You're Fired

I recently watched Backdraft for the first time, and was unfortunately rather disappointed. Sometimes, when Ron Howard sets out to deliberately make a "blockbuster" movie, the results are mixed. (The Da Vinci Code.) But when he sets out to make a more intimate film in which the acting is the focus, the results are always good. (Frost/Nixon.) Backdraft sits firmly in the former category.

Don't get me wrong -- the movie is an amazing spectacle. Every time you think you've seen the most visually elaborate display of fire that could be put to film, the movie one ups itself. It's all awesome pyrotechnics and crazy stunts. And yet, while all of it conjures an intellectual appreciation, not much of it engages on a visceral level. The elaborate sequences don't really bring tension or suspense to the film, they just look cool.

Of course, the script doesn't help things much. It's a story stuffed with the worst kind of melodrama. There's a mystery at the heart of the tale, but a very predictable one makes the movie seem over-long for how far ahead of the storytelling the audience gets.

The characters are all fairly cardboard. Kurt Russell and William Baldwin play brothers who never have really gotten along, but it all feels superficial. Even Robert DeNiro doesn't really bring much to his role as a march-to-the-beat-of-his-own-drummer arson investigator. Really, the only character and performance that leaves much of lasting impression is Donald Sutherland's imprisoned arsonist, who captures attention in two extended scenes. (Though even then, he feels a little bit Hannibal Lecter meets One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.)

Backdraft isn't a "Big Dumb Movie," but it's not all that smart either. I rate it a C+, largely on the basis of the impressive look of the film. It it weren't such a visual feast, I think it would rate much lower in my book.