjoy this movie too, especially if they liked Air Force One. Some viewers could be bothered by the fact that the movie isn’t more original.

There really wasn’t much mystery in Firewall since it was shared fairly early just why Bill and the men took the family hostage. It wasn’t explained as soon as Jack got home, but it really wasn’t any surprise that the men were wanting to use Jack to rob the bank. Anyone that has seen the trailer or any of the previews would know that before the movie even started. The original plan that Bill shared wouldn’t work because of new security measures at the bank, so Bill expected Jack to figure out a new way to make it work. Bill was shown talking to someone on a cell phone once or twice without identifying who the other person was. From things Bill said, it seemed like the other person was involved. That did make me wonder for the rest of the movie. Even though there were suspenseful moments throughout the movie, I really didn’t think the movie was that suspenseful overall. Ultimately I felt like it was predictable. There were only a few things that surprised me. People in the mood for a really suspenseful movie with a strong mystery would probably be disappointed with this one.


Bill and the men working with him were violent at different times during the movie. His men overpowered Beth and charged into the house when they first took the family hostage. Later in the movie, different family members were hit by the men. They had a tendency to pull guns for the slightest thing. Bill seemed to be more calm and refined at first, but he turned out to be the most violent. He was downright cruel and vicious at times. Jack had worked at the bank for years and didn’t seem to be a violent man. That changed over the course of the movie. He got to the point where he did whatever he could to fight back and he got into fights with a few of the men. The fights could be too violent for some people. A few people did end up getting shot. Those scenes weren’t really graphic, but it was clear the people shot were dead and there was a lot of blood. The movie could be too violent for some people. This isn’t a movie for young children to see. The word that rhymes with luck was used once. It did seem a bit out of place in the movie, like it was only added just because it could be. There was one thing involving a car that did make me laugh. Other than that, there wasn’t any humor in the movie.

I did think that the main plot of Firewall was interesting. Computers and technology are used for just about everything anymore, so the aspect of the movie dealing with computer security was believable. I don’t know how accurate those things were though. Early in the movie, it was made to seem like Jack’s identity had been stolen, something that does happen. It was even shown how Jack’s personal information, including his Social Security number, was taken. That was enough to make me feel a bit paranoid about my own information. There were other things that happened in the movie that didn’t seem believable at all. I’ll be vague about these things so I don’t say too much and spoil the movie for people wanting to see it. At one point a character managed to survive something that should have been fatal. Jack seemed to conveniently remember or think of things that would help him more than once. There was no explanation for how a few things happened. Those things were mostly minor, but I still wondered about them.

Jack was an intelligent man that loved his family. He said once that he had worked for the bank for twenty years. He didn’t seem to be that happy about the upcoming merger. I don’t remember hearing how long Jack and Beth had been married. They did seem happy together. Harrison Ford did a good job with the part. I did think that he was really looking his age in a few scenes, but that worked all right for the movie. One character did say something about Jack getting older in one scene. He did fine in the fight scenes, though it was clear that he was older than the other men. Virginia Madsen was fine as Beth. She and Ford were believable together as a married couple. Gary was only in a few scenes. He and Jack didn’t like each other. Gary was a bit condescending to Jack once or twice. Robert Patrick was fine in the part. He played a different sort of character in Walk the Line.

Bill seemed to be a legitimate businessman when he was first introduced to Jack. Instead, Bill turned out to be a ruthless criminal. He was willing to do anything to get the money from the bank. Before seeing Firewall, I had only seen Paul Bettany in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. His character was very different in that one. I think he did a good job playing a bad guy without going over the top with his performance. Alan Arkin had a small part as Arlin, one of Jack’s co-workers. I think he was an executive at the bank. Mary Lynn Rajskub was fine as Janet, Jack’s secretary. She has been in several episodes of 24. Jimmy Bennet and Carly Schroeder did well as Andrew and Sarah. Bennet was actually in Hostage, one of the movies Firewall reminded me of. He was also in The Polar Express. They made a believable family with Ford and Madsen.

Main Cast

Alan Arkin - Arlin
Jimmy Bennet - Andrew Stanfield
Paul Bettany - Bill
Harrison Ford - Jack Stanfield
Virginia Madsen - Beth Stanfield
Robert Patrick - Gary
Mary Lynn Rajskub - Janet
Carly Schroeder - Sarah Stanfield

Richard Loncraine - Director

I enjoyed Firewall even though I did feel like it had a few small problems. It probably isn’t original enough for some viewers, but I do think it was entertaining and worth seeing at least once. Fans of Harrison Ford should give it a chance.

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Recommended: Yes

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older