Firewall: Bad Movie on so Many Levels
So, where to begin. Normally I try to find something good or entertaining with any movie that I watch. Even if it just one scene, or a few jokes, or one liners. Sadly, I was unable to find anything in this movie that didn't make me disappointed. I will attempt to do this without "spoiling" the movie for other people. Where to begin?
The title: The title has nothing to do with the movie; Well it may have when the script was originally written, but it didn't in the final product, in fact, I am pretty certain that the term only was mentioned once in the movie, and it was just in passing.
The hero: I like Harrison Ford as an actor. But, he is not a good choice for someone who is supposed to techo-savvy or relaxed around technology. In fact, he kind of comes off like someone who has never used a computer for anything other than surfing a few web sites and checking e-mail. It was especially obvious in the scenes where he explained something that he was plaining to do, or just did. He kind of just mumbled the lines like he was trying to get them out before someone yelled "Cut!" Now ignoring the poor choice of actor for the role. Let's not cast a 60-something actor, and make him the smartest technology person in a large bank. It may have been believable if the actor was someone twenty years younger who may have grown up around technology; or if when they showed his office there was more technology in there than a simple desktop computer. Seriously, no computer manuals, no extra workstations, no dual heads up display, no large monitors that makes it easier to have multiple windows up and running at the same time.
The kidnapping: Okay, so you kidnap a family, and you just let them wander around the house, with the blinds open. Have a half dozen armed men, let the hostages gather unsupervised in various rooms around the house, and only use security cameras to watch them. Then you send a "technology/security expert" out into the world using a pen camera a microphone as way to control him. Wow, and to think that the only two things that he tried to do to get help to his family was to send an e-mail, and put the camera in his secretary's pocket. Wow, this is a guy that I would want running my bank security. During the course of his day they showed him walk past probably twenty different ways for him to communicate with someone, anyone, about what was going on. Instead he runs around whining to himself so the kidnappers can know what he is doing. In one scene they show the kidnappers ripping the phones out of the walls in every room in the house, then ten minutes later in another scene they have the phone ring as a major plot point? They also posted someone on rooftop of the building next door who had the coolest binoculars in the world. It allowed for the user to see in an office 10 stories above and across the street, and still be able to magically see over the shoulder of the person in the room. Some sort of magic physics.
Never mind that there were half-dozen trained kidnappers/mercenaries with guns, who were both bigger and stronger than everyone in the family, one untrained middle aged man who hadn't slept for two days was able to overpower or kill all of them.
The plot: To say that this movie was implausible, or unbelievable would be an understatement to say the least. I have a feeling the original script may have been a lot better than the final movie. There were so many details that could have worked together to make a great movie. But, it was like they tried to do a million little things, but without wondering if it worked or not, of if they even fit together. Such as a security expert that has a four letter password that he announces is the name of the family boat. Yeah, no one would ever guess that password. The Kidnappers know every detail about a family including that the son is allergic to peanuts, but not that the dog has GPS tracking collar on it. How about the chief security expert is dragging a random stranger through high-security areas of a bank no less without prior approval. Or the kidnappers are smart enough to bring their own food and surveillance equipment with them so it is easy to vanish without a trace, but they drink out of the glasses use the silverware in the house, and most of them are not wearing gloves while they touch things all over the house, they damage the home (remember the phones), break windows, and do many other things that would make it easy to find out they were there or who they are. Also keep in mind that the whole idea of the robbery, and what they were stealing (digital money) and how they were stealing it, would have caused red flags to pop up all over the map; the way that they planned to cover their tracks (crashing servers and the bank's computer network, and erasing video files) is a joke. Every bank in the world backs up their data, most do it to large data warehouse companies. So even if they burned the building down, or blew it up for that matter, the data can still be recovered. *sigh*
Character development: Not a single character in the entire movie was fleshed out. Well, maybe the dog; It had a GPS tracking collar because it kept running away. Other than that, there was nothing in the movie to make you feel a connection to any of the characters, or any reason for you to feel for them in any way. There was no depth, no details, and no real chemistry.
I watch some pretty bad, lame, odd movies. But normally I go into them expecting them to be bad. This was built up to be a summer blockbuster. How sad. I seriously think that if a student made this film, I am pretty certain that they would not get a passing grade in school.
