Ablaze

Although I have been a firefighter for 23 years, I make it a point to not be overly critical when the technical "advisors" drop the ball as they so often have (even on Backdraft and Ladder 49). However, the absolute disregard for any reasonable correctness in this abomination is unforgivable.

But the firefighting aspects aside, this movie to date stands alone as the worst that I have ever seen. Ever. I accept some of the blame for not ejecting the thing but it was like a train wreck. I could not look away.

As we all can attest, some movies by virtue of their awfulness can be fun. (i.e. Ed Wood's side-splitting "Plan-9 From Outer Space") This was not one of them. "Ablaze" is one of the many Hollywood debacles that must beg the question, "where do they get the money?".

I have been interested in disaster films since seeing the ?Poseidon Adventure? in 1972 (among the better made) and over the years I have seen many, some good, many bad. I rented this film,interested by the box?s description. When I actually started to watch it, I felt like I was experiencing deja vu. In 1979, another film was released called ?City on Fire? with an identical plot involving a city, an industrial complex, and firestorm. Having seen it about three times, I am somewhat familiar with the plot. ?Inferno? is nearly identical, in fact it is if someone took that other script, altered some things and came up with this. The kid trapped in the house, the hospital trapped in the firestorm, the scaffolding falling on people running from the hospital, the guy running into the burning building to retrieve a file, and the gauntlet of fire people must run to escape the hospital are a number of examples. Another person stated that some scenes looked like stock footage from the 70s, the reason for this is that many of those scenes appeared to have been lifted from ?City on Fire.? This film was an embarrassment to those performing in it and the writer should be ashamed of themselves. I am surprised the original scriptwriter did not try and sue for copyright infringement. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, in this case it is not.

My Dear God i must start out by saying that i wasnt happy at all with this. Was it just me or did all the firefighting scenes and Stock shots come from the 70's ?? It was a cross between a bad takeoff on Lethal weapon and loaded weapon. I didnt know if i was supposed to laugh or be serious. My favorite scene is the dialogue between Tom Arnold and his two henchmen trying to cover up the sloppy oil refinery job their doing. i qoute. Go find those damn files and Change your clothers for gods sake you stink. WOW pure bad acting. Meet the stupids / Rosanne. Oh boy

Not only did they lift scenes from City on Fire but the opening chase sequence was lifted from the Bruce Willis movie Striking Distance!

This movie was probably the worst movie I have seen.

This movie belongs in the bargain bin at Wal Mart, ummm... better yet it belongs in the trash.

This movie is a page out of movie history, it first came out as 'Striking distance' the cop car chase scene in the beginning is exactly the same as the chase scene in 'Striking distance' complete with the cars rolling down the embankment at the end of the chase (I thought the bad guy was going to get out and shoot Ice T). Oh by the way, what happens to Ice T later on in the movie? . Then as the movie progresses, it turns into 'City on fire' a disastrous disaster movie from 1979 complete with scenes right out of 'City of fire'. I mean the actual scenes in 'City on fire' were cut and pasted into 'Ablaze'. Like the scene where the nurse opens the closet door and gets smoked. I wonder how they got away with that? I was waiting for Shelly Winters to make a cameo. (They could of cut and pasted her to!). What a Bomb!