Rated PG-13 for some intense sequences of violence, and for some language.
Directed by Richard Loncraine (Wimbledon)
Starring Harrison Ford, Paul Bettany, Virginia Madsen, Robert Patrick, Robert Forster…
Is it just me… or is Harrison Ford choosing some lame roles lately.
Need I jog your memory? I’ll name a few besides Firewall:- Hollywood Homicide
- K-19
- Random Hearts
- Six Days Seven Nights
It’s sad, but when I see his name anymore… I second guess the film’s quality. Wow… next we’ll see him co-star with Steven Seagal in a film called Combatant for Death.
Okay… back to … “yawn”… Firewall.
Sure, it was entertaining, and the performances weren’t bad. But it just wasn’t very original. The story is about a security specialist (Ford) who is forced into robbing the bank that he's protecting as a bid to pay off his family's ransom.
The biggest problem I had with the film (mild spoiler here) is that it didn’t give you any victories throughout the movie. The audience wasn’t able to give a single cheer until the last 10 minutes of the film.
No name director, Loncraine, should learn from greats of this genre like Die Hard where filmmaker John McTiernan gives us little victories throughout the film. We need these victories to keep our interest. We need a hero. Life is full of enough frustration and failure. People want to see a hero have a little bit of success every once in a while.
So if your friend rents the movie and invites you over… watch it, if he provides popcorn.
SHOULD KIDS SEE IT?
Use discretion with young kids. The film has a few scenes of violence including an off camera execution, showing a man lying dead in a pool of blood. A little bit of language is smattered throughout the film as well. Mild by today’s standards.
For a breakdown of this content, see www.KidsInMind.com
Conversation Starter
Three Simple Questions (with Answers You May Be Looking for):
- What are some of the messages or themes you observed in this movie?
- How do you suppose we—as serious Christ-followers—should react to this movie?
- How can we move from healthy, Bible-based opinions about this movie to actually living out those opinions?
