Fire with Fire

Okay, so 'revenge films' are nothing new. Ever since Charles 'Paul Kersey' Bronson lost his family to muggers, normally peaceful citizens have been taken to the streets in films to dish out a helping of vigilante justice. This is one of those films.

Here we have a firefighter who witnesses a gangland hit and has to go into the witness protection scheme. Trouble is, the people he's set to testify against find out where he's hiding, therefore forcing him to 'get them' before they get him.

And it plays out as you might imagine (assuming you've seen any of the other hundred or so revenge movies). You may notice I'm not going into great detail about the storyline. That's because there isn't really much to give away in terms of plot. It's just a revenge film. And it's not that bad. It's the sort of film you rent over buying and probably shouldn't pay too much attention to the minor plot holes here and there.

I didn't mind it and certainly didn't think I'd wasted an hour and a half watching it. However, the thing I was hoping for was to see the firefighter using his firefighting skills to flambé his tormenters. In fact... I thought that was the whole point of the film, i.e. he uses what he knows to start fires with which to exact his revenge. As it turns out he just buys a gun and shoots them.

Oh, and Bruce Willis is in it, too. But then it was never released in the cinema and Bruce seems to have a clause in his contract that states he must never appear in a film that's actually given a theatrical release.

Anyway, as I say, rent this before you buy. It's not bad (especially for a straight-to-DVD movie), but could have been a little better.

http://thewrongtreemoviereviews.blogspot.co.uk/

Placing Bruce Willis, very minor role, in a film and not using him to add to the action and thrill effects of the story is crazy. The villain is better than the hero and the hero once he decides to seek revenge is poorly matched to come against men who live for violence. The basic idea is that a good hearted man will always win the day and be able to rescue who he loves the most. There is a lot blood in this movie, romantic scenes without the sex, and the skilled City detectives and Federal agents are portrayed as totally inept goof-ups. One angry man against a whole lot of prime criminals. This is a wonderful fantasy but is it possible for Hollywood to ever make a realistic crime thriller?

Bruce Willis is featured prominently on the Box Cover and suckered me into watching it, as certainly was the intention of the producers. Sadly, Willis's part was completely uneventful. All I can figure is they must have paid him a nice salary and promised him he would be on and off the set in one day. They show him just enough that you think at any moment the film would take a dramatic turn and Bruce would jump into action. In the end, you could strip him completely out of the movie and it would have had absolutely no effect on the film. So therefore, this film will never be one that Willis will be noted for. If you are a Bruce Willis fan, as I am; skip this one.

"Jeremy Coleman" (Josh Duhamel) is a dedicated fireman for the city of Long Beach who just happens to witness the cold-blooded murder of a convenience store clerk by a man named "David Hagan" (Vincent D'Onofrio), who is also the leader of an Aryan supremacist gang. Although he agrees to testify, what he doesn't know is that David Hagan is more than eager to kill him to prevent that possibility. As a result, Jeremy is put on the witness protection program, and while in New Orleans, falls in love with one of the marshals by the name of "Talia Durham" (Rosario Dawson). Unfortunately, this has severe consequences as David finds out and now has another bit of leverage to use against Jeremy. Now, rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that it started out pretty well. However, the last 20 minutes or so were completely ridiculous and really ruined a fairly solid film. So much so that I feel compelled to rate this movie as slightly below average.

"I need you to trust me" - this is how our hero manages to save people from burning buildings.

Unfortunately there is nothing he can do to save this movie.

As a lover of American cinema, I have seldom seen so much bad acting and writing in one film.

The premise of a fireman going on a murder spree to fight for the love of his life, whom he met in witness protection program, is so dumb its painful to watch.

He is magically transformed into an killing machine after shooting a few rounds in the forest with his love interest, Rosario Dawson.

Every character seems to be made out of cardboard, Bruce Willis is at best a (poorly) supporting actor.

50 Cent is on screen for a total of 40 seconds, and I suspect it is a redeeming quality that we are spared seeing more of him.

Vinnie Jones is the usual British bulldog, apart from the fact that his ass is kicked by a fireman (this scene is so dumb, it made me cringe)

Vincent D'Onofrio is the only actor that is able to make his character slightly interesting as the antagonist.

Trying to build a climax our fireman hero resorts to arson to save his love, It would have been a perfect turkey if they could have written in a scene with the dialog "everything going to be alright now"

Maybe they did, at this point I actually left - so I would not know.

Apart from an obviously decent budget, high production values - there is nothing here worthy of a box of popcorn.

I need you to trust me, watch something else.