Heaven's Fire

I saw this film last night on TV at a hotel in Daejeon, South Korea. It really did make me think, okay, one part "Towering Inferno", one part "Poseidon Adventure". But now that I see this film was made in 1999, can't help but wonder if it might've been watched by Al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden and been an inspiration for them, especially the helicopter crash sequence. Also, it gets SO irritating to see that a movie is set in an American city that I've lived in (Seattle) but then absolutely nothing looks familiar and sure enough, it turns out to be filmed in Vancouver BC which stunt-doubles for so many places in America. Film in America, please! But all in all, a good suspense piece.

Although this is set in a skyscraper which is on fire, rather than a ship that's sinking beneath the water, lots of the stock characters seemed to have been filched from The Poseidon Adventure. Prochnow's villain has the strongest character definition, or seems to have, perhaps because he's acting better than the rest of the cast. Eric Roberts 'tries hard' as they might say in a school report, but it's a pretty thankless role, and his son and girlfriend are dreadful. The flames and a crashing plane scene are so bad they're hilarious. At one stage I expected Leslie Nielsen to appear saying 'And stop calling me Shirley'. There is a slight twist to the story, but not enough to redeem it. Really the best way to enjoy it is as a spoof, but as that's not what the director intended then it has to be written off as a pretty bad film. Good for Prochnow fans, okay for Eric Roberts fans, waste of time for anyone else. Incidentally, Prochnow's girlfriend was way too young for him; nice for him, but annoying to watch. Why not give men girlfriends within fifteen years of their age for a change?

I was not terribly impressed by this movie, but it was not horrible. It's quite obviously a low-budget, made-for-TV rip-off of DIE HARD, but well-acted by Roberts, Prochnow, and most of the rest of the cast.

Apparently, Fox TV was using the old HIGHLANDER series' actors' pool for the supporting cast, since no fewer than seven characters in this movie were alums of one HL episode or another.

Not a terribly exciting movie; nothing original. One or two really big plot holes, but at least in comparison to some of the real stinkers I've seen recently (in an effort to find more of Prochnow's films), not bad.

If you're a truly die-hard (no pun intended) fan of Prochnow or Roberts, you'll probably enjoy this film. Otherwise, just go watch DIE HARD again.

there are loads of die hard clones out there like under siege derailed and the Peacekeeper but heaven's fire has to be one of the worst.the story is a cross between die hard and towering inferno starring Eric Roberts as Dean McConnell a treasury agent who is trapped in a burning building that is taken over by a bunch of thief's led by Quentin Darby. the plot is okay but the problem with heavens fire is it is incredibly dull.dull action dull acting especially from Eric Roberts who can't act his way out a paper bag. i caught this film on telly late at night so i wasn't really expecting much but i still felt disappointed. there are much better die hard clones out there.i rate this film 3 out of 10

Not surprisingly the bad guy (Prochnow) outshines the good guy (Roberts) in this average action-flick. The stunts and computer effects are not half bad, and a nice tongue-in-cheek attitude and good production value make up for most lulls in the plot. At times the actors actually seem to be enjoying themselves, and that's more than one should expect from this DIE HARD-clone (the hero is even named McConnell... hello? McClane!). Eric Roberts and Jürgen Prochnow in "The Towering Inferno" meets "Die Hard" on a TV-budget. How can you go wrong with that on a Friday night? :)