'Firewall' is trivial, big-studio gunk

"Firewall" is one of those mildly entertaining family hostage movies with Harrison Ford as, of course, the good guy. You just know at some point he's going to growl at the bad people and snarl through his teeth, "Leave my family alone!" Then, like Indy Jones, Ford'll fly into the fray and start taking names.

Warner Brothers Pictures 'Firewall' C+ The verdict: Barely passable entertainment involving a kind of Family Von Trapped. Director: Richard Loncraine Starring: Harrison Ford, Paul Bettany, Jimmy Bennett, Virginia Madsen, Robert Patrick Run time: 105 minutes Release date: Feb. 10, 2006 Rating: PG-13 for some intense sequences of violence. See showtimes Meet the hero Austin American-Statesman film writer Chris Garcia interviews Harrison Ford about his roles as an action hero. On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate 'Firewall'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

That's the film in a nutshell. Plus, there's the overabundance of camera shots involving Ford driving a pristine Chrysler 300C (surprise! it's the official car — as in product placement — of "Firewall"). And the film's slick cinematography that gives a decidedly C-grade script the look and feel of one of Hollywood's A games.

"Firewall," in which robbers led by Paul Bettany kidnap Ford's family to force him to help steal hundreds of millions of dollars in a computer hacking scheme, is trivial entertainment. It's hardly a complete waste, seeing as how stargazers can have a fine time watching Ford wade through it with his trademark Everyman bravura. But big-studio gunk it is.

It's the kind of by-the-numbers movie that halfway through Ford's character is riding in a car with his secretary and spends several minutes recounting to her every little bit of plot that's gone on before.

There's only one major reason to even have such a scene. And it doesn't involve art. It makes sure that all the audience members who've been too busy firing up their cellphones and Blackberries to pay attention (and we all know there are way too many of those clods going to see movies these days), and all those who arrived late and all those who are just too dense to follow along will know what's up.

As computer-savvy family man Jack Stanfield, Ford, who's suffered through some recent film stinkers ("Hollywood Homicide," "What Lies Beneath"), is good. He displays the nervous angst and jittery ingenuity of a cornered, but always thinking, man.

His film nemesis, played by normally nice guy Bettany, is less effective. Most of the blame lies in the script, which is full of descriptive threats against Ford's family that — this being a PG-13 movie — the bad guys are never allowed to carry out.

As a counterbalance, one might want Alan Rickman of "Die Hard" to swoop in and twist and snap dialogue, letting the most evil words twirl off the tongue. But Bettany plays it pretty straight, which means he never makes the movie audience nervous.

Not a good sign for a thriller.