Contra El Fuego

A very good picture of a disaster about the heroic profession of firefighters.

Impressing, astonishing, frighteningly beautiful shots of forest fires. Also an incredible scene of a woman giving birth stuck in a burning bus. Good acting, some humor here and there. But altogether a quite conventional hero and catastrophy story with stereotypical antiheros on the firefighter team and a hardly innovative father-daughter-son in law love and family drama and pathetic slow motion hero shots and patriotic vibes that remind of Armageddon and its likes. But still very entertaining and grippling due to the very worthwhile fire images and a duty that is unarguably indeed very heroic.

The movie is a perfect hardcopy of typical US big budget dramas with some terror factor - pride and fight story. Switch the fire with - for example - struggling with stopping a comet and you've got the very same movie :)

Watchable however, nice blockbuster.

Unlike "Only the Brave" - which is one of the most honest and tragic movie about firefighters - this one is not based on a real story. So this is much more intense and entertaining. Very good looking picture and great acting of Kostantin Khabensky.

But it looks like producers watched "Only the Brave" and decided to do same stuff but more. More fire, more drama, add a dozen of kids, a pregnant woman and some over the edge heroic sequences that does match with physics. Not a total rip-off of the Braves, but you can clearly see where did they get their fuel.

But where slow paced "Only the Brave" made real drama build up and make you cry in the end - this one just all over the place. Where first movie shows in details the actual work of hotshots and what is their actual line of work - this movie kinda more about dealing with people then with fire. May be this is more truthful to Russia. In any case this does not hit you with a drama as much as "Only the Brave" and gives you more entertaining experience more like summer blockbuster movies.

I see no point comparing it to "Backdraft" as some other reviewers - cause unless you've been living under a rock for last 30 years you've got more flicks to compare too. Backdraft is classics, but let it go already.

Anyway, I totally recommend to watch this movie. Great flick! But the best way to understand it is after "Only the Brave". Cause they definitely payed some ommage to it.

2017 saw the release of 'Only the Brave'. 2019 brought us 'The Bravest'. And in 2020 we saw the release of 'Fire' (also known as 'No Escapes').

'Fire' takes its time setting up the characters, but this made us get to know them, and ultimately root for them. Much of the film's long running time was made up of unnecessary humorist scenes, and the film only really gets direction and become serious around the 1-hour mark. Once there, it is a rollercoaster ride of suspense and excitement, filled with drama and emotion.

The film's main protagonist is Andrey (Konstantin Khabenskiy), who leads a fire fighting team. After the death of one of his team members, he decides to include his daughter Katya (Stasya Miloslavskaya)'s new boyfriend, Roman (Ivan Yankovskiy) in his team. Roman is a bit of an arrogant deuce bag, to put it bluntly.

Of all the characters, I connected most to Lev (Viktor Dobronravov), who also had the best and most tragic back story. 'Fire' is a heroic tale of bravery against all odds. It is filled with action, suspense, and great visual effects (some of the fire scenes are actual footage).

'Fire' is a much better film than 'Only the Brave' (which, by the way, I didn't enjoy at all), but 'The Bravest' still remains my favourite.