MOVIE NIGHT TRAFFIC LIGHT

Richard Loncraine (Wimbledon)

Armyan Berstein (A Lot Like Love, Spy Game), Basil Iwanyk (K19: The Widowmaker), Jonathon Shestack (Air Force One)

Joe Forte (Say I Do)

Harrison Ford – Jack Stanfield (Air Force One, Clear and Present Danger,Indiana Jones, Star Wars, etc.)

Virginia Madison – Beth Stanfield (Sideways, Dune)

Firewall may be the most interesting thing Harrison Ford has done since Ally McBeal (if ya know what I mean!).

Jack Stanfield (Harrison Ford) is the top security specialist of a prestigious bank.  For years he has worked to protect their customer’s assets.  But all that changes one day when his family is taken hostage and in order to keep them alive, he must transfer $100M dollars out of his bank and into the hands of the kidnappers.  The kidnappers are lead by Bill Cox (Paul Bettany) who has all the resources to monitor Jack’s every move and will kill his family if he tells anyone what is happening.  As Jack tries to comply with the kidnappers, he begins to raise the suspicion of his boss and must now complete the transfer before he is discovered robbing the bank.  Once the transfer is made, there is an even bigger problem.  Jack’s family has disappeared with the kidnappers.  Determined to get his family back, he reverses the transfer and now holds the $100M dollars hostage for the return of his family.   It’s now a race against time for Jack to find his family before the kidnappers take their rage out on his family and kill them.  What the kidnappers don’t realize is that Jack will do whatever it takes to save them.

Though it may be hard to imagine Indiana Jones as a banking industry techno-geek, Harrison Ford nails this role like Princess Leia at an intergalactic swinger’s club.  With additional highlights such as a thoughtful storyline and a chilling villainous performance by Paul Bettany, Firewall is an exciting and satisfying movie experience.  While it definitely follows a well-established Hollywood/Harrison Ford formula, it’s a formula that works.  And sure, most of the story is predictable, but there are enough unexpected twists to keep it interesting.  More importantly, unless you happen to be up on “financial information technology and protocol”, the movie walks that very fine but critical line between unlikely and impossible, making it that increasingly rare combination of believable and intriguing.  In spite of Hollywood’s commitment to the art of the over-hype, Firewall is one movie that performs as advertised.

On the Movie Night Traffic Light on a scale of GREEN meaning “Go – it’s a must see”, YELLOW meaning “Caution – it’s okay” and RED meaning “No - stop don’t do it."

We rate Firewall GREEN.  Go – this one is exciting and intriguing.