BACKDRAFT
A film review by Frank Maloney
Copyright 1991 Frank Maloney
BACKDRAFT is a film by Ron Howard. It stars Kurt Russell and William Baldwin, with Robert DeNiro and Donald Sutherland.
BACKDRAFT celebrates the heroism of firefighters, a subject seldom addressed in films for some reason. BACKDRAFT also celebrates the beauty of fire with some the most breath-taking photography and special effects I have ever seen.
The real reason to see BACKDRAFT, in my humble opinion, is the photography. I had never seen fire until I saw it through the eyes of this film. And there are some eye-popping effects. I read that Lucasfilms' Industrial Light and Magic is responsible for some of the effects, including models. These must have been hellacious models because they convinced me in a way I am seldom convinced. I wish I had the name of the person responsible for the fire photography here. This is an easy prediction for an Oscar.
Alas, the rest of the film is a little more problematical. Kurt Russell is an irritating screen-presence and I wish he'd go away; except for some remarkably well-developed jaw muscles I cannot think of thing to recommend him. BACKDRAFT lets him wallow in some major macho b.s., much of which is fortunately lost in the general noisiness of the film, but more about that later. William Baldwin is somewhat better, both as a presence and as an actor, but even he cannot rise above the generally inadequate script.
The only actors who shine in BACKDRAFT are old pros in small parts. Robert DeNiro is the arson investigator and as usual DeNiro threw himself into his part, studying with a real inspector; DeNiro is one actor who truly believes there are no small parts. Donald Sutherland does a wonderful arsonist, a part that invites comparison with Hannibal Lecter in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS; where Hopkins nailed you with his eyes, Sutherland chills you with a giggle. The scenes with DeNiro and Sutherland playing off each other are the best acting scenes in the movie.
And forget about the women's parts. They are strictly throw-aways as the estranged wife and the girlfriend. There are no women firefighters in this superbutch world (and the black firefighters are limited to silently admiring the principals).
Really, the story, two brothers who find each other through the ordeal of fire, is negligible, set-ups for the action sequences. The music, BTW, is dreadful, melodramatic and obvious, when you can hear it over the noisy backgrounds. Mostly it seems unnecessary. Hey, I was already excited, I didn't need musical clues.
But, I enjoyed the film for what it had to offer. As spectacle, as eye-candy, it's well worth the price of a ticket. Go and indulge yourself.
-- Frank Richard Aloysius Jude Maloney .
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