Firewall (15) (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Firewall (15)

The awful truth is Harrison Ford is getting too old to play an action hero. There must be some role he could do that didn't involve so much gallantry.

It is a nonsense having someone of his age trying to impersonate the strength of a man twenty years younger.

That said he hasn't ever played anyone who was more than two-dimensional and maybe he thinks it is a little late to start now.

Computer security executive Jack Stanfield (Ford) works for the Landrock Pacific Bank in Seattle and is their chief online man and senior vice president.

He has designed for the company a highly complex system that protects all it's assets.

Living with his architect wife Beth (Virginia Madsen) - she designed their amazing house - and their two children Sarah (Carly Schroeder) and Andy (Jimmy Bennett) life is extremely comfortable financially.

But this all changes one day when baddy Bill Cox (Paul Bettany) comes into his life.

Jack thinks he is a possible client, but Cox turns out to be a highly dangerous thief.

He sets Jack up, successfully destroying his reputation, while holding his beloved family hostage leaving him with little choice but to give in to his demands.

Jack does everything to thwart Cox, but when Andy who has a nut allergy nearly dies because Cox knowingly gives him a biscuit with nuts in it, Jack realises he is beat.

So poor old Jack has to hack into the bank's computers transferring a fortune into Cox's offshore accounts.

Then things really get messy and frankly very muddled.

Like so many thrillers it is essential to suspend disbelief for its duration. The main problem is Bettany is a terribly boring baddy and none of his gang are given any characters to develop at all.

The title's name is never even referred to.

I gather there is a firewall technology, but it might have been wiser to explain this.

However the score is most dramatic, and Ford and Madsen do make you care about their family.

Oddly enough I think this is rather a good dating film, because boys will understand the high-tech stuff and the girls will relate to the family's dilemma.

Also the bloodshed isn't remotely graphic and the family's pet dog lives.

However though I much prefer the cinema experience, this is the sort of film I would have been even more thrilled to see by chance on TV one a rainy Saturday afternoon.

The script is run of the mill, and the ending - given Ford's age - totally ridiculous.

In reality he would have died of a heart attack with the first punch.

But we are in the la la land of the thriller so anything is possible, like the criminals for no apparent reason taking the dog on the run with them.

You would have thought shooting it or just leaving it behind more practical. But for all its faults I confess to rather enjoying the firewall experience. 6/10