Firewall is a 2006 British-American thriller film directed by Richard Loncraine and written by Joe Forte. The film stars Harrison Ford as a banker who is forced by criminals, led by Paul Bettany, to help them steal $100 million. RiffTrax released their riff in December 2006.
Synopsis and Preview[]
RiffTrax w Mike Nelson - Firewall Part 1
[Spoilers Begin]
The film opens with Jack Stanfield (Harrison Ford) leaving his house, loving wife Beth (Virginia Madsen) and two children, to his job at Landrock Pacific Bank in downtown Seattle. The day goes smoothly until Jack is visited by a collection agency, claiming that he owes $95,000 in debts to their online gambling site. He trusts a colleague to take care of it (as he is convinced of some form of identity theft, which is later found out to be true and used to later set up Jack with a motive for robbing the bank) and goes out for dinner with colleague Harry Romano (Robert Forster) and potential employer, Bill Cox (Paul Bettany). After the meal, Harry leaves in a taxi and Jack gets in his car. Unexpectedly, Cox follows him into the back seat. Cox then goes on to tell Jack that his family is being held hostage at their home to ensure Jack's cooperation. He then points a gun to Jack's head and forces him to drive home.
Upon their arrival, Jack sees that, although his family is unharmed, they are under heavy watch by Cox's henchmen. Jack is not told what to do until the next morning, when he is told that he must give Cox $10,000 each from the bank's 10,000 largest depositors ($100 million total). He is outfitted with audio and video devices in the form of a pen and a body microphone, making any intentions to resist useless.
Once at work, Cox makes a surprise visit, reintroducing himself as Bill Redmond to Jack's secretary, Janet Stone (Mary Lynn Rajskub). Next, Jack gives him a tour of the facilities and security system. On the way back home, Jack attempts to bribe Willy, a henchman, into betraying Cox, yet this only results in Cox killing Willy. The Stanfields attempt an escape, but the plan fails just barely. In retaliation, Cox tricks the Stanfields' son Andy with a cookie containing nut products. Because he's allergic to nuts, Andy goes into anaphylactic shock. Cox withholds the treatment (an EpiPen), until Jack acquiesces to their plan.
The next day, Cox forces Jack to fire his secretary Janet fearing that she is growing suspicious. Jack downloads the files for the $100 million onto his daughter Sarah's iPod mini hard drive and then initiates a wire transfer to send the money to Cox's offshore accounts. Before leaving, Jack uses an employee's camera phone to take a picture of the account information on the screen. Cox then sets about wiping his tracks clean, forcing Jack to delete security data and surveillance tapes and using a virus to put the network on the entire building into disarray, setting Jack up to take the fall for the embezzlement. Returning home, Jack finds the house empty except for Liam, one of Cox's men.
Realizing Liam is still around for no reason other than to kill him, he pushes Liam over a chair, grabs a heavy glass blender, and beats him in the head with three blows, killing him. Jack realizes that Cox has been lying all along and had no intention of letting Jack's family or even himself live regardless of having the money. Jack tries to call Harry using Liam's unmonitored cell phone but cannot reach his friend. Instead, he sneaks into Harry's apartment to wait for his friend's return. Both Cox and Harry enter and Cox suddenly shoots Harry from behind, using the gun he had earlier confiscated from Jack. Because of this, along with a message planted on Harry's answering machine by Beth as she was held at gunpoint, it appears that Jack killed Harry in a jealous rage over Beth and would be used to set up Jack for the police.
Jack runs to the only ally he has left: his "fired" secretary Janet. He asks her for help, and she provides him with transportation to receive the phone from the employee which Jack had took a picture of Bill's account information and to a late-night branch of the bank at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. There, he uses the picture from the phone he took earlier to get access to Cox's account and calls him. Jack tells him that there’s been a change of plans: he has hacked into his Cayman Island accounts and is stripping five accounts, $20,000,000 apiece. Cox tries forcing Jack to put the money back, but it is a futile threat. Jack informs the criminal that he will get his money when he gets his family. Next, Jack tells Cox that he will call him when the banks open to make the exchange before hanging up on him. During the conversation, Jack hears the family dog, Rusty in the background, and realizes that the family can be located and followed by the GPS tracking unit in Rusty's collar. This leads him and Janet to an abandoned house. He leaves Janet on the road to call the police.
Cox shoots one of his henchmen (Vel) who had compassion for the hostages after intervening with them and Cox. Another henchman, Pim (Vince Vieluf), chases after Sarah who manages to escape and Jack runs into Pim with Janet's car, hurling him into an RV, which then explodes, burning the RV, killing Pim and destroying Janet's car. Cox, seeing that the tide is turning against him, panics and takes Beth and Andy to the upper level of the house. Jack scales the side of the house, destroys a window and comes to rescue his wife and son, tackling Cox to the floor and forcing him to a final showdown. After a struggle, Jack grabs a pickaxe lying near the front of the house and impales Cox through the back, killing him and winning his family's freedom.
[Spoilers End]
Cast and Crew[]
- Harrison Ford as Jack Stanfield
- Paul Bettany as Bill Cox
- Virginia Madsen as Beth Stanfield
- Mary Lynn Rajskub as Janet Stone
- Jimmy Bennett as Andy Stanfield
- Carly Schroeder as Sarah Stanfield
- Robert Forster as Harry Romano
- Robert Patrick as Gary Mitchell
- Nikolaj Coster Waldau as Liam
- Kett Turton as Vel
- Vince Vieluf as Pim
- Vincent Gale as Willy
- Alan Arkin as Arlin Forester