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Introduction: Outside of Jaws, the one of earlier movies I remember seeing as a child, [that I wasn't allowed to watch], was probably Ron Howard's "Backdraft". I was curious about fire; How it moved, its color. You name it, I was fascinated by it and the film satisfied my naive curiosity. This might've sparked the want to become a fireman at some point of my life, but the fire is definitely what struck me as the single most compelling thing about the movie. That, and Kurt Russell. Afterward, it sort of vanished into the foreground, becoming nothing but a fond and fuzzy memory until I saw it somewhere on TBS around 2002 or 2004, showing a scene I had never seen before. That scene being Stephen McCaffrey and John Adcox talking to each other outside of a house on the stairs, but its been so long that I'm not even sure that's an actual deleted scene or a fabrication of my own mind. Sad to say, as much as I love the movie, its not one I own on DVD (our VHS is pretty much on its last leg). So when I rented it, I was reminded of how much I enjoyed this film. Sorry for misinformation on my part (despite recently seeing the film, I totally forgot some things).
Plot: The film begins somewhere in the 1970's inside of closet where a younger Brian and Stephen McCaffrey are playing around with the firefighter attire (more or less Stephen trying to teach his brother how snap up the jacket right), when their father, Dennis McCaffrey's (Kurt Russell) firetruck --Engine 17-- is called to respond to a fire. Brian finally gets the chance to ride with his father and Axe (Scott Glenn) to the scene, while Stephen remains behind at the station. While in the process of securing the building, Brian's father is caught off guard by gas pipe rupture and is killed in the explosion. Brian, unfortunately, witnesses his father's untimely demise.
Fast-forward several years later, a young man named Tim and a older Brian McCaffrey (William Baldwin) have completed terms their in the academy and are ready to be trained as professional firemen, at the Station 13 (if memory serves). Outside of the bar he meets Jennifer Vaitkus (Jennifer Jason Leigh), his ex-girlfriend, before following Tim to the scene of a fire. Like a ghost from fires long past, Stephen McCaffrey steps out of a burning building, the spinning image of their late father. (Something you'd think would bother Brian.) And much to his displeasure, Brian discovers that he now has to train at his brother's station instead of the desired station he wanted. The McCaffrey's relationship at best, a shaky one; The simplest things set the two off at each others throat and sometimes simply forgotten the next day. Naturally, their strained relationship is tested as the two compete against each other and the fire's their station faces, while, inspector Donald Rimgale (Robert De Niro) investigates several backdrafts, trying to determine whether or not if they're arson or accidental.
Overview: Despite its age, Backdraft has suffered only a little wear over the span of seventeen years; There are obvious things, like some wardrobes, and the environment itself that keeps the viewer aware of how much the world has changed since then. Hell, the actors themselves let you know how much time has passed. That's hardly anything against it though. But purely on a technical level, Backdraft's special and practical effects still hold up remarkably well against some of today's highly improved effects. Like John Carpenter's
The Thing
, Backdraft may require multiple views to fully appreciate and understand the storylines it throws at you.
Unless your the type of viewer who catches onto subplots particularly quick, then you'll have no problem with solving the mystery that surrounds the secondary story of the film; The backdrafts and their seemingly unconnected victims. It throws one possibility at you after another as to who could be causing this (one possibility in particular actually had me praying it wouldn't be a certain character), but the film tends to get distracted with Brain McCaffrey's struggle to prove to his cynical brother that he can be a real fireman and the half-baked romance between himself and Jennifer Vaitkus; The only sex scene in the movie between the two characters, constantly interrupts a particularly gripping search for a fire inside of a high-rise building and ruined the entire scene for me. Thankfully, it doesn't last for long.
However, when the film does return to the main focus of the story (the firefighting), things slowly start to click together and make sense. Thus, what was once regarded as a string of disjointed plots, come together in a near-perfect execution that will surprise or confuse you the first time you watch it. When its not throwing the audience into the thick of a fire, Backdraft focuses on the quirky personalities of Station 17 and portrays them more or less as people instead of these mythical beings admired from afar by onlookers and children alike.
