Firefighting is profession that includes heroic deeds and spectacular action and, as such, should be quite attractive for film makers. However, Hollywood made relatively low number of films dedicated to the firefighters. The most successful among them is Backdraft, 1991 action drama directed by Ron Howard.
The plot begins in 1971 Chicago when young Brian McCaffrey sees his father, Captain Dennis McCaffrey (played by Kurt Russell) die while putting out fire. Twenty years later, now adult Brian wants to follow father’s footsteps and joins Chicago Fire Department. He is, however, forced to be in the unit led by his older brother Stephen (also played by Russell). Two brother soon discover that they have different approaches to the job – Stephen, although more experienced, is more reckless while Brian seems to be more careful. Brian, after series of dangerous situations, agrees to be reassigned Inspector Donald Rimgale (played by Robert De Niro), Fire Department investigator who is trying to solve mystery of three arsons which ended with people getting killed. Some details suggest that perpetrator knew more about fires and the ways it is put down than average criminal.
Script for the film was written by Gregory Widen, best known as the author of Highlander film franchise. Widen was also part-time firefighter in his student days and his script gives away a lot of inside knowledge about that line work as well as deep respect and admiration Widen had for his former colleagues. Production of Backdraft tried very hard to bring as much authenticity as possible, with real life firefighters serving as extras and technical advisors and the cast actually being trained as firefighters and even performing their own stunts. Real life firefighters mostly praised the film for its accuracy, although not in the scenes actually showing fires within buildings, because heavy smoke would make scenes too dark and confusing. Ron Howard, one of the most successful and dependable directors of Hollywood mainstream, instead used large budget and resources and innovative direction to stage truly impressive action scenes. Despite special effects being old school and not relying on CGI, those scenes, in which fire is presented as sneaky, terrifying but beautiful enemy, are as impressive today as they they were three decades ago.
Unfortunately, Widen’s script wasn’t that successful when it came to framing those scenes into coherent plot. He instead relied to cliches and often distracting and unnecessary subplots. One is sibling rivalry, which only allows audience to see how weak actor William Baldwin is in comparison with more experienced and charismatic Kurt Russell. Another is obligatory romance between Brian and his old girlfriend, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh in quite thankless role. But the worst is genre departure from the realms of action drama into murder mystery, which is rather easily solvable to any more experienced viewers. Music by Hans Zimmer, one of the most talented Hollywood composers, is also quite disappointing. What ultimately rescues this film are performances of supporting actors like De Niro. The show is stolen in small but memorable role of Donald Sutherland who plays incarcerated pyromaniac who nevertheless gives valuable advice to the protagonist. Backdraft , despite somewhat mixed reviews, became a massive hit after premiere and later inspired an attraction Universal theme park. Direct-to-video sequel Backdraft 2 was released in 2019.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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