The Bottom Line: Ford Protects Image with ‘Firewall’

If only Harrison Ford had the patience to sit in Traffic.

Instead, he walked away from Steven Soderbergh’s war-on-drugs drama, foolishly decided not to take on another grim role immediately after menacing Michelle Pfeiffer in What Lies Beneath.

Too bad.

Traffic offered Ford a great opportunity to break free from the heroic persona he’s doggedly cultivated since Star Wars. He would have been required to do more than dodge bullets, which he has done repeatedly for three decades. It’s been years since Ford exerted himself, but his reluctant to tamper with his image unfortunately got the better of him. Ford’s loss was Michael Douglas’ gain.

Besides Witness, which had its fair share of gunplay, Ford has yet to score a hit drama. Traffic would have been a confidence booster—it earned $124.1 million and four Oscars. Same goes for The Perfect Storm, which Ford also turned down. Traffic might have reenergized Ford, inspiring him to take on more meaningful roles. Instead, he alienated audiences with his halfhearted Russian accent in K-19: The Widowmaker, and then made a fool of himself in Hollywood Homicide.

So, for his first film in almost three year, Ford’s has retreated to his comfort zone. How boringly predictable.

The thriller Firewall appears to deliberately recall his flight aboard Air Force One. He’s a computer security guru forced to help thieves steal $100 million from the bank he’s hired to protect. Yes, his family’s being held hostage. Gee, could he possibly have enough high-tech tricks up his sleeves to outwit the villainous Paul Bettany?

Unfortunately, Ford looks tired and uninterested with the predicament he faces in Firewall. That’s understandable: this thriller is as dull and obvious as 1988’s Frantic, which found Ford scoured Paris for his missing wife. Firewall should fare better than that Hitchcockian disappointment ($17.6 million), but it won’t come close to cracking $100 million—or even the so-so $74.3 million Ford made with his biggest comedy outing, Six Days, Seven Nights.

It’s no surprise that Ford’s back with such a bread-and-butter thriller. Following 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Ford thrived with Air Force One, The Fugitive, Presumed Innocent and the Jack Ryan franchise. Almost everything else–from his lackluster comedies to the plodding thrillers that emphasized brains over brawn–floundered. So Firewall seems purpose built to reverse Ford’s losing streak before he dons his hat for a fourth Indiana Jones adventure.

Still, you can’t help but wonder why Ford‘s still so conservative. He should take notice what other aging action heroes are doing. Bruce Willis continues to tests his limits. Mel Gibson’s directing in foreign languages. Pierce Brosnan’s poking fun at himself in The Matador. But Ford isn’t changing his ways. Possible projects include Godspeed, a sci-fi chiller set aboard an international space station, and Manhunt, which would find him tracking down Abraham Lincoln’s assassin.

At 63, Ford’s lost a step or two but he’s got a fourth Indiana Jones  in him, assuming Steven Spielberg and George Lucas can get their act together. But he must start to learn to age gracefully. Clint Eastwood and Sean Connery remain (old) men of action, but both alternate between thrillers and dramas. Michael Douglas embraced Traffic and Wonder Boys. So what’s Ford’s idea of straying from the tried and true? Trying again and again to prove he’s funny—which he isn’t—in Hollywood Homicide, Sabrina and Six Days, Seven Nights. Boy, talk about being stubborn. And myopic.

The Bottom Line
If you’ve seen The Mosquito Coast, you know Ford’s got a Wonder Boys in him. And a Traffic. So why not take the risk? He’s got nothing to lose. After all, the last thing Ford should want is to end up like Charles Bronson, who shuffled his way through countless Death Wish sequels when he was old enough to know better.