A high-tech variation on THE DESPERATE HOURS (1955, 1993), this thoroughly formulaic thriller, in which a middle-aged everyman has to go mano a mano with the bad guys who threaten his family, goes through the motions with singular dispiritedness and squanders the quirky talent of supporting player Mary Lynn Rajskub. Jack Stanfield (Harrison Ford) is head of computer security for a midsize Seattle-based banking chain that's in the process of being acquired by a larger chain. He's married to a beautiful architect, Beth (Virginia Madsen), who designed their waterfront home and dotes on their children, teenaged Sarah (Carly Schroeder) and smarty-pants Andy (Jimmy Bennett), whose life-threatening peanut allergy naturally figures into the plot. Jack is already on edge: He's taken an instant dislike to Gary Mitchell (Robert Patrick), the icy-eyed slickster supervising the merger, but longtime boss Arlin Forester (Alan Arkin) has made it clear that getting along is nonnegotiable. But Jack's troubles at work pale next to what awaits him at home: A ruthless gang of thieves has occupied the house and taken Jack's family hostage. Their boss — silky, sleekly sadistic Bill Cox (Paul Bettany) — lays out the rules of the game: He wants Jack to siphon $10,000 from the accounts of each of the bank's 10,000 wealthiest depositors, enriching Cox's offshore bank account to the tune of $100,000,000. If he doesn't do exactly as he's told, his wife and children will pay. Naturally, straight-arrow Jack wants to have things both ways, and sets about trying to sabotage Cox while protecting his loved ones. Written by first-timer Joe Forte and directed by the once-interesting Richard Loncraine, this flabby showcase for the dour Ford, whose tight-lipped grimness begins long before his home is invaded, starts out well enough but quickly devolves into a series of increasingly implausible set pieces that culminate in the inevitable fight scene between Jack and Cox. The charismatic Rajskub, who played a prickly computer geek on TV's 24, has nothing to do as Jack's loyal secretary, and Madsen — the '80s beauty who shined in a complex, mature role in SIDEWAYS (2004) — is relegated to the thankless role of frightened-but-resolute wife and mother. --Maitland McDonagh
