FIREWALL (2006) 1 star out of 4. Starring Harrison Ford, Paul Bettany, Virginia Madsen, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Robert Patrick, Robert Forster and Alan Arkin. Written by Joe Forte. Directed by Richard Loncraine. Rated PG-13.

       
Perhaps it is apropos that a movie about a bank robbery in which the money is taken via computer trickery plays like it was written on some script-based software.

        Firewall offers nothing new nor original. It is a retread, formulaic to the nth degree, with every cliché telegraphed reels ahead of when they occur.

        In the lead, Harrison Ford looks old and tired, only coming alive near the finale when — with the help of his stunt double — he beats the heck out of the villainous Paul Bettany, playing one of those familiar suave and urbane criminals who immediately lose their cool once their well-laid plan begins to unravel.

        No well-traveled cinematic stone is left unturned: Bettany's bad guy kills one of his own men who goofed up to prove his ruthlessness; Ford's Jack Stanfield, a bank security expert, takes a beating from a man half his age that Mike Tyson couldn't survive, yet walks away with just a few scratches and bruises; Bettany's band seems as if they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on equipment to pull off their caper.

        The movie begins with Stanfield and his family under surveillance; yet the only useful information the robbers seem to use is that Tuesday night is pizza night at the Stanfields and use that as a ploy to gain entry.

        Also, for no particular reason, Stanfield is a victim of identity theft, a subplot that goes nowhere. You'd think a man who works in security would shred all his papers instead of just putting them out in the trash.

        These are some of the preposterous developments written by Joe Forte, who seems to have borrowed bits and pieces from The Desperate Hours and Cape Fear, and directed by Richard Loncraine. Firewall is one of those movies that insults the audience's intelligence while also giving them the emotional thrills they need to escape their own hum-drum lives.

        And the way Ford looks, if he doesn't hurry up and begin filming, his Indiana Jones 4 may be set in a retirement home.

        Bob Bloom is the film critic and DVD reviewer at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Ind. He can be reached by e-mail at bbloom@journalandcourier.com or at bob@bloomink.com. Bloom's reviews also can be found at the Journal and Courier Web site: www.jconline.com
Other reviews by Bloom can be found at the Rottentomatoes Web site: www.rottentomatoes.com.