Review of Backdraft (1991) by Bill M — 12 Feb 2018
Great, super visceral 90's blockbuster thriller, in which firefighting is shown as a near mythical battle between good and evil, the good being Kurt Russel being more of a man than any of us will ever be and that most forgotten of Baldwins, William, who is kind of a useless drip in this film and makes you realise why he kind of vanished.
The evil is of course the fire itself, fascinatingly presented here as pretty much a living, breathing, malignant entity, that seems to growl and hiss and crawl. This is such a wonderfully overblown movie, it's one of those gloriously overproduced 90's big budget movies, where all the money is up there on screen and everything looks slick as fuck, meaty and fantastic.
The practical pyrotechnic effects and stunt work are extraordinary, there's no other way to describe it, everything looks so real and dangerous, with flames rolling off the lead actors themselves, who (very visibly) performed many of their own stunts.
It's cool how many different kinds of movie they pack into one, it is, varyingly action movie, a detective thriller, a murder mystery, a conspiracy thriller, a "Point Break with fire" drama and, with how they represent the fire, pretty much a monster movie all in one.
It's great entertainment, with a brass and swagger that more movies now could use. Also, I know I said before, but the action sequences and fiery set pieces are just incredible to behold.
This review of Backdraft (1991) was written by Bill M on 12 Feb 2018.
Backdraft has generally received positive reviews.
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