I'm no expert on a fireman's profession, but from what little I do know, Backdraft is probably the best flick done in respect to their profession and it makes them look good doing it. What surprises me though, is the lukewarm response toward the portrayal of their jobs in this film. Particularly from the so-called firefighters themselves; Some reviewers tear the movie apart over the lack of proper equipment usage or how the fire sequences themselves are portrayed. Its like, for one moment, they completely forget that their watching a movie and feel the need to critique it on the smallest things like its some sort of documentary gone horribly wrong. Now in terms of the dialogue, while some of it is indeed cheesy, I never thought it so terrible or irritating enough to criticize it. If you want to be reminded how bad dialogue can get, go watch a Steven Seagal movie.
Performances in the film are particularly strong and some hardly falter ...sometimes (I facepalm everytime I have to watch the slow-mo scenes). As usual, Robert De Niro and Donald Sutherland give excellent performances in their small, but appreciated roles as a Inspector and Arsonist with a history. Kurt Russell and William Baldwin have a great chemistry as brothers --even moreso when they fight--, the two play off of each other quite well. Yet, the only actor that seems to do well on his own is Russell. As the eldest McCaffrey, he is a reckless firefighter, who isn't afraid to take the fire head-on (A trait that plays both to his advantage and disadvantage), yet cannot seem to get his personal life together even if he tried. Kurt Russell plays both the comic and dramatic sides of his character with such ease, its hard not to love Stephen, even when he's being a jerk. (I really can't comment on Russell's performance as the McCaffrey bros. Dad, as he was gone as soon he appeared. He played the 'father' role well, I'll say that much.) Kurt proves time and time again why he's such an excellent actor and this movie is only one example. This isn't to say Baldwin as Brian is horrible, no. He does remarkably well in this movie, but half the time he doesn't seem to be trying in some scenes and Brian was someone I could never connect with properly until the end of the movie. If a scene lingered too long on him, I was sorely tempted to fast forward.
Scott Glenn, despite his great performance, is the most under-used actor in the entire movie; which I suppose works to his character's, Axe, advantage in some ways, still it would've been nice to see more of him. Rebecca De Mornay (
Risky Business
) and the late J.T. Walsh, played Helen McCaffrey and Martin Swayzak with relative ease as well; Walsh played the deplorable character you automatically hated the moment he opened his mouth without trouble. Mornay was a convincing wife and mother, fed up with her husband's reckless behavior. And while I generally liked her character, I never understood why she rejected Stephen when he tried to come back, outside of her own fears and not so much the welfare of their son.
Lastly, the score, composed by Hans Zimmer, suited the every scene in the film to a tee. Emotional or action-packed, Zimmer doesn't fail to play on the emotion of a scene and intensify it tenfold. Granted, there was that all too familiar "Zimmer" theme that reappears in the films
The Rock
and Pirates of the
Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl
, but that can be easily overlooked. Overall, Backdraft is a excellent Multi-genre Adventure film that never fails to deliver on what it promises the viewer. Performances are strong and the fire sequences are some of the best around. You won't look at fire the same way in a movie again. However, it is among the many "Love it or Hate it" films, so depending on your person, you may or may not love this film. I highly recommend it to anyone curious enough to watch despite its flaws. ----- [5 out of 5] - September 24th, 2008
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Reviews with images
Very disappointed...
Very disappointed. I'm not making any accusations in this review at all, just my opinion on what I received. I made mistakes in not reading info & reviews carefully. This doesn't seem or appear to be an (authorized) DVD. A flimsy,generic DVD case with only disc inside. No info or booklet re movie on inside. My mistake was reading the reviews, not reading product info correctly. Reviews are wrong re DVD I received. Mine isn't an anniversary edition & didn't have 2 DVDs as was noted in couple reviews. Again that was my mistake for not reading all info correctly. I'd return it but I opened it, but didn't watch it yet. I recently purchased other DVDs & there is a big difference in packaging. I do love the movie itself & that's why I give this 1 star only.
Top reviews from other countries
Adam
US version, blu ray with extra features included.
Reviewed in Spain on September 17, 2023