jimbo-53-186511 Firefighting brothers Stephen McCaffrey (Kurt Russell) and Brian McCaffrey (William Baldwin) and the rest of their Chicago fire department find themselves in a battle of wits with an arsonist who is manufacturing explosions which create a 'Backdraft' which kills anyone in its path. Fire investigator Donald Rimgate (Robert DeNiro) is the man responsible for tracking the arsonist down.On paper this should have worked; it has talented actors like Kurt Russell, Robert DeNiro and Donald Sutherland on board and an interesting premise which to me seemed to suggest a mix of social commentary, action and cat and mouse antics. To say that this film did not live up to my expectations would be a massive understatement because it didn't even come close....For a start, Ron Howard suffocates the film with all kinds of different themes; strained relations between brothers, strained relations between spouses/girlfriends, firefighting, investigating. Usually I like films with a wide variety of themes as invariably they have depth, complexity and give the mind something to chew on, but here Howard introduces these themes but doesn't expand upon any of them. The two firefighting brothers don't get on- why exactly? The younger brother disappeared for a number of years - where did he go and why did he disappear? The lack of clarity makes it very hard to care about or form any understanding of the brothers (them both being so unlikeable doesn't help either neither did their continuous squabbling). The melodrama between the brothers and their partners was also tiresome and uninteresting and took up far too much of the running time.Even if we focus our attention on the action then Howard failed to really engage me in what should have been an open goal; the action scenes are good at first, but they become repetitive and I was never enthralled or interested at any point during the film. The investigative side of the film (which should have been the real focus) is very choppy and Howard failed to make it interesting or engage me in that aspect of the story.The acting is a bit of a mixed bag; Kurt Russell has his usual cocksure swagger about him, but he does at least make the film fun. William Baldwin is bland and De Niro is fairly low-key (aside from one scene where he gets to flex his acting chops). Donald Sutherland is convincing as a crazy guy, but he felt more like an afterthought than anything else.However you look at Backdraft it is a poor film which has too much going on for its own good. I appreciate what firefighters do and think they are very brave so I do feel a bit bad bashing this film, but I was never given a reason to care at any point in this film and if I'm totally honest I found it pretty boring.

jadavix "Backdraft" is a tedious and formulaic story from which to hang its top notch cast and still amazing special effects. Brothers, the children of a famous firefighter, feuding with each other over who the true heir to the man's name is. A corrupt bureaucrat running for mayor on a platform of cutting funding to the fire department. One of our characters a closet firebug. But who?The older of the brothers is separated from his wife - Rebecca De Mornay - because she loves him too much to see him put himself in danger all the time. The younger of the brothers has a girl - Jennifer Jason Leigh - who doesn't seem to mind being put on hold and messed around while he works out his personal garbage: changing careers constantly because he isn't ready to face up to the true calling the movie has mapped out for him. Can you guess what it is?I guess it is to the movie's credit that it doesn't dwell on this silly, prefabricated character arc any more than it needs to, but not so much to its credit that two great actresses like De Mornay and Leigh are given basically nothing to do but be there for the men. Did the producers cave in to the homophobia of the audience and assume that, if not for the presence of token females, people might assume that their leads are gay?The movie has not one, but two scenes where one person is dangling off the edge of a large drop and another is holding them by the hand, but the grip is slipping. It's nothing we haven't seen before, and the movie largely fails to raise any tension, but it does look pretty good.

FlashCallahan As a child, Brian McCafferty watched his fire-fighter father die.He joins his brother, Steven in the force by becoming a fire-fighter. There is a history of conflict between the two that is heated up by working together.A series of suspicious fires are set, each made to kill a specific person. After becoming unnerved during a fire, Brian pulls strings to get into an investigative office.But he is now not putting out the arsonist's fires, but trying to track him down.....It's the cinematic equivalent of Baywatch, fire fighting is sexy and cool, but makes the person a little edgier, because it's dangerous.And at the end of the day, every goes to a bar, and gets drunk and acts really happy. Because they are. They have beautiful homes, beautiful families and life is just peachy.Or so Ron Howard would have you believe.It's the type of film where the lead character has a boat, and you will find him there drinking beer.It's the kind of film that guest stars Robert De Niro, because he's prolific, but on the wain slightly.Add a silly sub plot involving arson, and you get a decidedly average movie.At least the flames look good, and Russell is on fire (ha ha), as usual.

tbills2 Backdraft is really good, in a cheesy, unrealistic, hard to believe, still really good way. A Hollywood adaptation of firefighting that doesn't portray firefighting in completely believable light. In Backdraft, the way that these firemen fight the fire dead head on is really incredible to watch, even if it is unrealistic to a certain degree. I agree that these firefighters would probably be burnt up into a crisp within the first two minutes of the job. They're way too busy hanging out next to the fire not paying attention to it, not focusing on their gear or the task at hand, too busy smiling, posing for the camera, slicking back their hair in the hydrant water, busy racing each other carrying hoses up staircases, rescuing mannequins out of burning buildings, too busy picking fights at the company ball and lighting up cigarettes at the scene of the fire. I don't know if these guys are superfirefighters or supernitwits. But it all works well, and it's a real lovely film. Backdraft excels during the firefighter action sequences. The firefighting moments are about the best parts of Backdraft. They're really, really good. Ron Howard brings Backdraft to life, doing an excellent job directing the camera, especially during those firemen versus the blazes scenes. Robert De Niro is one of the great actors. When Robert De Niro's character appears in Backdraft, Backdraft turns up the heat and gets much better. I can easily say that De Niro's character is the single polished piece, while all the other characters are too one dimensional. Credit De Niro as well as the superior written character. The main character played by William Baldwin is really rather weak. Kurt Russell is a real likable hero as his character was much easier to get along with. Donald Sutherland as well as De Niro's character are both a step above in quality and in so they seem relatively out of place in their roles. Backdraft has really bad female characters. The firemen are playing grab ass with each other so much that it could have used some female dynamic, really. I'm all for a movie for the guys, and grab assing, but Backdraft misses the mark in that respect. Jennifer Jason Leigh is good in her poor part and Rebecca DeMornay is the closest thing to a significant female presence but not very close at all. Backdraft lacks good, insightful dialogue and has bad character development and interaction. Not much wrong with Backdraft, just a really good movie. Backdraft is a common man's classic. Backdraft is easily accommodatingly favorable to the audience. I feel how people can relate to Backdraft and really love it, especially firemen, and I'm there with them. Backdraft is the best fireman film. It's completely agreeable and an absolute success, a thumbs up, wait no, two thumbs way up! It has a good soundtrack to it, and the story really jumps off the screen with larger than life characters that heavily hit home.