Leofwine_draca BACKDRAFT is a blockbusting firefighter thriller that involves a couple of warring siblings who are caught up in a plot involving a mysterious arsonist with a vendetta against a group of seemingly unconnected men. The film suffers a little from being a bit overlong and a bit too melodramatic, with too much time given over to the family dynamics when more thrills and spills would have worked. Still, it's well worth a look, not least for the fiery set-pieces which are nicely staged by a then-youthful Ron Howard. William Baldwin performs well in a rare leading role, although his thunder is stolen by a brash Kurt Russell and a strong supporting cast that includes J.T. Walsh, Robert De Niro, and Scott Glenn.

Tweekums The McCaffreys are a firefighting family; in 1971 Captain Dennis McCaffrey died in a fire that was witnessed by Brian, his younger son. Twenty years later Brain has joined the Chicago Fire Department; his older brother Lt Stephen "Bull" McCaffrey is unsure that Brian has what it takes so arranges for them to work together so he can keep an eye on his younger brother. Against this background a city alderman has been making cutbacks in the Fire Department which the firemen believe are putting lives in danger. There is also an unusual arsonist at work in the city; he is setting fires that kill the first person to open the door to them but are then blown out by the blast before the firemen arrive. Captain Donald "Shadow" Rimgale is investigating these fires and after one too many disagreements with his brother Brian joins his team. As they learn more about the fires and the victims it becomes apparent that the culprit could be a little too close to home.The first thing to say about this film is that the numerous fire scenes look fantastic… even if they do lack the thick smoke one would expect in such fires; obviously it wouldn't make such a good film if one couldn't see anything! The story is a good mix of firefighting action and a mystery about who is starting the fires and why. The cast is full of well know faces who do an impressive job; most notably William Baldwin and Kurt Russell as Brian and Stephen McCaffrey and Robert DeNero as Captain Rimgale. There are of course a few clichés along the way, most notably the fighting brothers who are reconciled in the face of danger at the end, but these don't really detract from ones enjoyment. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to anybody wanting a good action film; especially if you'd like to see protagonists who are something other than cops, spies or members of the military.

ryancorrell How did this movie receive Academy nominations? The acting is awful and the storyline is just terrible. I remember starting to watch this when it came out on VHS and couldn't finish it. I gave it another shot 23 years later and hated it more the second time. I like William Baldwin and Kurt Russell, but this movie is just terrible. Predictable. Living in Chicago, I'm quite aware of the history of corrupt politics in the city. This movie is only embarrassment towards the real firefighters of Chicago. Pick another city have correct politics. Again, too predictable. The only positive thing I can say is that some of the special effects were decent.

ironhorse_iv I was going in, thinking it would be a awesome film, but I got burn. It's no way realistic. I know it's Hollywood so there going to take some liberties, but this movie has a ridiculous portrayal of firefighters. These firefighters are so terribly trained that they don't even know how to don their gear correctly. When Stephen "Bull" McCaffrey (Kurt Russell) goes into the 2 story building, to rescue the child from a fire, he has his coat wide open and no SCBA equipment. The smoke would have killed him in a matter of seconds as his lungs would be seared by the heat. If anybody was to run into a fire filled room with their coat undone they'd be cooked like a goose! Most of the characters would have died within the first 30 seconds of the film from having seared lungs, smoke inhalation, or extreme burns. I like how the fire can explode right in their face, and they don't end up getting first or second degree burns. The amount of smoke that was in the fires if real life would have been blinding, not clear. By the way, what type of firefighters smoke cigarettes while cleaning up a burned out building after breathing in tons of smoke? I would be afraid to light up in a building that might have gases in it because it might start a fire, again.As for the title of the film, 'Backdraft'. It's very incredibly rare behavior of fire. Even if you were the evil genius arsonist setting these backdraft, you would need to spend days creating just the right environment where a back-draft can occur. It's a easy task. Honestly the idea that an arsonist is creating backdrafts to kill certain individuals is preposterous to begin with. I'm not a firefighter and I know that it would be nearly impossible to do that, and it would certainly be impossible to do it to the extent that the arsonist does here. The movie plot is suppose to just that. Firefighters trying to catch the arsonist, but screenwriter Gregory Widen shovels one subplot on top of another, and it becomes too much. There is the sub-plot about two brothers, Stephen McCaffrey and Brian McCaffrey (William Baldwin) having a love and hate relationship, with Brian living under the shadow of his heroic brother, and father. The movie is very clichés with the firefighter heroics such in the case it becomes unrealistic. The first shot of Kurt Russell's Stephen is him walking out a burning building in a manly pose. This is follow up with a heroic slow moment of him rescuing a kid. It's so cheesy. Even the opening scene is over the top, with the firefighters taking a child with them to fight fires. Who is going to babysit the kid while you are fighting fires? Is taking a child to a fire zone kinda dangerous? Director Ron Howard seeks to wring tears from the audience by having a fireman's helmet incredibly bounce out of a second story window in front of the kid and everybody slow motion moves around is just poetic stupid. The worst is the silly montage of Brian training under his brother with dripping his head in water as if a male model. Another subplot of the film is Stephen trying to get back with his estranged wife, Helen McCaffrey (Rebecca De Mornay) which doesn't play no factor into the main plot. No, honestly, it's doesn't play into anything. It's just waste screen time, that could have better been focus on finding the arsonists. The best scenes in the film are that of Brian teaming up with Donald "Shadow" Rimgale (Robert de Niro) a dedicated arson investigator looking for the backdraft killer. They even get help from Arsonist 'Silent of the Lambs' what a be Hannibal Lector, Ronald Bartel (Donald Sutherland). Donald Sutherland is pretty creepy in his role. "A fire eats and breathes and hates." He quotes. Sorry, but fires don't hate; only people hate, Ronald. Firs is not a living entity, film. Robert de Niro is great in his role, and get closer to closer to finding the murderer. Too bad, Brian is rarely any help. Brian barely does anything in the film for the main character, but gets in the way of better supporting characters. Rather than finding the killer, he is having sex with Jennifer Vaitkus (Jennifer Jason Leigh) Brian's ex-girlfriend and works for the city alderman who trying to cut back the fireman department budget. Her loyalties are torn between her job and Brian. I think making love on top of a speeding fire truck will get you fired in real life.William Baldwin is no Alec. His performance was horrible. The way he played puppy dog in an attempt to convey depression and self-pity, it was eye-rolling bad. Baldwin's role was originally written for Tom Cruise, who would have given the movie some much-needed star power. He is disappointing. The film tries way too hard to be cool instead of realistic, which is a shame considering that a film about firefighters and arson could have been wholly intriguing while remaining believable, had it been attempted properly. Instead, this film feels so fake with the over the top action sequences. The factory argument in particular is awful. Rather than putting out the fire, they waste their time arguing while the building is burning around him. Don't get me wrong, the action scenes are impressive, and the special effects are still rather extraordinary, but it's scenes like that, that makes me cringe. Han Zimmer's score is amazing in my opinion. The best thing to come out of this movie is Backdraft fire special effects show at Unversial Studios Hollywood, and that's not saying much. It closed down in 2010 after 19 years worth of shows. Overall: watch it if bored, but don't think too much into it. It's just a pointless popcorn flick