Backdraft
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Movie Reviews of Backdraft
Movie Review: Firehouse Fairy Tale...
Summary: 3 Stars
Ron Howard's Backdraft, is a film that centers on the lives of two brothers. Their father, a Chicago firefighter, was killed on the job when they were young boys. As adults, the McCaffreys, are both members of fire department. The elder brother Stephen (Kurt Russell), nicknamed "Bull", is a veteran firefighter, who prefers taking on a fire head on. His younger brother Brian (William Baldwin), is a recent graduate into the department, and though he seeks to serve out of his brother's shadow, he finds himself assigned to Bull's stationhouse. While Bull is something of a legend within the department, all is not perfect in his life, as estranged from his wife (Rebecca DeMornay), he lives on his father's old dry docked boat.The family drama is set against a subplot, involving a series of suspicious fires that are being investigated by the fire department's arson specialist, Lt. Rimgale (Robert De Niro). A local Alderman (J.T. Walsh) responsible for budget cutbacks to the department, is pressing Rimgale for answers. After another clash with his big brother, Brian transfers to Rimgale's arson investigation unit.
Once this occurs, the story expands to become more than just a sibling rivalry, as the focus shifts to the investigation of arson and other matters. De Niro, Baldwin, Walsh and Donald Sutherland, who plays a crazed imprisoned arsonist, then assume more primary roles. The physics of a backdraft are quite fascinating, and the results spectacular and explosive. The film does feature some fine special effects and stunts, related to the fire fighting scenes. The identity of the arsonist, and the reasons for the crimes, may not be very credible, but the film proceeds towards a spectacular and emotional finish. In the end, it all comes back to the two brothers, and the special bond between firefighters.
The film does have its flaws. Baldwin (28) and Russell (40) are a bit of a mismatch as brothers, with more of an age difference as adults, than it appeared when they were children. The incident where Brian mistakenly rescues a mannequin is simply ridiculous. And the attempts to attribute to fire almost metaphysical qualities, may be something only firemen can truly appreciate. While the film's focus does bounce around a bit between drama, adventure and suspense, overall the presentation is still worth seeing. The DVD however offers very little in the way of extras.
Movie Review: The curse of Baldwin
Summary: 3 Stars
This really should have been a better film. The concept had lots of potential. When you visit the "Backdraft" soundstage at Universal Studios, they play a few teaser clips from the movie, including the exciting first conflagration sequence when the poor accountant opens his front door. Realized only too late that they had covered all the good parts of the movie in those few minutes. Otherwise...
William Baldwin should not be placed in front of a camera. This point cannot be over-emphasized.
Kurt Russell has a John Wayne complex, and isn't afraid to show it on the screen. Where was his acting coach during all this?
Blonde girls (Jennifer Jason Leigh and Rebecca DeMornay) provide the otherwise all-male firefighter's world with companionship, offspring, and a chance to make out on the top of a firetruck. Otherwise, women in this film are just decorative.
If fire really does eat, breathe, hate, and "look" at you, it can probably apply for resident alien status. Someone should explain to the knuckleheads in the script department that science can explain how and why fire behaves as it does, and nobody needs to fear the "flame demons", who just want to cause death and destruction.
Firefighters can't go into dangerous, smoke-filled infernos and still look "cool" with their coats undone and their helmets cocked at a rakish angle. As previously stated, they would be "cooked" and also "asphyxiated".
Given its lack of sophistication and some of the obvious plot twists, this could almost be a kids' film (if it weren't for all the mysterious deaths and bitterness between the main characters and the making out on the top of the firetruck).
Every movie has a chance to teach the audience one unfamiliar polysyllabic word. "Trychtochlorate"? Where's the fun in that? Give me "Hakuna Matata" anyday.
Post 9/11 problem: The "powerful" fireman's funeral procession at the end, as well as early movie dialogue about "fires in high rises really give me the creeps" are just too close for comfort to a world that had to watch hundreds of firemen perish in New York City. Maybe Hollywood will someday produce a film that truly defines the firefighter experience. This ain't it.
