Backdraft - Männer, die durchs Feuer gehen

Ron Howard's "Backdraft" is a true blockbuster in the 90's mold. Star-studded and full of spectacle, it did good business in 1991 while garnering mildly positive reviews. It was apparently remembered fondly enough to warrant a straight-to-video sequel earlier this year which, to it's credit, at least brought back William Baldwin & Donald Sutherland.

As for the original movie, the story is set in Chicago and it focuses on a pair of firefighting brothers (Kurt Russell & William Baldwin). The older brother is a seasoned vet while the younger brother is a rookie who has previously tried and failed at other professions. The two butt heads repeatedly as they work towards bringing an arsonist to justice.

There's plenty of action here but also a strong mystery angle as well. This provides a welcome change of pace when it kicks in about an hour into the movie. Generally, the script is pretty overwrought most of the time with the story often veering into melodrama and action movie clichés. However, the plot is fairly satisfying in the end, with a twist that's better executed than most.

Arguably the movie's biggest asset is its nicely assembled cast. Aside from Russell & Baldwin as the aforementioned brothers, a critical role belongs to Robert De Niro as an arson investigator. He unsurprisingly delivered the movie's best performance, despite the role being fairly limited. Donald Sutherland also makes a memorable appearance as an incarcerated pyromaniac. Other notable supporting players include Scott Glenn, Rebecca De Mornay, Jennifer Jason Leigh & the always dependable character actor J.T. Walsh. As for Russell & Baldwin, I wouldn't call this one of my favourite Kurt Russell roles but William Baldwin was surprisingly capable, considering that his career never really developed like his older brother Alec's.

The other strong point of the movie is the visual effects and stunt work. It must have been an insurance nightmare to achieve these kinds of visuals in the days before widespread CGI. There's no substitute for the real thing when dealing with fire, so the results speak for themselves. The movie justifiably landed a few Oscar nominations for both its visual effects and sound, which demonstrates the expertise that went into the technical aspects of the production. Overall, Ron Howard's direction is quite capable with a mix of dramatic scenes and multiple action setpieces. I will say, though, that the bookending songs by Bruce Hornsby & the Range haven't aged too well in my opinion. They're no "The Way It Is", that's for sure.

In the end, "Backdraft" is a bit overblown at 2 hours and 17 minutes. The producers were probably aiming for something a bit more intimate than "The Towering Inferno" but they ended up falling into some of the same traps anyway. So, I wouldn't count this among Howard's best but it's still worth watching, particularly given relatively small number of worthwhile firefighter movies.

Ron Howard did a wonderful job of bringing some of the real-life problems that firefighters face everyday in Backdraft. I'm kind of tired of hearing the Monday morning quarterbacks on this site trying to talk about how bad it was and that it wasn't realistic, etc. Take it from a REAL firefighter who has lost brothers in REAL fires and has lived through a REAL backdraft, it's NOT all fun and games, and it's far from glamourous. This movie did an excellent job capturing some of the emotions that flow through every firehouse in America today, particularly after 9/11, we are a brotherhood in which the "I go---we go" mentality is a very REAL concept that most of us live by everyday. And the corruption part of the story, well that's Hollywood for ya, if it doesn't have death, destruction, and corruption...then it doesn't sell very well. Yes there are corrupt politicians and it wouldn't surprise me if things like that did happen, but it's far from commonplace and was just to enhance the film and give you a person to "hate" in the film (JT Walsh, God rest his soul).

So I give it 4 out of 4 stars, very realistic, well directed, EXCELLENT acting on Kurt Russell and Robert DiNiro's parts, and can't wait til I find it on DVD to buy it.

off course, the story isn't too great. but the characters are strong enough and the effects are great. with a very dramatic score by hans zimmer i still get absorbed in the scenes with fire and drama.

stunning supporting roles for donald sutherland and robert de niro. I think this i a movie almost anyone could enjoy, even if it is not one of the socalled 'great movies'.

My recommendations!

Although Backdraft got Oscar nominations for Best Sound and best visual and audio effects what drives this Ron Howard film is the performances he got from Kurt Russell and Billy Baldwin as the firefighting McCaffrey brothers.

The brothers have a lot of distance in their ages as Russell practically raised McCaffrey after their firefighter father was killed on the job. Baldwin realizes he has a big legacy with the Chicago Fire Department and he's hesitant about it. After some issues with Russell, Baldwin gets assigned to arson investigator Robert DeNiro.

Which gets Baldwin involved in DeNiro's investigation of some strange arson fires that were set to Backdraft and cause homicides and there is a connection between three seemingly unrelated deaths.

The fire effects were great and the location shooting in Chicago a definite plus. Backdraft is the kind of a film you just cannot make on a studio back-lot which 50 years ago it would have been.

I'm surprised some Oscar nominations didn't come for either Russell or Baldwin. Their performances are so good you forget they're actors and you think you are watching firefighting drama.

And Donald Sutherland's bit role as the Hannibal the Cannibal of arsonists is one you'll remember. He has two scenes, one with DeNiro at a parole hearing and later one with Baldwin as Baldwin seeks expert opinion on the arsonist's technique. In that scene Sutherland evokes Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter when FBI agent Jodie Foster seeks his expertise.

And this review is dedicated to all the firefighters all over the world who take on that terribly important job to protect citizens from flame. After watching Backdraft you might get an insight into why the ancient cave people worshiped this phenomenon.

Ron Howard's action/thriller about two brothers (Baldwin and Russell), who have some differences but need to work together to find out whose causing recent arson fires in their district. THe film is done well, good acting for the most part, brilliant direction, and a decent screenplay. I thought William Baldwin started out the first couple scenes with a bit of a constant smirk on his face, but his acting seemed to improve (or maybe grow on me), he gave a satisfying performance. Meanwhile Russell was solid as well as his older brother who is an old-fashioned bitter fireman who takes too many risks. The female performances were rather average, Jennifer Jason Leigh was decent as Jennifer a girl who helps Brian (Baldwin). Rebecca DeMornay is not so great as Steven (Russel)'s ex-wife. Robert DeNiro was great in his role as a fire department detective trying to solve the case. J.T. Walsh was also decent in his role, which was similar but expanded in F. Gary Gray's THe Negotiator. The best performance of the film came from Scott Glenn who was great as a firefighter known as "Axe". I haven't seen Ladder49, so this is my favorite firefighter movie as of now. The script had some problems, as it didn't flow well, but the actors managed to save it although i was particularly upset with one dialogue between jennifer jason leigh and william baldwin which seemed like a complete rip-off of the scene where Michael Corleone and Kay see each other again after Michael is back from Sicily in Godfather part 1. But for the most part the script was average, not bad, but saved by brilliant direction, solid acting and great action. The music was done very well and suited the film, props to Hans Zimmer for yet another great score. The cinematography was also very good, especially in the fire scenes, good job by Mikael Salomon. 8/10