Richard Loncraine's -Firewall - starring Harrison Ford, Virginia Madsen

(aka 'The Wrong Element')

Directed by Richard Loncraine
USA 2006

For a formulaic and vacuous Hollywood thriller - this is still a very mediocre effort. I mean, I liked it when I saw it the first time - when it was called 'Presumed Innocent'' or was it 'What Lies Beneath'? Although I am not a big Star Wars fan I still like Harrison Ford. Raiders was great - and his early body of work has some strong appeal - films like Frantic, The Mosquito Coast, Witness, Blade Runner. But... the last decade or so, his choices are becoming almost interchangeable in plot, characterizations, co-star etc. I see he is described by a 'reliable brand of focused intensity' which is as positive a description as any. Kind of like a McDonald's hamburger - you know pretty much know what you are going to get. In this he plays bank security expert Jack Stanfield (yes another 'Jack'), whose specialty is designing infallible theft-proof financial computer systems. But there's a hidden vulnerability in the system he didn't account for - himself. When a ruthless criminal mastermind (Paul Bettany) kidnaps his family, Jack is forced to find a flaw in his system and steal $100 million. With the lives of his wife (played by Virginia Madsen - although Michelle Pfeiffer, Anne Archer, Greta Scacchi or Glenne Close would have all worked in her place without disruption) and children at stake and under constant surveillance, he has only hours to find a loophole in the thief's own impenetrable system of subterfuge and false identities to beat him at his own game. Yawn. It just didn't grab as it might have 15 years ago. Harrison looks very old and he appears to be going through the motions. I'm being harsh I realize, but its not worth a night at the cinema... but at home on DVD? - Ahhhh - well, you do know what you are in for anyway.

Gary W. Tooze

Posters

Theatrical Release: February 6th, 2006

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

DVD Review: Warner - Region 1 - NTSC

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Warner Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	1:44:40
Video	2.35:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.96 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 5.1), DUBs: French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Subtitles	English, French, Spanish, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Warner Home Video Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Edition Details: • Firewall Decoded: A Conversation with Harrison Ford and Richard Loncraine • Firewall: Writing a Thriller • Theatrical Trailer DVD Release Date: June 6th, 2006 Keep Case Chapters: 28

Comments:

Although the film was kind of a disappointment - the DVD is at Warner's usual high standard of excellence. There may have been a shade of digital manipulation in color but it is not extensive, if it is even there. The 2.35 scope looks great on my system and helped the detailed film-like appearance. The audio is consistent and optional subtitles are perfect. The featurettes were a bit ho-hum but I got a better sense of what they were going for with the film - even if they did not fully achieve it in my mind. This ends up as a husband/wife film when there is nothing else to watch. It is not extensively poor - it's just nothing new.