Fuoco mortale

Oh goodness. Why didn't somebody stop them!

The story in its essence was very good, however the delivery is idiotic. Over directed in the most silly, childish ways; melodrama past any point of sanity, and poorly written so that it loses all sense of reality. In fact, this should have been fantastic because the essence of the survival story is extraordinary, but because the writing is so lacking, and the direction is horrifically childish, over the top and silly, they lost all the power it should have had. They should have studied Ron Howard's Backdraft to understand the power of a "fire" movie and what it could have been, not whatever they looked at as their example.

This was embarrassingly bad, and for no good reason other than too much ego to go hire a real, decent Director, and Writer. Even an excellent Director could have worked with this idiotic script and made it work. It would have been an entirely different film. Sad they didn't do that.

IN A NUTSHELL: The film was inspired by true events and is certainly timely, as so many devastating fires have destroyed homes and cities around the globe.

On Fire was written, directed, and produced by Nick Lyon. Peter Facinelli stars in it and also directed and produced the film.

THINGS I LIKED: The cast does a good job and includes Peter Facinelli, Fiona Dourif, Asher Angel, Lance Henriksen, and Glenn Morshower.

Cinematographer Philip Roy does a great job capturing the beauty and danger of fire.

It's too bad it takes an emergency before people think ahead to get prepared. You should always keep an emergency backpack in each of your cars and one at home for each member of your family. Inside the backpack should be food, water, medicine, diapers, a change of clothes, a list of phone numbers of your loved ones, flashlights with extra batteries, and other crucial items. If you Google "72-hour kit" or "emergency preparedness kit", you'll see tons of websites that offer helpful lists. I've done this for years and can tell you it definitely has given me peace of mind, knowing I had what my family needed in case of a sudden evacuation. Only time I needed to use it. I was driving with my baby about 40 minutes from my house in Georgia when a tornado warning suddenly hit. I was stranded and so grateful I had food and diapers in my backpack so I could take care of my baby until we were able to get home safely. Trees were downed and we escaped into a stranger's basement for a couple of hours while the storm blew over.

In the film, we see the featured family make both good and bad decisions. If you see this movie with your family, talk about those things and make a plan for what you would do in an emergency.

The movie absolutely demonstrates how quickly a fire can spread and even change directions.

At the end of the film, we see words on the screen that tell us how millions of acres around the world are destroyed in wildfires, affecting the lives of humans, animals, and plant life. We also see words of gratitude for all of the firefighters who risk their lives trying to save others.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: Some of the CGI doesn't look very real.

Other than just caring for the well-being of other human beings, we don't learn much about the family to truly become endeared to them and care.

The movie is pretty simple and straightforward.

TIPS FOR PARENTS: Young children will be frightened by the fire and dangerous situations.

People die.

Some profanity and 1 F-bomb.

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This film was certainly predictable but they had to take you through everything that happens to people in fires. I cried more than half of the movie. The emotional factor of this movie calls for a 10 but I had to lower it for predictability...even though it's probably unavoidable in a film like this.

I think also now because of the recently California fires, this movie might be more highly rated. I was tense probably 85% of the movie! Imagine how the real people feel when real fire is approaching devilishly fast to eat up their home and them inside of it. I couldn't even imagine. But, as a person who hasn't lived through wildfires, I feel this film did a good job explaining to me all of the terrible things that happen. Also, the beautiful things, like help and rescue teams, firefighters, 911 service. I recommend this movie if you're into suspense and emotional drama.

Perhaps the best thing about this film is that it will convince many people that it is really necessary to keep those 50 or even 100 meters without trees around the houses. And even then... the example given here of the ingenious care taken by the owner of that house literally going up in smoke was interesting: you're never safe from the recklessness of your neighbors.

The story of a family of 3+1 who survived a forest fire provides the pretext for a production in which we are placed inside the burning forest, in a terrifyingly realistic reconstruction of the scenario that someone in those circumstances has to face - with virtually no chance of survival. Great value is placed on unity, as each element of these three will contribute in its own way to an improbable outcome.

The production (pyrotechnics and everything else) is stupendous, the actors very convincing and the filming impeccable. But there are a few problems, namely the script, which is too formulaic and predictable, and with inconsistencies: there's the manslaughter of two old people, with no culpability and (almost) no remorse, and there's the final shock of seeing those trees, so green, on the shores of Lake Chilton...

As a former Firefighter/EMT I found this film to be infuriating, especially because it was based on a true story! After fighting numerous wildfires in the backcountry, a firefighter's worst nightmare is dealing with unprepared citizens and an inept Incident Commander that endangered the lives of those employees & citizens who were properly trained.

If the details presented were accurate, the family portrayed should be chastised for their ignorance while residing in the obviously heavily wooded area! Using Google to research emergency procedures should have been a priority BEFORE A FIRE 🔥! Being insured, clearing defensive space & preparing a GO BAG are priorities! Preparation is everything.