Firewall

Any movie criminal or terrorist with an iota of intelligence should know that you never mess with Harrison Ford, especially when he's playing a stoic family man.

So it should come as no surprise that when the actor is faced with a gang of wily kidnappers in Richard Loncraine's hi-tech thriller, he turns the tables on the bad guys.

We root for his ageing hero every faltering step of the way, including a climactic fist fight in which Ford makes it clear, with frequent grimaces and laboured breathing, he isn't getting any younger.

Plausibility isn't one of the strong points of Joe Forte's screenplay: We don't believe for a minute that Ford understands a word of the echno-gobbledygook spouted by his character.

And you'll be hard-pressed to keep a straight face when it becomes clear that the hero's ingenious scheme to outwit the kidnappers relies on the family dog, a cheeky mutt called Rusty.

Jack Stanfield (Ford) is a computer security specialist for Landrock Pacific Bank, a Seattle-based institution in the throes of a high-profile corporate takeover by financial giant Accuwest.

All of Jack's work, including his anti-theft protection system, are under scrutiny, and he has to fend off questions from Accuwest executive Gary Mitchell (Patrick).

When his architect wife Beth (Madsen) and children Sarah (Carly Schroeder) and Andrew (Jimmy Bennett) are held for ransom by a gang of kidnappers, led by Bill Cox (Bettany), Jack has no choice but to rob his own business to keep his loved ones alive.

Having stolen millions of dollars as instructed, he orchestrates a daring scheme to thwart the abductors without jeopardising the safety of his loved ones.

However, it's difficult for Jack to know who to trust: The only person he appears to be able to rely upon is his bright-as-a-button secretary Janet (Rajskub).

Firewall is mildly entertaining, if only to see Ford go through the motions. Bettany affects snarls and smug grins to play his two-dimensional villain, whose diabolical plan has almost as many holes as Forte's cliched screenplay.

Oscar nominee Madsen whimpers meekly on cue.