The title: The title has nothing to do with the movie; Well it may have when the script was originally written, but it didn't in the final product, in fact, I am pretty certain that the term only was mentioned once in the movie, and it was just in passing.
The hero: I like Harrison Ford as an actor. But, he is not a good choice for someone who is supposed to techo-savvy or relaxed around technology. In fact, he kind of comes off like someone who has never used a computer for anything other than surfing a few web sites and checking e-mail. It was especially obvious in the scenes where he explained something that he was plaining to do, or just did. He kind of just mumbled the lines like he was trying to get them out before someone yelled "Cut!" Now ignoring the poor choice of actor for the role. Let's not cast a 60-something actor, and make him the smartest technology person in a large bank. It may have been believable if the actor was someone twenty years younger who may have grown up around technology; or if when they showed his office there was more technology in there than a simple desktop computer. Seriously, no computer manuals, no extra workstations, no dual heads up display, no large monitors that makes it easier to have multiple windows up and running at the same time.
The kidnapping: Okay, so you kidnap a family, and you just let them wander around the house, with the blinds open. Have a half dozen armed men, let the hostages gather unsupervised in various rooms around the house, and only use security cameras to watch them. Then you send a "technology/security expert" out into the world using a pen camera a microphone as way to control him. Wow, and to think that the only two things that he tried to do to get help to his family was to send an e-mail, and put the camera in his secretary's pocket. Wow, this is a guy that I would want running my bank security. During the course of his day they showed him walk past probably twenty different ways for him to communicate with someone, anyone, about what was going on. Instead he runs around whining to himself so the kidnappers can know what he is doing. In one scene they show the kidnappers ripping the phones out of the walls in every room in the house, then ten minutes later in another scene they have the phone ring as a major plot point? They also posted someone on rooftop of the building next door who had the coolest binoculars in the world. It allowed for the user to see in an office 10 stories above and across the street, and still be able to magically see over the shoulder of the person in the room. Some sort of magic physics.
Never mind that there were half-dozen trained kidnappers/mercenaries with guns, who were both bigger and stronger than everyone in the family, one untrained middle aged man who hadn't slept for two days was able to overpower or kill all of them.
The plot: To say that this movie was implausible, or unbelievable would be an understatement to say the least. I have a feeling the original script may have been a lot better than the final movie. There were so many details that could have worked together to make a great movie. But, it was like they tried to do a million little things, but without wondering if it worked or not, of if they even fit together. Such as a security expert that has a four letter password that he announces is the name of the family boat. Yeah, no one would ever guess that password. The Kidnappers know every detail about a family including that the son is allergic to peanuts, but not that the dog has GPS tracking collar on it. How about the chief security expert is dragging a random stranger through high-security areas of a bank no less without prior approval. Or the kidnappers are smart enough to bring their own food and surveillance equipment with them so it is easy to vanish without a trace, but they drink out of the glasses use the silverware in the house, and most of them are not wearing gloves while they touch things all over the house, they damage the home (remember the phones), break windows, and do many other things that would make it easy to find out they were there or who they are. Also keep in mind that the whole idea of the robbery, and what they were stealing (digital money) and how they were stealing it, would have caused red flags to pop up all over the map; the way that they planned to cover their tracks (crashing servers and the bank's computer network, and erasing video files) is a joke. Every bank in the world backs up their data, most do it to large data warehouse companies. So even if they burned the building down, or blew it up for that matter, the data can still be recovered. *sigh*
Character development: Not a single character in the entire movie was fleshed out. Well, maybe the dog; It had a GPS tracking collar because it kept running away. Other than that, there was nothing in the movie to make you feel a connection to any of the characters, or any reason for you to feel for them in any way. There was no depth, no details, and no real chemistry.
I watch some pretty bad, lame, odd movies. But normally I go into them expecting them to be bad. This was built up to be a summer blockbuster. How sad. I seriously think that if a student made this film, I am pretty certain that they would not get a passing grade in school.
Comments
I couldn't stand seeing the previews for this movie before it was released. Like you, I like Harrison Ford, but have you noticed that he has a fetish for appearing in movies that have to do with a family kidnapping? Patriot Games, Air Force One, Firewall... I know that actors tend to lean towards performing in similar roles (as type-casters), but sometimes I think Harrison Ford acts in one big movie for a living. o_O