Movie Review: Special Effects Make It Mildy Entertaining
Summary: 3 Stars
My father was a fire fighter, so when I was growing up I spent a great deal of time hanging around the fire station. And virtually any one who knows anything at all about fire fighting will tell you this is one of the most completely unrealistic films you could ever hope to see. Fire fighters rush into buring yet strangely smokeless rooms with their coats flapping open and without the proper safety equipment, and in spite of the title's implication the phenomena they are talking about is called "flashover," not "backdraft." In fact, there are so many inaccuracies in this film that a grad student could probably catalogue them as a doctorial thesis.All this having been said, BACKDRAFT is the well-crafted but essentially superficial film typical of director Ron Howard: everything is very, very slick and looks good on the screen, particularly the male leads. The story itself concerns two brothers (Kurt Russell and William Baldwin) who somehow find themselves employed by the same unit and who must bury their differences to combat a wiley arsonist with the aid of their able Lieutenant (Robert De Niro) and a flakey advisor who knows about pyromanics since he himself used to be one (Donald Sutherland.) The cast is good, the script is mechanical, and the plot is improbable--but all of this is actually beside the point, because everything about the film exists only as an excuse for lots of special effects.
And it is here that the film finally gets good marks. The pyrotechnics are great, and the film actually manages to create the impression of an out-of-control fire as something akin to a ravening beast--very impressive, and often as not more than a little unnerving. And so for once the fire, not the fire fighters, saves the day by making the film mildly enjoyable. If you can ignore the inaccuracies and take the film as a special effects film akin to the likes of VOLCANO, which had an equally silly premise, you'll probably enjoy it. Just don't expect to come out of it with even a remote idea of how fire fighters actually work. Final thought: rent it first, because one time through will probably be enough.
Movie Review: Good film. Poor DVD.
Summary: 3 Stars
I've always regarded this film as highly watchable: it was never intended to be too much more. However Universal has a bit to answer for with this DVD edition.Firstly, the picture quality is very grainy and colourless, you really have to pump up the colour settings on your TV before the people start looking like they have skin tone. Secondly, the original aspect ratio of this film is (as advertised) 2.35:1, but after comparison to three other films in the same aspect ratio (Face/Off, Cliffhanger, Boogie Nights) one can clearly see that this DVD is actually in 2.30:1, meaning that parts of the sides of the film are cropped off. Thirdly, there are scenes missing from this edition, especially one noted scene with Kurt Russel - before he gets drunk and goes and to see his wife - about his report concerning Tim having his face burnt off. Fourthly, there are only 16 chapters here for a film spanning two and a quarter hours. To put that in perspective for you, a film like Zero Effect, which is less than two hours, has 31 chapters. This means that you cannot cut to prime action sequences and skip the parts in between when you do not have time to watch them.
The only good thing about this edition is the sound. Remixed in Dolby Digital 5.1, it can really pump out the low rumble of a wave of fire and the crackle of incinerating material if your sound system is up to it.
If you have to have this film, fair enough. But otherwise, wait until Universal gets smart and releases a proper edition that has all the scenes, more chapter divisions, better quality picture in the right aspect ratio, and hopefully a few bonuses like the theatrical trailer or enhancement for widescreen televisions.
Movie Review: Essential viewing for fans of "IRON CHEF"
Summary: 3 Stars
My partner Greg & I would NEVER have bothered to rent this DVD were it not for the fact that the soundtrack is used for most of the incidental music in the Japanese cooking competition "Iron Chef" (which airs Friday & Saturday nights on Food Network). "Iron Chef" is the one show we've come to watch most religiously over the past year. Think of it as professional wrestling for gourmet cooks. The show has been garnering a somewhat rabid cult following in the U.S. over the past couple of years, and it was on one of the many fan sites that I learned that the producers of the program had utilized the "Backdraft" soundtrack for most of the music. And now it seems oddly appropriate, what with all the flames licking at sumptuous slabs of Kobe beef, octopus, and foie gras.And HEY, the movie isn't so bad either. Although I have a lot of respect for Ron Howard as a director, a drama about Chicago firefighters didn't really seem to be my cup of tea. I'm definitely NOT a fan of Kurt Russell's testosterone-laden style of acting. But overall this is a pretty compelling film with some notable pluses, in particular Donald Sutherland as the Hannibal Lecter of pyromaniacs, Robert De Niro as the tough arson investigator, and some really cool visual and sound effects that are particularly impressive on a good home theater system.
Of course, if you are a fan of "Iron Chef," you'll be hard-pressed not to lapse into some color commentary whenever the camera lingers on a smoking corpse. "Morimoto has incorporated a shattered windshield into a particularly stunning and profound presentation!"