Firewall

Typical storyline...but with a good actor like Harrison Ford to add the value to the movie. Basically Firewall is just your conventional movie where Harrison Ford plays a security professional who implements the software to control the security of the customers' data in the financial institutions and banks. Safely guarding all these data are highly enforced security in the records itself including the password protected which round up to the objective of preventing any data loss or hacking for the benefit of the crooks.
Anyway, there is this syndicate, led by Cox or Bill Redmond (played by Paul Bettany) who had their eyes on Jack Stanfield (Harrison Ford) in planning out their robbery drama. Thus, they observed and drafted their plan which led them to holding up the Stanfield family; Mrs. Stanfield and the two children in threatening and manipulating Jack to bow to fulfilling their wishes. Jack was adamant in defying their requirements and attempted several times to wiggle his way out of the situation. The reason behind his stubbornness is due to his belief that things may not be that simple and the robbers will not keep to their promise since they have revealed themselves to the Stanfields.However, he was more often than not outsmarted or rather outwitted by the conniving Cox and ended up receiving penalties worse than the previous ones.
Cox used his son's allergy to nuts to put him on his end. Finally, baffled, Jack gave in and did as he was told; breaking into his own software, withdrawing money(USD$10,000) from 10 of the bank's richest customers and deleting all the captured records. This put his superior hot on his track and he soon realized that he was in more trouble than he ever imagined. The poor guy thought that by fulfilling all of their commands, he would have his family back but no, his whole family disappeared once he reached home upon the completion of his mission. Then he realized that the whole ploy was more than he bargained for; he was setup for the whole conspiracy and also the murder of his best friend, Harry which struck the final blow to him and Jack finally retaliated.
Engaging his previous secretary(whom he gave the sack upon Cox's demand..that was a pretty funny scene), Janet, he hacked into Cox's account and withdrew the money. Driving Cox crazy, it is Jack's turn to demand for his family's safe return if Cox wants his money back. At the same time, Jack used the GPS on his dog's collar(yeah, the dog was installed with the GPS system as he was always running around) and well, it was pretty useful and led Jack and Janet hot on their tracks until the dog made such a racket in the van which annoyed the robbers and they decided to drop him off, much to the despair of Beth and the children. Anyhow, the final scene was the duel between Jack and Cox; Jack killed the bad guy and the whole family got back together again.
That was pretty much the gist of the movie; and now to the actual humble review. I think the overall plot is pretty significant and known from the start of the movie; and also as I mentioned earlier, it's a typical storyline and pretty predictable plot. One thing to note however is the performances of the actors; I think they put up a pretty decent show and Harrison Ford is at his usual self..veteran acting, what else can I say?:P The rest of the cast were okay....but I'd say that Paul Bettany is not exactly expressive enough in the movie and putting on a straight front most of the time does not account much for a villain.
At the same time, the pace of the movie was not too draggy and was alright. So, in all, if you were to ask me whether this is worth watching, it should be alright for IT savvy folks...and also for those who enjoy movies of this genre...and of course, if you are a Harrison Ford fan :) Not bad for a Sunday movie watching and if you do not lay too much hopes and expectation <*wink*>