AS WE stumble from one CCTV frame to the next, tagged like convicts by our own mobile phones, our daily lives are scrutinised by faceless Orwellian authorities.

Every time we shop on credit card or clock up a few loyalty points, we add to vast databases about ourselves.

And if bumbling great governments can monitor us like this, why not a few determined criminals?

Thus the opening scenes of Firewall strike a topical chord with us, but unfortunately the rest of the film misses the mark.

Jack Stanfield (Harrison Ford) is security chief at a global bank. Of course these days the big bucks are not in used notes but in cyberspace. He wages daily war against the hackers trying to break through the electronic firewall.

Jack and his rosy-cheeked, perfect family are being watched. The watchers are a criminal gang who know his family's routine inside out. They know which night is pizza night and about his young son's fatal allergy to nuts.

Headed by Bill Cox (Paul Bettany), smooth as silk the gang slip into Jack's beautiful lake-side house and his life.

Using his wife (Virginia Madsen) and children as hostages they force Jack to embezzle $100m (US) from under the noses of his bosses and pay it into a Swiss bank account.

Then Jack is in a familiar high stakes race against time to save his family.

A sense of deja vu pervades the film. Harrison Ford's steely determination under pressure and gruff dry humour is the same routine we saw in Patriot Games, The Fugitive and others. He is watchable as usual but the role is not engaging or challenging for him or us.

Paul Bettany plays Hollywood's age-old English cliche, the well-spoken evil villain. He plays it well, giving a charmingly nasty performance.

Firewall is set in rainy Seattle, spiritual home of Starbucks, and retains a glossy corporate feel throughout, with plenty of techno jargon and computer geekery.

Perhaps because bank heists were more exciting when they involved shotguns, getaway cars and hold-alls stuffed with dirty cash, this film seems to merely go through the motions.

Though entertaining enough to while away a couple of hours, Firewall feels like just another slick product rolling off the end of a Hollywood production line.

Paul Revel